Random thoughts on the blue highways.
You never know what you will find on the blue highways. Particularly when the choice at an intersection is controlled by the roll of a die. About the only rule is that highway onramps don't count as an intersection. You don't even have to roll the die. If one road looks interesting, go for it.
Friday, July 4, 2008
An atheist finds God quite naturally.
God Helmets OBEs Illusions and a Cosmic Presence. - Beliefnet Forums: "Because of my fascination with the Mass, I have frequently joined good friends who were devout Catholics to their worship services. As you may know I suspend disbelief from the time I leave home, and try to participate as a Catholic in the service. I stay closely in emotional contact with my friend and try to mimic herm responses to better understand what it is that hesh is experiencing. My friends are in agreement that once they enter the church and genuflect, they feel they are in the presence of God. So I tried it. Like Dawkins I don't have much in the way of religious experiences to work with, but on a few occasions I have been able to mirror my friends feeling of the presence of an other. I don't have a God referent in my temporal lobes, so the presence was undefined, but seemed to be identifiable as separate from the others in the church."
I am simply amazed that you are able to do such a thing as "suspend disbelief." I have experienced fairly casual relationships with lifelong Catholics and found most of them to be anchored in the CCC:
ReplyDeleteThe Profession of Faith (the Creed)
The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (the Sacred Liturgy, especially the sacraments)
Life in Christ (including the Ten Commandments)
Christian Prayer (including The Lord's Prayer)
This foundation of the Church's BS is so ingrained in the thinking of the adherents, every passage, line, meaning is recalled as being "the truth." If one hears or is asked to recite portions of the CCC as a part of the Mass, I just don't see how one can "get into it" if the do not have and hold these core beliefs as being "facts."