Yes, I'm returning to poetry. I'm moving from the abstract text-blocks I developed in the last year or so, to a more conventional form. Loosely linked words and phrases, with some repetition, focused more outward and less inward in subject. But it's the mix of outward subject with inward context that I hope will capture something that others will find worth reading.
This is a way to find meaning through creative work. I am reminded from one of the Hasidic blogs that I read that Joy is an important part of life. God wants us to be happy, to be joyful, and to live fully and creatively. God or not, we all seek happiness in life. It can be found, but the process may be longer and more difficult than we were expecting.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
the moment has passed...
I probably won't go to church. I tried to incorporate spirituality without belief, but it seems forced. Whatever my neurons are firing on about, I can't pretend to believe, or to ignore the fact that I need some coherence to a belief system. Wouldn't church seem like a lot of noise about something that I don't accept? The trinity, Jesus as man-god, Mary, the whole thing. I just don't buy it. And my interest in Judaism has its limits. I"m not Jewish, and and I'm not gonna become one. So at the end it's a way of life that others have, and that I don't have. I can study Judaism as another mythology system in the world. I teach non-western mythology in the fall semesters and I'm pretty happy to study world religions from an academic point of view. Judaism is in there with Hinduism, Shinto, Buddhism, etc. But it's an academic interest.
So the issues of success and happiness still need to be faced. And now spirituality doesn't seem like a possible solution.
So the issues of success and happiness still need to be faced. And now spirituality doesn't seem like a possible solution.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Just Do It!
Forget "belief." Just do it!
Read it, go there, study it, whatever! Belief is not required to read, study, or attend. If you want to do it, then do it, and worry about belief later!
Read it, go there, study it, whatever! Belief is not required to read, study, or attend. If you want to do it, then do it, and worry about belief later!
Friday, January 9, 2009
god is a concept
God is a concept. It can be useful to some people, and not to others. It is a tool that can be used or not used.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Apophatic theology
Apophatic theology -- from wiki
is a theology that attempts to describe God by negation, to speak of God only in terms of what may not be said about God.
In brief, the attempt is to gain and express knowledge of God by describing what God is not (apophasis), rather than by describing what God is. The apophatic tradition is often, though not always, allied with the approach of mysticism, which focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception, an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion or learned thought and behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophatic_theology
from wiki article on Maimonides:
One of the central tenets of Maimonides's philosophy is that it is impossible for the truths arrived at by human intellect to contradict those revealed by God. Maimonides held to a strictly apophatic theology in which only negative statements toward a description of God may be considered correct. Thus, one does not say "God is One", but rather, "God is not multiple".
is a theology that attempts to describe God by negation, to speak of God only in terms of what may not be said about God.
In brief, the attempt is to gain and express knowledge of God by describing what God is not (apophasis), rather than by describing what God is. The apophatic tradition is often, though not always, allied with the approach of mysticism, which focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception, an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion or learned thought and behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophatic_theology
from wiki article on Maimonides:
One of the central tenets of Maimonides's philosophy is that it is impossible for the truths arrived at by human intellect to contradict those revealed by God. Maimonides held to a strictly apophatic theology in which only negative statements toward a description of God may be considered correct. Thus, one does not say "God is One", but rather, "God is not multiple".
"Belief" again!
To believe in god is a belief.
To not believe in god is a belief.
Neither is provable or unprovable.
Both are unobservable mental states. Even a brain scan of any type only shows brain activity; particular neurons in particular regions. the specific qualia cannot be "observed" by an outside observer. So...
What's the difference?
To not believe in god is a belief.
Neither is provable or unprovable.
Both are unobservable mental states. Even a brain scan of any type only shows brain activity; particular neurons in particular regions. the specific qualia cannot be "observed" by an outside observer. So...
What's the difference?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
from Mystical Paths; forgiveness
Here's a quote from mystical paths (http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/) that makes me feel good:
Reb Nosson was totally attached to Hashem until the very end. His whole mission was to show that a man can always return to Hashem, regardless of anything he may have done, no matter how much he may have sinned. This was the mission Rebbe Nachman held out to him a few days after their frist meeting: to become the lower point of the aleph, to bring life, vitality and faith to all the lower levels. Even as he left this world, Reb Nosson was mindful of his mission, repeating again and again, "Chanun Hamarbeh lislo'ach" There is hope for all; Hashem will forgive! always!
There is great comfort in those words of Reb Nosson. Thanks for posting this, Reb Nati
Reb Nosson was totally attached to Hashem until the very end. His whole mission was to show that a man can always return to Hashem, regardless of anything he may have done, no matter how much he may have sinned. This was the mission Rebbe Nachman held out to him a few days after their frist meeting: to become the lower point of the aleph, to bring life, vitality and faith to all the lower levels. Even as he left this world, Reb Nosson was mindful of his mission, repeating again and again, "Chanun Hamarbeh lislo'ach" There is hope for all; Hashem will forgive! always!
There is great comfort in those words of Reb Nosson. Thanks for posting this, Reb Nati
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