From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Apr 06 2003 - 03:56:36 BST
Scott, Sam and all:
Let me have another go at this....
Scott said:
In sum, the Bible is seen as telling a lot about God (and people)
mythically, while theologians attempt to translate that telling into
something the intellect can handle.
DMB says:
Here's the problem. I keep saying that the problem with religion today is
that most people mistake myths for facts, which is not to say they aren't
true. The take a myth for a fact is to misunderstand the myth. Sure, the
intellect can read the symbolism of a myth and detect its meaning, but that
is not taking it literally. More importantly, such philosophical analysis
can not replace the function of the myth. As in the quote about the
resonance of an "affect image", its not supposed to be understood as an
intellectual concept, but experienced directly so that a more ancient level
is stirred. It can be described and analyzed later, but it that is the ONLY
way a myth can be related or understood, then it is dead and its power is
gone. So its not just a matter of rampant fundamentalism, scientific
materialism and widespread misunderstanding, althought that's true too, but
that the mythological images of our culture are very far removed from the
kind of world that we live in that they can no longer function, they can no
longer evoke in us what they used to. We can try to do some literary
archeology and try to reconstruct the context in which these symbols
actually had a living meaning, but the very fact that we need to do that
only shows how dead they are. I think the underlying message and meaning of
the world's great religions is still perfectly valid, but that we need an
appropriate mythology to express it, one that doesn't have all the apparent
contradictions with our world view.
A scientist was asked by a caller, perhaps not seriosly expecting an answer,
what the universe was BEFORE the big bang. He launched into to this very
interesting idea that before the big bang, there was no time, space, matter
or anything like that. It was all bound up in a perfect symmetry; matter and
anti-matter cancelling each other out perfectly and so on. Then something
happened to upset that balance and BANG! The universe began to unfold.
Amazed, the interviewer asked, "What happened? What tipped the balance?" "I
don't know," said the scientist flatly, shrugging his sholders. And with his
Indian accent, said, "God got bored."
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