Arlo said to MP and dmb: As one who has come out in the favor of esotericism, metaphor, and Campbellian mythological treatment of "theism", I had some hopes that Michael was pointing in that direction, and maybe there was just misunderstand. And then he wrote, "He sent us Christ to show us it can be done" and I realized, quite sadly, this was not the case.
dmb says: That's pretty much how I see it too. As my religious studies professor explained it the other day, scholars think that the historical Jesus only said about 20% of what has been attributed to him in the Bible and the other 80% turns his teaching upside down. Among the sayings that are thought to be authentic there is his instruction to "take up your own cross". This stands in stark contrast with the idea expressed in John 3:16. "Eternal life" is not the reward for believing in "God's only begotten son". It's more like the re-birth than comes from dying to your old self, the death of the ego and the realization of your own true Self. That's why you're not supposed to worship the Buddha when you meet him on the road either. You're supposed to kill him. Or, as one of my favorite bands (The Gourds) sings about it, if you what to get your hallelujah shine you gotta go down there brother, you gotta get in the water. Or, as Campbell puts, if we have experience we don't need faith. Or, as Jung puts it, God is not an external supernatural entity but a psychological fact. Or as Pirsig puts it, reality is undivided and to become enlightened is to realize that lack of division. And to the extent that this does NOT describe what goes on in our churches, theism doesn't work. I'd also add that theism is the religious equivalent of SOM. They both cut you off from reality and thereby produce tremendous amounts of anxiety, alienation, feelings of inadequacy and a certain kind of sadness. _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail® goes where you go. On a PC, on the Web, on your phone. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/learnmore/versatility.aspx#mobile?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_WL_HM_versatility_121208 Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
