Re: .com/religion

In a message dated 9/20/01 2:04:29 AM, christophe.grandsire@FREE.FR writes:

<< It's one of my opinions yes. But there's also something else: I don't know
if

there is a God, but I think there are gods, or at least spiritual creatures

that are born from people's faith in them. They have the characteristics
people

give them, but they are not omnipotent and omniscient. And if the faith of

people in them disappears, they will disappear too. Those "gods" (I don't know

a better name for them, though they don't quite fit the usual definition of

gods) are only one type of spiritual creatures existing (that's the

spiritualist part), but they represent all religions in the world (that's the

pantheist part). As for the existence of a God, creator of the Universe and

everything in it, I don't know if It exists or not, and I don't feel the need

for It to exist to have an ideal in life (that's the agnostic part). >>

    This reminds me of a story by the fellow who wrote A Room with a View.
What's h is name?  Ah yes, E.M. Forester!  Or Forrster?  Shoot, I hate that
name...  Anyway, it's called something like "Mr. Wilson", I believe.  Anyway,
he dies, and he turns into a little soul that flies up in the air and he
meets a native American soul on the way (I believe the word "Indian" or
"savage" is used; oh well).  So the "savage" tells him that he died an
honorable death and thus expects to meet some great hunter who was the sower
of all mankind, or some such thing.  Mr. Wilson is some form of Christianity,
so he expects to go meet God and the trinity.  Anyway, they bump up against
this mass expanse that they have to try and push through.  It's extremely
difficult, and it takes every ounce of energy and strength they have to push
through it, but they finall do, and they come up to a plateau with a gate.
Anyway, so they pass through a gate, and they see all sorts of statues all
over the place: Mary, Christ, Budha, Ganesh, and "some rather frightening
looking ones Mr. Wilson didn't recognize".  Anyway, so the pair kind of look
at each other and figure they ought to go off to their respective statues.
So Mr. Wilson finds  his way over to Christ and there are a bunch of people
walking around it, staring at it.  He does this for awhile, but doesn't find
it too satisfying.  Anyway, after awhile he leaves, figuring to go find his
friend again.  He finds him prostrated before a statue of some hunter looking
fellow and totally ignoring everything else.  So Mr. Wilson sighs and wanders
back out the gate, disappointed.  Then, however, he takes a look at that mass
expanse he'd had to pass through.  Somehow he now felt drawn to it.  So he
floated back towards it, but this time he didn't try to press through it.
Instead, he surrendered himself to its push and pull, and then, suddenly, he
found himself one with it, and there he found heaven.

    So, it's some sort of a "World Soul" idea, and I believe the actual story
may even use those words.  What kind of religion is that?

-David3

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