RE: Is anything sacred? (Extra credit for specifying what it is for you.)
November 15, 2017 at 11:30 am
(This post was last modified: November 15, 2017 at 11:32 am by Whateverist.)
Thanks. I raised it in hopes it wasn't a baby we were throwing out with the bath. I liked Khem's remark early on that the sacred would have predated God and I agree with that. So it only seems fitting that it should survive the death of God.
So how is the sacred experienced differently by theists and atheists, and what might it have looked like before the idea of God arose?
Christians seem to have given the sacred subjecthood and turned every object and event in the world into His intention, accept where we're concerned. We've been entrusted with creative free will but not His omniscience or omnipotence. Trying to think within the mythos, I wonder what His purpose could have been for extending that part of His domain to us? Why have we been granted this franchise? Maybe we're trial godlings. Maybe monotheism isn't that much fun for the God forced to go it alone. Poor Guy is lonely or bored perhaps. For those who have centered the sacred in God there are questions to be answered regarding what He wants of us.
The sacred for those of us who have not invested it with subjecthood, it is still motivating and uplifting. One is inspired to act on its behalf. We value contact with whatever it may be. I can see where even the words "devotion" and "serve" can be applied. The difference I think is that the sacred we perceive does not command our actions, it only inspires them. If we seek to serve it we recognize how that is self serving in that it will allow us to maintain the connection.
So how is the sacred experienced differently by theists and atheists, and what might it have looked like before the idea of God arose?
Christians seem to have given the sacred subjecthood and turned every object and event in the world into His intention, accept where we're concerned. We've been entrusted with creative free will but not His omniscience or omnipotence. Trying to think within the mythos, I wonder what His purpose could have been for extending that part of His domain to us? Why have we been granted this franchise? Maybe we're trial godlings. Maybe monotheism isn't that much fun for the God forced to go it alone. Poor Guy is lonely or bored perhaps. For those who have centered the sacred in God there are questions to be answered regarding what He wants of us.
The sacred for those of us who have not invested it with subjecthood, it is still motivating and uplifting. One is inspired to act on its behalf. We value contact with whatever it may be. I can see where even the words "devotion" and "serve" can be applied. The difference I think is that the sacred we perceive does not command our actions, it only inspires them. If we seek to serve it we recognize how that is self serving in that it will allow us to maintain the connection.
