On Apr 4, 7:34=A0am, Buford Cranston <cicer...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Apr 3, 12:48=A0pm, Day Brown <daybr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > In "The Birth of Tragedy", Nietzsche noted how Dionysianism (ie, a
> > Native European religion) was based on works of theater claiming
> > allegorical truth, while the Levantine religions were based on works
> > of literature claiming literal truth.
>
> > So- if you watch Shakespeare or Sophocles, and just dont get it, it
> > makes perfect sense to turn to the Bible and its claims of literal
> > truth. Dr. Freud noted how neurotics cannot tolerate ambiguity.
> > Allegorical truth is always somewhat ambiguous; the villains and heros
> > of great drama are always somewhat flawed. There is no claim for moral
> > perfection as seen in the Bible.
>
> > Modern media is so varied it presents an increasingly ambiguous view,
> > and one of the ways neurotics have of coping is to use psychological
> > denial, ignore all that, and latch on to some authoratative source-
> > the Torah, the Bible, the Koran. Rational discourse has no effect.
>
> > Dr. Freud noted also how inventive neurotics were in explaining to
> > themselves why they think as they do, rather than accepting the
> > rational conclusions of, albeit, somewhat ambiguous data. They are
> > often, for instance, in denial about global warming; the statistical
> > data is not compelling to them, and there is a diligent search for
> > anomalies in data sets. The inventiveness Freud refered to. We see the
> > same with Creationism.
>
> > One of the allegorical lessons we can draw is that the Levantine
> > religions all have a concept of the divine as an alpha male tyrant
> > whose word is law. Joseph Campbell observed that there was no point in
> > the study of natural law since it was based on the will of god, and
> > the will of god can change? Thus, the mandate was to study the holy
> > word, which did not change, to extract the least grain of holy truth.
>
> > Buddhism, Con****ianism, & Taoism didnt have that attitude; The truth
> > they claim is not because Buddha or Con****ius or Lao Tzu said it, but
> > that they saw what everyone else since has seen was manifestly true.
> > And it is manifestly true now that there are vast numbers of the
> > mentally dysfunctional for whom rational discourse- in these postings
> > or anywhere else, does no good.
>
> > The followers of the Levantine scriptures say there is evil in the
> > world, the rest of us say there is insanity in their minds. Either
> > way, is danger. But because the Levantine tradition was crafted at the
> > outset to pander to the instincts of the alpha male warrior class, it
> > is limited by the mental characteristics of that class. The alpha
> > males do not care what you think, they have always relied on threats
> > and force to compell others to obey. The others however, have had to
> > seek a greater understanding of what the alpha males think so as to
> > pick up on when their aggressive impulses will produce a blow and
> > thereby brace themselves for it.
>
> > The alpha male cosmologies claim that all men are sinners because all
> > of them have relied on the use of force, and thereby need forgiveness
> > for it. Alpha males are always acutely aware of status within a power
> > structure, and so model heaven on the same kind of tyrannical steep
> > pyramidal power structures alpha males create. God the Father, god the
> > son, archangels, angels, then man. then woman. Any of us who are not a
> > believer in a Levantine religion recognize the allegorical truth in
> > this paragraph, and any who are, will nit pick it.
>
> > Campbell saw that in a Levantine religion, man is on the earth, below
> > heaven, but not *of* the earth, which is the common thread of native
> > cosmologies. autochthonous. In the Levantine tradition, man (not
> > woman) is to have dominion. In the Native European, American, Asian
> > cosmologies, man is here the same as all other life, and there is an
> > acute awareness that we share the planet. There is no excuse to "be
> > fruitful and multiply" at the expense of other species.
>
> > Anything done to the planet to "save souls" or "win followers" is
> > permissable. We could go on down the line of such downsides, but
> > again, as Freud noted, the neurotic will dismiss them all as trivia.
> > Lastly, we should note that neurosis is a chronic condition, most
> > often terminal.
>
> The fact that mankind has no free will renders all religions absurd
> and meaningless. God is Nature; it is not man-like and is not
> susceptible to wor****p or prayers. Nature is amoral and could destroy
> this planet and the solar system and would remain completely
> indifferent and remorseless. Nature is amoral. There is no no right
orwron=
g. Shadespeare wrote:"There is neither right nor wrong, but
>
> thinking makes its so".
>
> In his great poem American nihilist poet Robinson Jeffer tells us all
> we need to know about nature, god, morality and religion.
>
> Practical people I have been told,
> Weary of the sea for his waves go up and down
> Endlessly to no visible purpose:
> Tire of the tides, for the tides are tireless, the tides
> Are well content with their own march-tune
> And nothing =A0accomplished is no matter to them.
> It seems wasteful to practical people.
> And that the nations labor and =A0gather and dissolve into destruction;
> the stars sharpen
> There spirit of spendour, and then it dims, and the stars
> Darken; and that the spirit of man
> Sharpens up to maturity and cools dull
> With age, dies and rusts out of service;And all these tidal
> gatherings,growth and decay,****ning and darkening, are forever
> Renewed; and the whole cycle impenitently Revolves, and all the past
> is future:--
> Make it a difficult world...for practical people.--Robinson Jeffers,
> American poet.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
"Probably no such person as Jesus Christ ever existed. If he did
exist, we can know nothing about him". --George Bernard Shaw
And Shaw would no doubt have said the same thing about Mohammed.
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