Religious Imagination: The Archer
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Religious Imagination: The Archer
 
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Hey, Steve, sorry if I appeared to shrug your question off. My answer was meant to be colorful, but not facetious. The only god worth having, in my book, is some sort of an anthropomorphic god. I am pretty sure that no such god exists. What does exist is a longing in people to be held in loving hands and put to a purpose, and they may manifest that longing in many ways. If I care to imagine a Diana-like god as a momentary expression of that longing, then I see nothing wrong with that, or necessarily facetious about it. Freud, of course, would love it. When I am indulging my religious imagination, I generally expend my effort on designing the perfect heaven. Just to reassure you that I am not fooling around here, I will quote the ending of my obituary for my brother, written 8 years ago and spoken before my august, waspish, mostly atheistic family. I am a life-long Darwinian. Like Darwin himself, I believe that no-one should be denied the comfort of a religious imagination, particularly if she or he happens to be an athiest. Even a non-believer should take the time to think what heaven might be. Where will it be? How old will you be in heaven? Whom will you see there? Will those people be as you know them now, or as you knew them as a child? What season will it be? What will you wear? For me, heaven will be, a doubles match on the court in Ipswich, my parents, family and friends cheering from the shade of the grape arbor, and me, bent to the net, with my big brother at the base line behind me, ready to serve. I think that, right there, is the best of religion, the comforting imagination. Now, if believing in least action as a fundamental law of nature, as a goal that nature is trying to fulfill, gives you that sort of comfort, I am all for it. But I cannot imagine being comforted by that. Well, I suppose I could imagine it like a river, heading toward The Good, and I, lolling in a boat, being carried along. But I think, pretty quick, I would sit up in the boat and wonder what this Good Place is (See the TV series of that name) No religious imagining is going to do me good that isn’t pretty specific. My own sense of How Things Actually Are is actually pretty unsettling. As in our politics, I imagine two basins of attraction, one, the progressive democratic, the other, the autocratic fascist, and a function that goes back and forth, going down to the bottom of each basin until it is suddenly flung out into the outskirts of the other from which it now descends. The only question is how deep down into our present cesspit we have to go before things start to get better. Is this a 50 year cesspit, or a 400 year one. Nick Nick Thompson https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Nick asks: -Stephen On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 6:12 PM <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Re: Religious Imagination: The Archer
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< Is this a 50 year cesspit, or a 400 year one. > I think so much technology will change in 50 years that it seems unlikely that the expression of power will resemble how it is understood now. The rich, ambitious and adventurous may go transhuman, and then who knows what happens to the
people in the outgroup. Somehow I don’t think the earth will be left to be destroyed though. Marcus From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of
[hidden email] Hey, Steve, sorry if I appeared to shrug your question off. My answer was meant to be colorful, but not facetious.
The only god worth having, in my book, is some sort of an anthropomorphic god. I am pretty sure that no such god exists. What does exist is a longing in people to be held in loving hands and put to a purpose, and they may manifest that
longing in many ways. If I care to imagine a Diana-like god as a momentary expression of that longing, then I see nothing wrong with that, or necessarily facetious about it. Freud, of course, would love it.
When I am indulging my religious imagination, I generally expend my effort on designing the perfect heaven. Just to reassure you that I am not fooling around here, I will quote the ending of my obituary for my brother, written 8 years
ago and spoken before my august, waspish, mostly atheistic family. I am a life-long Darwinian. Like Darwin himself, I believe that no-one should be denied the comfort of a religious imagination, particularly if she or he happens to be an athiest. Even a non-believer should take the time to think what
heaven might be. Where will it be? How old will you be in heaven? Whom will you see there? Will those people be as you know them now, or as you knew them as a child? What season will it be? What will you wear? For me, heaven will be, a doubles match on the court in Ipswich, my parents, family and friends cheering from the shade of the grape arbor, and me, bent to the net, with my big brother at the base line behind me, ready to serve. I think that, right there, is the best of religion, the comforting imagination.
