Every tear, folks step forward to remind us of the true meaning of the season. I do not believe they stress the massage enough, understandably, because it is wondrously weird.
And, all too often, they begin over focusing on the vagaries of their own particular dorm of theology.
The meaning of Christmas is simple. God and man are reconciled. WE become linked to our Creator and He/She is fully in our World and in our lives. This is a radical step and the first time that a religion posited the intimate link between the Divine and the human, There is nothing like it in all the history of man
Think how strange this is. Soren Kierkegaard did. He stressed the utter absurdity of the fact that the Creator of this awesome Universe could care so much, nit just about the human race, but about each individual. He believed, rightly in my opinion, that each man and woman had to find their own way to deal with that amazing, and ion the surface, absurd idea.
That is a daunting task. so get busy. Maybe the line form an old Carol qill help, God and Sinner reconciled.
Showing posts with label Secular. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Secular. Show all posts
Monday, December 4, 2017
Monday, October 3, 2016
Finding the Sacred in Everything
The World should not be divided into the Sacred and the Secular. This is a grave mistake. By creating such separation, we cheapen much of life. If you do not see the Sacred in everyday life, you will not take care and will not cherish the World.
Frank Herbert, in his great book Dune, makes the point that all religions are, to varying degrees, anti-life, and, with the possible exception of the animistic religions, this is true. Christianity and Islam, with their belief that the afterlife is what matters are surely guilty of this and the Eastern religions, with their belief in Nirvana, the goal beyond life and beyond all, are equally guilty.
I am not sure that the founders of these belief systems meant for their teachings to be taken that way. Actually, I am fairly sure they did not, but they lost control over those teachings and, for what ever reason, those religions do have a kind of distaste, if not a downright disgust, with life.
This should not be. Ask yourself this. Can you explain why anything exists? Why is that ant crawling over your kitchen table? Why is it raining? Why are you breathing? Ultimately, why is their something rather that nothing? No one, not even the great priests or scientists can answer that. It is a Sacred Mystery, beyond our understanding, likely beyond our capacity to understand. Thus, if you look at things the right way, everything is Sacred.
Frank Herbert, in his great book Dune, makes the point that all religions are, to varying degrees, anti-life, and, with the possible exception of the animistic religions, this is true. Christianity and Islam, with their belief that the afterlife is what matters are surely guilty of this and the Eastern religions, with their belief in Nirvana, the goal beyond life and beyond all, are equally guilty.
I am not sure that the founders of these belief systems meant for their teachings to be taken that way. Actually, I am fairly sure they did not, but they lost control over those teachings and, for what ever reason, those religions do have a kind of distaste, if not a downright disgust, with life.
This should not be. Ask yourself this. Can you explain why anything exists? Why is that ant crawling over your kitchen table? Why is it raining? Why are you breathing? Ultimately, why is their something rather that nothing? No one, not even the great priests or scientists can answer that. It is a Sacred Mystery, beyond our understanding, likely beyond our capacity to understand. Thus, if you look at things the right way, everything is Sacred.
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