Seems to me that people are the same in one regard World-wide, from the tiniest baby to the oldest 'fossil'. Emotion. We delight in the delight of others and are horrified at the horror of other and we can delight in the horror of others and can be horrified at the delight of others.
I think that the terms 'spiritual', magickal and emotional are 'inter-confused' very easily and that we are more or less willing participants in this self-confusion and confusing of others.
I wonder if it is true that whoever makes you feel bad is evil, or at least being evil?
Is anyone that is making you feel good a good person or at least doing good?
I'm not sure if the story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the 'greatest story ever told' but it certainly is constructed to invoke as many emotions as we have, deliberately(?) mixing emotions, mixing the idea of spirituality and emotions.
Jesus body, we hear, after being horribly tortured to death(sadness, anger, sense of unfairness etc.) is brought to a nearby tomb(sense of decency, right thing to do etc.) and the disciples are worried(aren't you?) that something might happen to it.(the body)
The solution is to have it guarded by some unbiased, unimpeachable 'policemen' of the time, Roman soldiers!(law, order, strictness following orders to the letter etc.)
During their watch, Jesus rises from the dead!(wonder, promise of dreams come true, justification of belief, we WILL meet our loved ones again and forever etc.)
((This doesn't necessarilly follow really, depending on whether you imagine another earthly life and not some kind of other-dimensional plane kind of everlasting life.))
But the Roman guards are bribed to lie about it. (disappointment, betrayal etc.)
At this crucial moment in the Christian faith, in this particular version, the guards are to be thought of as unimpeachable, unbiased witnesses to one thing(Jesus' body BEING there) AND impeachable, biased, easily corruptible, lying scoundrels when it comes to seeing Jesus' body come back to life! Or is it being accurate in their statement that no-one came took the body?(well, the essence of evil really.)
Are we encouraged to feel mixed emotions towards the only ACTUAL witnesses to Jesus' physical ressurection? Of course we are. Are we supposed to NOTICE that we're being encouraged to have profoundly mixed feelings towards those guards?
Well, I think that we're supposed to find spirituality in this mixed message, somewhere in this mix of feeling(that KNOWING) that authority is unimpeachable and that authority is(the KNOWING that authority is), at the exact same time, an illusion really, only as strong as the weakest link, men's avarice, in this case.
Meh, I dunno.(sadness)
4 comments:
I do like those peanut butter eggs they sell this time of year!
The story is convoluted, true. It's just as strange as the rest of that book god wrote.
in that book we are supposed to take some parts figuratively, others literally. The bit about JC's dad being an an angry prick destroying the world and all is figurative. The parts with Jesus being sweet, loving and forgiving is literal. i suppose because he didn't slay anyone in this particular scenario, Jesus' resurection is meant to be taken literally. At least it follows the pattern as I understand it.
Really, you should try those eggs. They are divine!
BTW,
Happy Zombie Deity day to you.
This book, like many other religious texts, was written in a time when less than 1% of the population could read. Laws, morals, ideals were passed on by word of mouth. It is of its time.
Maybe if we changed the title to "A manual for living comfortably on the earth" then not so many people would have a problem with it.
As it is the organised religions are all fighting over their manuals (mine's better than yours) and forgetting about what lies at the centre. Your spirituality cannot be found in a book, it is in you, you are your own God or Goddess.
Magick eh?
Not sure if you're 'with me' on this post Minx.
Can you not imagine being told this story at a meeting, face to face with a preacher/apostle putting all the emotion that I mentioned 'into it'(and more) that he/she(?) possibly could.
The story has a roller-coaster of pure emotion attached to it, and what I'm saying here is that there is a disconnect when it comes to how we're supposed to feel about the Roman guards, at once being the 'perfect' unbiased witnesses and completely dismissed as liars for a bribe.
You and I both know that fables and fairy stories can have allegorical meaning that children aren't 'seeing' but nevertheless sticks with them on another level.
This is the magick part, which is very real in a sense, the 'spell' part, the hearing of the meaning without understanding what is being said, yet believing it, and such.
All other magick, is potions, which can either be real drugs affecting one's system or placebo effect, basically 'sugar-pill-plus-word-magick'.
Post a Comment