Remember this quote? 'When I heard scientists declare they'd found the source of all religious experience, I didn't join in all the stupid, theological debates. So what if "God" chose to show his face in the form of a seizure in the brain's left temporal lobe, it was still God.' -- Max Thunderstone, from Grant Morrison's "The Filth"
I got a long chance to debate that, today, in my NRM class, and... it fucking astonishes me, how much the reductionist argument has prevailed, these past few years. Localizing an experienece to a brainstate does not negate the validity, or the existant nature of that experience. I can hallucinate God, and have it still be god, for it having been a hallucination. They are not mutually exclusive. So tiring...
I... chose to talk about my grandmother, today. We were discussing Pentacostalism, today, and there was... one other person in the class with a Pentacostal background, and a few others who'd "Studied" it. And yet, when we looked at the verses in Acts, chapter two, there was... some how a doubt in interpretation. "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? . . .We hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." (Acts 2: 8-16). Two people. Speaking. Masses each hearing the words in their own languages. How is that hard to understand? Read the chapter yourself, if you want. It's right there. Anyway... About the other thing...
We got to talking about Tongues and Prophecy, and how those were originally meant to be understood, and the ways in which they Were understood, today.. and every one has their own understanding. And not a single one of them would relinquish a hold on "Rightness." And none of them saw the irony... Stress.
Used that quote, at the top, to start my thesis paper. Then it became apt, throughout the day. More irony, and fitting "coincidence"...
Blah, babbling. Feeling out of the loop, on a daily basis, except for today, in talking about... everything that had pissed me off with irony... There's a word for that.
As
mech_angel said, a while ago: "Can open, worms EVERYwhere."
I got a long chance to debate that, today, in my NRM class, and... it fucking astonishes me, how much the reductionist argument has prevailed, these past few years. Localizing an experienece to a brainstate does not negate the validity, or the existant nature of that experience. I can hallucinate God, and have it still be god, for it having been a hallucination. They are not mutually exclusive. So tiring...
I... chose to talk about my grandmother, today. We were discussing Pentacostalism, today, and there was... one other person in the class with a Pentacostal background, and a few others who'd "Studied" it. And yet, when we looked at the verses in Acts, chapter two, there was... some how a doubt in interpretation. "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? . . .We hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." (Acts 2: 8-16). Two people. Speaking. Masses each hearing the words in their own languages. How is that hard to understand? Read the chapter yourself, if you want. It's right there. Anyway... About the other thing...
We got to talking about Tongues and Prophecy, and how those were originally meant to be understood, and the ways in which they Were understood, today.. and every one has their own understanding. And not a single one of them would relinquish a hold on "Rightness." And none of them saw the irony... Stress.
Used that quote, at the top, to start my thesis paper. Then it became apt, throughout the day. More irony, and fitting "coincidence"...
Blah, babbling. Feeling out of the loop, on a daily basis, except for today, in talking about... everything that had pissed me off with irony... There's a word for that.
As
There for the debate...
Date: 2004-06-29 05:01 pm (UTC)Eastern traditions dont have the monopoly on spiritual crap, nor do christians have the monopoly on faking paranormal experiences.
At least you missed the 9/11 debate during the break in Contemp. Moral Issues. That got nasty.
Re: There for the debate...
no subject
Date: 2004-06-29 07:46 pm (UTC)Tongues...listening with the mind...Things have been misused and corrupted and bent so much that people in the so-called 'normal' bent won't see it as other than quackery. Unless shown it, period. Because from what I've been told and shown, there's no mistaking the Real thing.
And love, sometimes you have to force yourself into the Loop.
no subject
no subject
Date: 2004-06-29 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Something i'll take care of, one way or another. No worries...