One of my metaphorical fancies, for the making of an albeit serious point, mark you well, is to liken all of reality to a soup; and then to compare the differing cosmologies and ontologies to the differing consistencies of soup.
To clarify, an ontology is merely a view as to what exists and what not. Some people's ontology, for example, allows for such entities as spirits and others not
The thinnest of all these soups, IMO, is atheist materialism. It is just matter ( the basic stock) with a little salt thrown in. It is clear, but without nourishment.
To make my point I go to the extreme other end of the spectrum where entities are multiplied excessively, giving the soup the consistency of wet concrete and the digestibility (ie rational coherence) of the same. I speak of extreme pentecostal religion. There is the stock; there are personalities; there is God; there are morals.
So far so good, a good healthy nourishing meal. But then they multiply entities beyond all reason. words become reified essences that have "power" not because of their meaning but by intrinsic supernatural endowment. Curses float round in the ether also sharing such reified essence. And they attach themselves to family lines like they do in bad horror movies. Faith also shares this reified existence, for some say it s a substance, indeed even the substance reality is made of. But some of these people have seen the atmosphere infested thick with billions of demons, one for every sin that every person has ever been temped with and also the source for every evil thought and doubt that any person comes up with - the classic "devil made me do it" excuse. Some also hold that demons infest amulets and books. Where all these unemployed demons hung out when the population of the earth was about 100 million and printing was non existent is a question they never considered. So demons are summoned where none exist and the wild imagination of the undisciplined thinker is taken to be divine revelation.
And the soup gets thicker and thicker
So that which exists, this soup, is thick with unnecessary entities, all invoked by bible verses misused to the extent of ignoring those passages that give prosaic explanations of such things as doubt and fear.
Such thick, dense and stinking slop I could not digest, rationally or even emotionally.
It made me sick, and when I finally crawled out from the cheap joint where they served this they cursed me
It has taken me years for this nonsense to be expelled from the relevant orifice.
I cannot live on salt and water but it turns out the Bible describes a reality that is more rational than the crazed claims of the charismaniacs
To clarify, an ontology is merely a view as to what exists and what not. Some people's ontology, for example, allows for such entities as spirits and others not
The thinnest of all these soups, IMO, is atheist materialism. It is just matter ( the basic stock) with a little salt thrown in. It is clear, but without nourishment.
To make my point I go to the extreme other end of the spectrum where entities are multiplied excessively, giving the soup the consistency of wet concrete and the digestibility (ie rational coherence) of the same. I speak of extreme pentecostal religion. There is the stock; there are personalities; there is God; there are morals.
So far so good, a good healthy nourishing meal. But then they multiply entities beyond all reason. words become reified essences that have "power" not because of their meaning but by intrinsic supernatural endowment. Curses float round in the ether also sharing such reified essence. And they attach themselves to family lines like they do in bad horror movies. Faith also shares this reified existence, for some say it s a substance, indeed even the substance reality is made of. But some of these people have seen the atmosphere infested thick with billions of demons, one for every sin that every person has ever been temped with and also the source for every evil thought and doubt that any person comes up with - the classic "devil made me do it" excuse. Some also hold that demons infest amulets and books. Where all these unemployed demons hung out when the population of the earth was about 100 million and printing was non existent is a question they never considered. So demons are summoned where none exist and the wild imagination of the undisciplined thinker is taken to be divine revelation.
And the soup gets thicker and thicker
So that which exists, this soup, is thick with unnecessary entities, all invoked by bible verses misused to the extent of ignoring those passages that give prosaic explanations of such things as doubt and fear.
Such thick, dense and stinking slop I could not digest, rationally or even emotionally.
It made me sick, and when I finally crawled out from the cheap joint where they served this they cursed me
It has taken me years for this nonsense to be expelled from the relevant orifice.
I cannot live on salt and water but it turns out the Bible describes a reality that is more rational than the crazed claims of the charismaniacs
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can disagree with me, even spiritedly. But keep it civil as I am the one hurt by cruelty. I must protect myself from nastiness and will block or ban users if I must. And it would help if you offered reasons for your disagreements. If they are good I may respect you. If they are sound I may even change my mind