Despite my turning away from organized religion I still have a strong interest in religious belief and desire to improve myself and come to some form of peace/relation with this world/universe. Thus, I am always interested in genuine attempts to deal with belief/faith and was intrigued by this post (amongst other good postings at Still Turning):
In Your Patience
My reply to the post:
Winning your own soul also could refer to the fact that we must be careful of losing our soul in the desire to compete in illusionary games of capturing the minds of others (spiritually, materialistically, philosophically or politically) ... this insanity of demanding that others feel, think, or believe as "I/We" do must stop... its a destructive controlling process that leads to no good and much evil (as I understand evil)
Those that believe they must win souls have something buried deep inside them that scares them and that they fear condemns their soul to damnation--better that they face up to that fear/sin and allow the rest of us to go about our business of living and working on our own souls.
The devil (if I believed in such a thing--but metaphors are powerful) "wins" souls... God (if I believed in such a thing--but metaphors are powerful) does not compete for our souls, he is the light that will attract those who work on their own soul building their own personal vision through reflective soul-searching and reaching out to others (in a dialogic sense of comunication and exchange, not competition and defeat). The devil demands we submit to him, God wishes us to dialogue and commune with her, learning as we grow, living through example, and being there when others need us (not stalking them with our pronouncements of good/evil)
Least that is what I would believe if I believed ...
2 comments:
Mason,
The post starts off with this quote:
“In your patience ye shall win your souls.” Luke 21:19
Now you tell me that half-awake reader would not say "eh, this is a discussion of the soul in a religious sense"?
But, besides that very telling quote, I reserve the right to misread any public writing...
and furthermore you should be the last person chastizing me for going off subject, criminy, your dialogue is like a spinning top shooting off into a hundred directions, never to be seen again
and the poster is a comrade, I sympathize with his writing and was just furthering the thread
and lastly, I always appreciate your comments... peace comrade!
Sorry Mason, I'm dealing with some difficulties in my personal life as well, perhaps my reply came off worse than it was intended.
I am a person of deep faith that there is something more. I pray and seek answers. I try to commune as able with other life forces (human, animal, and other earthly manifestations)... I don't know if there is something more, but I won't rule it out.
My reply to Still Patience was a claim of radical doubt framed in a way that keeps me working on my own beliefs instead of securing my insecurities by forcing others to reinforce my apprehensions through their embrace of my doubt.
I don't seek converts. My doubt and fear and alienation is painful. I wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy. It is markedly so because I was raised to "believe" and I remember those earlier golden moments when I had no doubt about the meaning of the world, my life, and what would happen to me when I died--I was part of the chosen... and I knew where the others were going...
Harris does go overboard and I'm not sure if he really thinks it is possible or good that religous thought disappear. I watched the scientific movie (about quantum theory) "What the Bleep" the other night and it seemed to be very religious ... maybe science really is becoming religion? But what is Harris saying that makes sense? Is there something wrong with religion in its roots (at least the motheistic/anthromorphism types)? What has been the result of radical belief that views all other beliefs as wrong or worse evil? Can I really engage and respect you if I believe that because of your faith you are evil and will be condemned to eternal flames? How can that ever allow for true communion and dialogue?
As for Rushkoff, who I respect, and feel indebted to, his book on religion really seemed simplistic in that he mapped it out as if it was the latest media trend ... I don't know... have you E.L. Doctorow's "The City of God"? The characters in there evince a belief that I think is closer to my own form of faith... or if I was to have a faith maybe it is more tied into the larger earthly forces that govern our lives and the communion of beings on this planet (maybe along the lines of the doomed characters of James Welch "Fool's Crow"). I of course have just chosen two novels as examples and perhaps that says a lot about how i view other holy texts.
Mason, I respect your struggle to understand and your ability to question inspires me.
Peace friend!
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