Now, if believing in least action as a fundamental law of nature, as a goal that nature is trying to fulfill, gives you that sort of comfort, I am all for it. But I cannot imagine being comforted by that. Well, I suppose I could imagine
it like a river, heading toward The Good, and I, lolling in a boat, being carried along. But I think, pretty quick, I would sit up in the boat and wonder what this Good Place is (See the TV series of that name) No religious imagining is going to do me good
that isn’t pretty specific. My own sense of How Things Actually Are is actually pretty unsettling. As in our politics, I imagine two basins of attraction, one, the progressive democratic, the other, the autocratic fascist, and a function that goes back and
forth, going down to the bottom of each basin until it is suddenly flung out into the outskirts of the other from which it now descends. The only question is how deep down into our present cesspit we have to go before things start to get better. Is this
a 50 year cesspit, or a 400 year one. Nick Nick Thompson https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam <[hidden email]>
On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Nick asks: -Stephen On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 6:12 PM <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Re: Religious Imagination: The Archer
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In reply to this post by thompnickson2
Freud would be impressed with your fusion of a strong, male, protective hunter and a bounteous giving mother to form your god(des). Everyone longs for the days when she had an omniscient, omnipotent parent imago. --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 4:22 PM <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Re: Religious Imagination: The Archer
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In reply to this post by thompnickson2
Thanks, Nick! A lot to respond to. I will do it in chunks. On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 4:22 PM <[hidden email]> wrote: For me, heaven will be, a doubles match on the court in Ipswich, my parents, family and friends cheering from the shade of the grape arbor, and me, bent to the net, with my big brother at the base line behind me, ready to serve. Very powerful imagery capturing a relationship with an older brother in the tennis partner context. That is a precise moment and feeling to imagine in a coupled relationship. I can appreciate the comfort of that lasting image. I played tennis from 11a until 11p with lit courts from 4th grade, through middle school summer camps, city leagues and high school varsity until trailing off into colleage intramurals. Frank, as you know, continues to this day. I have a deeper connection to the feeling of hardcourt, composite or clay under my feet through sweat soaked socks and tennish shoes than the barefoot feeling of sand on a beach. I can feel you in your antipatory crouch with the trust that your brother''s powerful serve will probably pass close enough to your face to feel the air pressure. You probably just flashed the secret hand code you two developed to indicate whether you're poaching or not and ready to spring as soon as antipate first raquet contact to ball. It's you and your brother against the other. You've probably developed an ingroup outgroup dynamic by the third game in the match that you can only see the others as assholes and can't stand their faces, their chatter, and even how they fidget spin their racquets..As you crouch, with your brother ready to serve, you're probably staring down the receiver and his partner with a poker face not revealing the plan. And two games later the position will reverse and your older brother will be waiting for your serve. - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ |
Re: Religious Imagination: The Archer
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Steve, Crumpled as I am, I can still feel what it’s like to hit a top-spin lob with just the right amount of pull. Have you ever read the tennis scenes in All The Kings Men? You have a good voice going here. More chunks, please. Nick Nick Thompson https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Thanks, Nick! A lot to respond to. I will do it in chunks. On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 4:22 PM <[hidden email]> wrote:
Very powerful imagery capturing a relationship with an older brother in the tennis partner context. That is a precise moment and feeling to imagine in a coupled relationship. I can appreciate the comfort of that lasting image. - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ |
Re: Religious Imagination: The Archer
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In reply to this post by thompnickson2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmwAD7nHqaY From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of
[hidden email] Hey, Steve, sorry if I appeared to shrug your question off. My answer was meant to be colorful, but not facetious.
The only god worth having, in my book, is some sort of an anthropomorphic god. I am pretty sure that no such god exists. What does exist is a longing in people to be held in loving hands and put to a purpose, and they may manifest that
longing in many ways. If I care to imagine a Diana-like god as a momentary expression of that longing, then I see nothing wrong with that, or necessarily facetious about it. Freud, of course, would love it.
When I am indulging my religious imagination, I generally expend my effort on designing the perfect heaven. Just to reassure you that I am not fooling around here, I will quote the ending of my obituary for my brother, written 8 years
ago and spoken before my august, waspish, mostly atheistic family. I am a life-long Darwinian. Like Darwin himself, I believe that no-one should be denied the comfort of a religious imagination, particularly if she or he happens to be an athiest. Even a non-believer should take the time to think what
heaven might be. Where will it be? How old will you be in heaven? Whom will you see there? Will those people be as you know them now, or as you knew them as a child? What season will it be? What will you wear? For me, heaven will be, a doubles match on the court in Ipswich, my parents, family and friends cheering from the shade of the grape arbor, and me, bent to the net, with my big brother at the base line behind me, ready to serve. I think that, right there, is the best of religion, the comforting imagination.
Now, if believing in least action as a fundamental law of nature, as a goal that nature is trying to fulfill, gives you that sort of comfort, I am all for it. But I cannot imagine being comforted by that. Well, I suppose I could imagine
it like a river, heading toward The Good, and I, lolling in a boat, being carried along. But I think, pretty quick, I would sit up in the boat and wonder what this Good Place is (See the TV series of that name) No religious imagining is going to do me good
that isn’t pretty specific. My own sense of How Things Actually Are is actually pretty unsettling. As in our politics, I imagine two basins of attraction, one, the progressive democratic, the other, the autocratic fascist, and a function that goes back and
forth, going down to the bottom of each basin until it is suddenly flung out into the outskirts of the other from which it now descends. The only question is how deep down into our present cesspit we have to go before things start to get better. Is this
a 50 year cesspit, or a 400 year one. Nick Nick Thompson https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam <[hidden email]>
On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin Nick asks: -Stephen On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 6:12 PM <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Ouch, that is SO WRONG! Atheists got *all* tunes. Local atheists and [th|d]eists are the ones with too few songs. Agnostics and global atheists are free to pick and choose, cafeteria style, which tunes they like and which they don't. We got more songs than you! Na, na, na, na, naaaaa. And we can wear more shoe styles, too:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-04-09/satan-shoes-lil-nas-x-recall-nike On 4/12/21 10:56 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmwAD7nHqaY <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmwAD7nHqaY> -- ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
uǝʃƃ ⊥ glen
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