The God boxes
I was listening to someone – probably on a podcast – the other day and I posted a note as I often do on my phone. The note said “God not religion.” It seems us humans are determined to find a box which will contain what we often call God or Allah or by some other names. We create synonyms out of the leaders of spiritual movements who proclaim our human purpose. Unlike other animals – as far as we can determine – it is not enough that we show up, live at most a few decades, and die. Us humans like to think that we are the most advanced of beings because we can create more prominent and visible evidence of our having been present. From pyramids to sky scrapers to rockets which travel to the moon and other planets we are determined to mark our territory and act as if we are more than part of a magical universe or universes. As a matter of fact we do leave art in the form of drawings, paintings, sculptures, music and words woven into poems. We claim all the atoms in all their various forms as our own to mold, shape, train and, in diverse ways to serve us.
Philosophers and theologians attempt to create meaning or purpose beyond just being present as part of a whole; to explain the changing forms of energy as atoms are pressed together, stretched and ordered to serve our fragile human egos. Some of those weak egos take the work of the Buddha, Jesus, The Prophet and various other seekers of truth and meaning, give them a form and sometimes a face, decorate them with the qualities they think will attract or frightens others of their fragile species and proclaim the most efficient, fastest, most direct internet connection to the one god or even the one set of gods which are now boxed and sold as the true religion. The ability, tenacity or sheer desperation of humans now hold other frightened humans as hostage. This is not difficult as fear seems to be a core quality of most of us humans. We insist, “There has to be more than this moment of time. How can I extend these moments of life in this form? What will be the visible legacy to ensure that I am not forgotten? True some will be remembered for a few generations or even until the next ice age or until planet earth is absorbed into the nether world of this and/or other universes.
What then? Can we destroy God or the Gods by destroying this earth? Does the whole of energy in all its form cease to exist when humans have wielded their last swing of the giant machete?
If left to their old devices children will color outside the lines, use color and shape to depict the playful energy of atoms. Children instinctively know the technique of pointillism. Perhaps all children are direct descendants of Georges Seurat and Vincent van Gogh. As we true for these artists, children know that the dots form all things and will change form from tree to flower to sky to buildings to hurt to joy to floating off to ….
Young children have not yet learned to box God. Joy is joy. Despair is despair. Laugher is laugher. Safe hugs are safe hugs. They know until we tell them differently, “All the world is a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts, (Google the compete speech of Jacques in Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It”)
Written July 22, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I was listening to someone – probably on a podcast – the other day and I posted a note as I often do on my phone. The note said “God not religion.” It seems us humans are determined to find a box which will contain what we often call God or Allah or by some other names. We create synonyms out of the leaders of spiritual movements who proclaim our human purpose. Unlike other animals – as far as we can determine – it is not enough that we show up, live at most a few decades, and die. Us humans like to think that we are the most advanced of beings because we can create more prominent and visible evidence of our having been present. From pyramids to sky scrapers to rockets which travel to the moon and other planets we are determined to mark our territory and act as if we are more than part of a magical universe or universes. As a matter of fact we do leave art in the form of drawings, paintings, sculptures, music and words woven into poems. We claim all the atoms in all their various forms as our own to mold, shape, train and, in diverse ways to serve us.
Philosophers and theologians attempt to create meaning or purpose beyond just being present as part of a whole; to explain the changing forms of energy as atoms are pressed together, stretched and ordered to serve our fragile human egos. Some of those weak egos take the work of the Buddha, Jesus, The Prophet and various other seekers of truth and meaning, give them a form and sometimes a face, decorate them with the qualities they think will attract or frightens others of their fragile species and proclaim the most efficient, fastest, most direct internet connection to the one god or even the one set of gods which are now boxed and sold as the true religion. The ability, tenacity or sheer desperation of humans now hold other frightened humans as hostage. This is not difficult as fear seems to be a core quality of most of us humans. We insist, “There has to be more than this moment of time. How can I extend these moments of life in this form? What will be the visible legacy to ensure that I am not forgotten? True some will be remembered for a few generations or even until the next ice age or until planet earth is absorbed into the nether world of this and/or other universes.
What then? Can we destroy God or the Gods by destroying this earth? Does the whole of energy in all its form cease to exist when humans have wielded their last swing of the giant machete?
If left to their old devices children will color outside the lines, use color and shape to depict the playful energy of atoms. Children instinctively know the technique of pointillism. Perhaps all children are direct descendants of Georges Seurat and Vincent van Gogh. As we true for these artists, children know that the dots form all things and will change form from tree to flower to sky to buildings to hurt to joy to floating off to ….
Young children have not yet learned to box God. Joy is joy. Despair is despair. Laugher is laugher. Safe hugs are safe hugs. They know until we tell them differently, “All the world is a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts, (Google the compete speech of Jacques in Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It”)
Written July 22, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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