And then there are myths:
“Myths are things that never happened but always are.” --Sallustius,
4th cent. A.D. (quoted in Carl Sagan's Dragons of Eden)
Sunny
SunWalker Enterprises
303-587-3017 (cell)
303-671-0704 (home/office)
No mattter how far
you've gone down the wrong road, turn back. ~ Turkish Proverb
From: dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of R Williams
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 3:02 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] The Grand
Design
George,
Perhaps the
primary way we talk about reality is to tell stories about
reality. When we forget that our stories are not reality, that
they are stories about reality, our stories become illusions.
When we think our stories are reality, i.e. that our illusions are the
way it really is, we get dogmatic and ideological and exclude
all those who tell other stories about reality. That's one
way to define fundamentalism. Fundamentalists, religious and
otherwise, literalize and absolutize their own stories, as if they were
more than stories, insist that everyone else do the same, and exclude
those who will not.
So,
John, maybe what George's quotes refer to as illusions that
soften reality and save us from insanity are
"good" illusions, and the ones that make us dogmatic and
exclusive are "bad" illusions. Not sure, just ruminating.
Randy
"Listen
to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to
be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires."
-Martin Buber (adapted)
From: M George Walters <m.george.walters@verizon.net>
To: '
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 3:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] The Grand
Design
Two
quotes from “Unknowns” that I believe:
“Illusions
are the way we maintain our sanity when reality bursts in.”
The
other
“We
never know reality for it is like looking on the face of God. All we know are
our illusions and when they are shattered we simply replace them with new ones
we invent or adopt from someone else. They are the shadows on Socrates cave”.
George
From:
dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of John Cock
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 3:26 PM
To: '
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] The Grand
Design
thx, jim, for
the charles winquist, desiring theology ('95) quote. been
thumbing through it. interesting.
and i've
never tried to categorize my illusions as positive or negative. that too is
interesting.
john
From: dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net]
On Behalf Of James Wiegel
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 2:11 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] The Grand
Design
|
Found this poem in the waiting area at the Episcopal
Diocese office here in To My Medial Prefrontal Cortex Isabel Galbraith People who have positive illusions are less likely
to be depressed. . . . There are risks, however, in maintaining illusions
that are too out of whack. – Timothy D, When I first heard of you, my scout, Spinning, glossing, scrubbing out Harsh facts about myself—the grout
And plaque of melancholy— I welcomed you, my little sprout Of green and glossy holly. Within your songs, you troubadour, I'm Mark Twain, not James Fennimore, Kristin Wig, not Drew Barrymore, Marley, not Cheech or Chong; I’m touchable waves, not pompadour, But now I know you’re there I’m scared. What buried thoughts have not been bared? What temporary awarenesses aired
Then were shut up in their towers? I don’t want to be unprepared
For life’s cold thundershowers. So don’t puff me up to astronaut, Or Guinevere of Camelot, Or world’s best boss, Sir Michael Scott—
The let-down’s suicidal As Dangle and his banjo not
Making American Idol. And so, tonight, I try to view Myself as all outsiders do. I shut you off; now I’m see-through
As a window in the dark, And in the mirror I’m 32
And what is soft is stark: Dumb jokes my friends indulge me in, New wrinkles in my oily skin, The joie de vivre
that I trade in
For grouchiness at home, Lost time that I could have spent
Working on a poem, Dumb poems about the slightest things, A pen that’s lost and long-lost flings – They hurt, but what really stings
Is when I add it up: No roommates and no wedding ring,
No money, book, or cup. . . . I’m definitely glad you’re there, Protecting me from this despair, The bruises my ego would otherwise wear,
Believing it deserved them. You help me function, help me dare,
Steel nerves when life unnerves them. The trouble is, we must – like flowers – Receive the right amount of showers And sun to pull new blooms from bowers.
To help us be us The inner eye’s more sweet than sour: Ourselves as loved ones see us
Rather delicious trialog, Paul. Thanks. I was
delighted to hear Dawkins say |
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