Mercea Eliade …

… could not avoid reifying human experience.

The Sacred and the Profane, p 12.

It is impossible to overemphasize the paradox represented by every hierophany, even the most elementary. By manifesting the sacred, any object becomes something else, yet it continues to remain itself, for it continues to participate in its surrounding cosmic milieu. A sacred stone remains a stone; apparently (or, more precisely, from the profane point of view), nothing distinguishes it from all other stones. But for those to whom a stone reveals itself as sacred, its immediate reality is transmuted into a supernatural reality. In other words, for those who have a religious experience all nature is capable of revealing itself as cosmic sacrality. The cosmos in its entirety can become a hierophany.

There, that last line hit the pantheist nail on the head for me. What are people trying to do but to find the sacred in a world that has been reduced to a physics creation story. Here I'm thinking that what is 'real' is the human experience, and physics does a 'pseudoreduction' on that lived experience to something desacralized. But we don't live in that world.

Can one experience the entire cosmos as a hierophany? See the movie, Contact, the end of the courtroom scene. But why do we need a creator, a personalized agency?

Onward, p. 13,

It should be said at once that the completely profane world, the wholly desacralized cosmos, is a recent discovery in the history of the human spirit. … desacralization pervades the entire experience of the nonreligious man of modern societies, and in consequence he finds it increasingly difficult to rediscover the existential dimensions of religious man in the archaic societies.

But does he?

Sad Humor

I am building a sad humor regarding Christians. As the man said, it is all there for you, right now, you don't need to wait or do anything—but you can't see it.

Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you , 'Look, the Father's imperial rule is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Father's imperial rule is within you and is outside you." Thomas, 3:1-3

His disciples said to him, "When will the Father's imperial rule come?"

"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's imperial rule is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." Thomas, 113:1-4

These are but two parts of over a hundred from a cast-off collection. Who is going to rebuild this religion and get it out of its history.

Jesus saves

The story I overheard went something like this:

I didn't slow down, you know, and I flipped on my roof and slid. Didn't get hurt, but I could see the mountain coming. We had just been praying, and now this, sliding on my roof toward the edge of the mountain. I just stopped. We didn't get hurt, but I could see the mountain side coming. Jesus was there.

Who could argue? Jesus saved this man. Who could prove otherwise?

We tend to work the system we own. And if it is workable, well, that reinforces the truth of it. What of Ockhem's Razor? Do not compound causes needlessly.

How about this: Jesus saves, and so does dumb luck. Which is needless?

The 100 people

My disciples asked me, "but what is the kingdom of god like?"I answered with a story,

In a large city, there were one hundred people standing in a crowd. A madman opened fire upon them and many were killed. The survivors stood dazed, some wailing in tears, some dumbfounded. Later they asked of themselves, "Why? Why did I survive and not this one or another?"

That is what the kingdom of god is like. It is here already, all around us, and you can't see it.

The ashram

My disciples asked me, "what is the kingdom of god like?"

I answered with a story:

In an ashram, the guru died. The elders deliberated and chose one amongst the people to replace him. They thought carefully and chose the one person they belived stood out as the best guru.

They rushed to find that person, to tell him the good news. "Our guru has died, bless him. We have deliberated and have decided. You," they said, "you have been chosen to advise our people, to be our guru!" The person, startled, said in protest, "But wait. I am not a guru. I am not prepared. Why have you picked me?"

The new guru advised them to pick this one or that one, someone worthy. But they insisted, "You are our next guru. You have confirmed it."

This is what the kingdom of god is like.

The Exit

A friend told me she would like to know all the ripples she's made in life, the effects, hopefully good, she has sent out. She would like to see them all before she dies.

I thought—contrarian— "that's not me." I thought about gradually lessing the disturbance I made until exiting the pool. To pull oneself out graciously, withdrawing from the water trunk, leg, foot, toe... as the toe tip leaves—you see the dented surface restore.

The Qur'an

It was refreshing reading The Five Gospels—that they, the scholars, allowed themselves to say something to the effect of "this strange phrase makes no sense and it's meaning and context are lost," rather then working up a recovery plan. My current reading of Michael Sell's commentary on the Qur'an... well, he doesn't allow that. Every odd word is given its couch and solemnity.

The Physics Creation Story

In the beginning, there was nothing; then, it exploded.

People want a good story. We live by stories. Make it a story.

I have found god

Over the last few months, I've had revelations.

1. One was on Jesus's word that the kingdom of God is here with us now, inside each, and not some cinematic miracle.
2. Another on the meaning of the resurrection: of sin, fault, misdeed, death, forgiveness and rebirth.
3. A third on being saved, with a personal relationship to God, that clears the way of doubt and obviates atonement.
4. A fourth on deferring the source of one's gifts and productions to God.

It is a mint, my understanding, and from the phantasmagoria of experiences, comes happiness, peace, and an apprehension of what has been going on. I am not forming a reasoned position, nor do I feel a need to defend it. As any good religious moments, these were experienced.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember what they were.

I am using this tool as a journal to enable me to articulate my thoughts and build upon them. Each entry will be a thought; comments will be used to add to that thought.

That's it.