Re: OT: Prayer, ritual and magic // was conlang website

On Wed, 18 Oct 2000, Carlos Thompson wrote:

> Probably I was less clear now than in my previous post.  But I
> actually feel confortable in believing in the posibility of God not
> existing, because then I can focus in the responsability we have as
> human beings as we must be the ones to save ourselves, the ones to
> forgive ourselves, the ones to fix the mess ourselves without any
> _divine_ or _magical_ intervension.  I do believe that if God exist,
> s/he gave us the freedom not to need him/her.
Actually, I remember that when I was an atheist (until my early teens,
basically) one of the things that disturbed me about religion was that it
appeared to be like an addictive drug - once a person believes in God
they become utterly dependent upon that God.

There is some truth in that. If I found that all my experience of God was
an illusion, it would mean that the person I've become today is a person
I have become in vain, and that the deepest assumptions of my life (e.g.
that when I pray there is something outside of humanity there to hear me,
and not just my own subconscious) have no ultimate foundation. If that
happened, I would be lost. Very lost.

My only defence is that except in the sense of "best in a field of one",
we are evidentally *not* capable of fixing our own problems. The human
race has proven this over and over again, and I personally have proven it
over and over again as well. Therefore, if God *does* exist as someone
who interacts with us, guides us and has a destiny for us, then to deny
our need for that God is to live an illusion. Humanity betrays its
illusory nature at every corner. God, I think, shows a bit more promise.

P.S. God and I had a lot to say to each other last night. It was the sort
of prayer where I said, "Lord, being a Christian means making a certain
decision, and no matter how much it hurts me I am forced to make that
decision. I am forced to kneel before the throne of God, and to say,
Lord, when my desire contravenes your will ... cast out my desire". And
tears rolled from my eyes as I said it.

--
web.       | Here and there I like to preserve a few islands of sanity
netyp.com/ | within the vast sea of absurdity which is my mind.
member/    | After all, you can't survive as an eight foot tall
dragon     | flesh eating dragon if you've got no concept of reality.