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Is There, or Isn't There, a God?
Let's face it, each and every one of us lives in a bubble. Next comes the bubble we share collectively with our 'group' - the group's paradigm I guess I'd call it. [chref=43]Words[/chref] are the bubble juice from which we make language; language enables us to form and retain our bubble's shape. Simply put, [chref=14]the shape that has no shape[/chref] make us feel too uneasy.
Taoism is like that little boy who told it like it was ? "the Emperor is wearing no clothes". Taoism's unique contribution lies in how it stabs right to the heart of our bubble - words - and gives us a glimpse at this '[chref=41]shape[/chref]' outside our bubble.
It is fascinating how [chref=70]ignorant[/chref] we are of how [chref=65]hoodwinked[/chref] we are in this way. We are certain our bubble is real. Deep down though we feel that it isn't, which drives us all the more to prove it is real. "Me thinks thou dost protest too much" reflects what is below the surface. Yak, yak, yak, [chref=23]words[/chref] are conceptual bricks we use to build our case layer by layer until it is too convoluted to see anything other than the 'proof'. And, I suspect that the more civilized we become, the more convoluted our proofs becomes. Opps, I'm running out of bubble juice, be back soon...
PS, ('personal side') Do you sometimes think "he must be dreaming" when you read the stuff I post? You'd be right much of the time. Curiously, many of my serious thoughts, including this one, bubble up from the [chref=15]murky[/chref] depths of my sleeping mind (don't ask me why). When they 'pop' into consciousness, they wake me up and I jot them down. Doing so gets them out of mind and onto paper so I can return to sleep once again. My, how strange this bubble blowing mind of mine. :?
Taoism is like that little boy who told it like it was ? "the Emperor is wearing no clothes". Taoism's unique contribution lies in how it stabs right to the heart of our bubble - words - and gives us a glimpse at this '[chref=41]shape[/chref]' outside our bubble.
It is fascinating how [chref=70]ignorant[/chref] we are of how [chref=65]hoodwinked[/chref] we are in this way. We are certain our bubble is real. Deep down though we feel that it isn't, which drives us all the more to prove it is real. "Me thinks thou dost protest too much" reflects what is below the surface. Yak, yak, yak, [chref=23]words[/chref] are conceptual bricks we use to build our case layer by layer until it is too convoluted to see anything other than the 'proof'. And, I suspect that the more civilized we become, the more convoluted our proofs becomes. Opps, I'm running out of bubble juice, be back soon...
PS, ('personal side') Do you sometimes think "he must be dreaming" when you read the stuff I post? You'd be right much of the time. Curiously, many of my serious thoughts, including this one, bubble up from the [chref=15]murky[/chref] depths of my sleeping mind (don't ask me why). When they 'pop' into consciousness, they wake me up and I jot them down. Doing so gets them out of mind and onto paper so I can return to sleep once again. My, how strange this bubble blowing mind of mine. :?
Comments
What else is God, the word, but a kind of short hand for the [chref=1]mystery upon mystery[/chref] we all sense. At its deepest level, the word symbolizes a 'haunting feeling' that we can't describe, but that we all keenly feel - not only we humans, but all life. As a word, "God" is no different from the word "I", that other bit of symbolic shorthand for the self-consciousness we keenly feel, but can't truly put into words.
One drawback to such bits of short hand is that we easily become more aware of the symbol than of the original, i.e., more aware of the shadow than of the light that produces it. As preconceptions, words obfuscate the subtle [chref=21]essence[/chref] behind the [chref=23]words[/chref]. This, of course, applies to all belief - in "I", in "God", in "no God"... In the end, our protestations and bickering over [chref=81]words[/chref] are nothing more than the 'he said - she said' of tribalism, i.e., social politics. We [chref=32]name[/chref] our experiences to give us a convenient way to manipulate them, and meddle in our tribal 'give and take' (with a preference for the 'take' ). We need what we need, and fear what we fear. and use words to grunt our way through it all.... grunt grunt... :oops:
So, saying that I believe in God is not that different that saying that I don't believe in God. In either case, the name, God, drowns out [chref=56]mysterious sameness[/chref].
Faith may produce results. We may never know whether those results were dependant, independant, or either incidental or inherent to a belief in, an actual entity who is inherently "god".
In my estimation, regardless of religion, we all have one or more "gods". Any person, place, thing, or idea that we reverence, serve, worship, love, seek, value above all else, etc. is our god. It could be family, money, self, job, car, guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin...
Merriam-Webster would agree, at least in part, with my definition.
1 capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind
2 : a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality
3 : a person or thing of supreme value
4 : a powerful ruler
Anyone that says there is no god is kidding himself. You can't be alive and not have a god even if you are "enlightened". Let's say you are, what would you trade it for? Whatever you say, one or the other is your god.
A more useful conversation is "what is your god?" rather than whether or not there is a god. There is a god.
That's exactly how I feel about God. How did you know?
Lots of people I know think of God as an all powerful, all knowing, being out there...the God as Santa Claus idea. I just can't buy it and, truthfully, it puzzles me how intelligent grown-up people can believe that. But so many do, I guess it is me that's out of step, not the rest of the parade.
After puzzling a while, I now see the belief in a personal God-being as another way for people to let go of control of their lives. This is a good thing since they don't control it anyway, and accepting that brings peace.
(I have to chuckle at the convoluted thinking I go through to arrive at the same place other people get to simply by believing in God....it might be much simpler just to have faith, but....to thine own self be true.)