tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post6754037772273936719..comments2018-07-15T00:14:54.349-07:00Comments on mapHead: To build the bridge, first survey the canyon.natcasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18058664776852941599noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-10502398059031747372017-03-11T13:00:28.884-08:002017-03-11T13:00:28.884-08:00Jesus was never about religion. He was about rela...Jesus was never about religion. He was about relationships. See the Shack or read the book. There's no reason to get too deep on the subject.brother Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15532314668524344544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-48505267576294768592017-03-05T19:33:20.020-08:002017-03-05T19:33:20.020-08:00Forrest: That's lovely if you can do it, but I...Forrest: That's lovely if you can do it, but I mistrust the purported universal story or religion. We are creatures of specificity, and we tend to have different specificities one from another. That's why I like actual historic myths with names and places over Joseph Campbell's monomyths. And I think often because we demand specificity, when all we are presented with is that universal, we draw it into our own context anyway. Working on an essay now about how we tend to make our mountain the center of the universe. Anyway, thanks for commenting!natcasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18058664776852941599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-8474199757391859522017-03-05T11:02:34.018-08:002017-03-05T11:02:34.018-08:00"You don't do it through intellectual pro..."You don't do it through intellectual processes. What you do is you telepathically tap in to the one great world religion,<br />which is only one,<br />which has no name,<br />and all of the other religions are merely maps of that."<br /><br />[Stephen Gaskin]<br /><br />That one religion is not 'syncretism' and it isn't any of the other maps. One map may be good for seeing the contours of the landscape, another one better for finding yourself a gas station.<br /><br />Likely we'll always have some map in our head. But when I can [occasionally] look from that "How things is" level, that's where the meaning Jesus' words fit into makes the most sense.forresthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13861950371962268402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-59882815132999778992017-03-05T08:28:50.901-08:002017-03-05T08:28:50.901-08:00Forrest:
I think the charge against syncretism in ...Forrest:<br />I think the charge against syncretism in and of itself is a mistake, but I also think the sense that syncretism is the sole path to goodness has some roots in the most liberal end of religion (including liberal Friends) that is also a problem. The balance you describe is certainly one good approach. I really like Richard Kelly's essay "Truth as a Moving Target on a Local Train" on the subject: https://www.friendsjournal.org/3011121/.<br />The notion that because it works to put God and love of neighbor together in a self-reinforcing loop, means that that is the only such loop that really makes sense is to me a big problem. But it seems to be part and parcel of how we humans do loyalty: once you have established a relationship with a particular person or group or idea, that idea becomes centered in the universe you live in. And that's just how we are. And that secularists are often scared of this often fierce loyalty and try to argue against it is a problem. But it's also a problem to be in that it often ends up fighting the "love your neighbor" piece. Not in every case, but that slope also seems pretty common. And I don't think it's as simple as "well, then, you're loving God wrong or incompletely," although that maybe is a way of putting it.natcasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18058664776852941599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-26151242444284095172017-03-05T08:15:58.957-08:002017-03-05T08:15:58.957-08:00Alphabetty:
1. You are welcome.
2. Good luck, and...Alphabetty: <br />1. You are welcome.<br />2. Good luck, and politics is not the only thing needed.<br />3. I think humans need faces. Even Buddhism ends up telling stories about the Buddha to get us to look at the pretty severe and abstract ideas that make up his teaching. The anti-religious Marxists, in order to make things stick, created cults of charisma. And so on. I don't think the Lord God we love with all our heart, the singular force, is necessarily anthropomorphic. But that sure does seem to be a gravity well in human history. And I think having a focus and discipline allows a richer tradition in a collected group to emerge. Pastry chefs and people who play the oboe for years and years develop a deep appreciation for the specialty they are working within than people who dabble in all kinds of food and all kinds of instruments. But of course some crossover is also good if you're going to not be stiff as a board, creatively speaking. So it really is both as full equals.<br />4. Jesus is pretty impressive as a figure. If you haven't read Reza Aslan's book Zealot, I highly recommend it. Very nice, rich portrait from a different enough perspective to shed (to me at least) a lot of interesting light.<br />5. [blush]natcasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18058664776852941599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-7977224521708924282017-03-04T21:06:00.441-08:002017-03-04T21:06:00.441-08:00It's been a mistake to turn "syncretism&q...It's been a mistake to turn "syncretism" into a term of abuse; every religion that's ever been has been a syncretic construct ever since God created a second religion... while before that, I doubt you could find two holy-folks who weren't talking shop and learning from their disagreements.<br /><br />Likewise, from a straight atheist position you won't understand why Jesus put those two 'commandments' together and said the second was 'like the first.' They aren't "damned near impossible" to do together; neither is possible without the other. They become possible when you recognize that your neighbor is yourself, and that God is the very life that takes shape as each person.<br /><br />As for what "patriotism" might mean, all I can think of is a certain illusion that took me many years to shed, having grown up thinking we were the Good Guys (and wondering why our actions so often fell short of the ideals I'd been told we embodied.) The love of a few ideals we once claimed, plus that old familiar loyalty to "Our Gang". But it really isn't 'ours', you know.forresthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13861950371962268402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844458687369955274.post-48766086897225810582017-03-04T02:41:48.989-08:002017-03-04T02:41:48.989-08:001. Thank you. 2. Send apolitical liberals my way s...1. Thank you. 2. Send apolitical liberals my way so I can try to convert them into political liberals :-) 3. If we can agree on the golden rule, and live it, isn't that spiny? Tell me again why we need the first great commandment? I'll reread your post. 4. Jesus is awesome �� says this atheist 5. I think you are pretty awesome tooAlphabettyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00836602564516105175noreply@blogger.com