From: Mike Rose (mich_ros@alcor.concordia.ca)
Date: Sun Apr 20 1997 - 23:48:58 MDT
On Sun, 20 Apr 1997, E. Shaun Russell wrote:
> Psychologically, any idea of a divine, commandeering force is a sure
> sign of a weakened grip on reality.
Surely not if there is a cammandeering force, in reality.
> It can be compared to a child's
> imaginary friend: the child believes that it is there, though the parent
> knows that it is not.
Parents seem to have such narrow reality tunnels.
> One who depends on a god is one who fears responsibility;
If you define god as 'one who takes responsibility', yes. But what about a
god who is 'just there' and is just a positive force for good?
> this can be proven with the concept of "praying". Praying *does* have
> healing qualities. This is not because the one who is praying is being
> 'relieved by God' but because the one who is praying has such a strong
> belief that there are other shoulders (God or Jesus') to heap a burden on.
Praying, to me, is not about unburdoning (confession maybe!). It is about
magick and a way of concretizing ones will, which can be a psychological
trigger or catalyst. I don't pray anymore, I prefer to cast spells as it
fits me fondess of esoterica and it messes with people's heads, but
praying and magick and psychological therapy are all basically the same,
it's also all NLP and metaprogramming at the end of the day.
And if you believe in metaprogramming, why not a god who is beyond where
you are at at the moment? It is a good metametaphor.
MikeRose
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