The belief that any human mind can grasp enough of God to begin recognizing perfections in him would have struck the biblical authors as a pagan conceit.I found that Hazony's explanation on the pitfalls of perfection called to mind the first episode of "The Hermeneutics of Wishes" where I quote William James and call it the Incompatibility Principle. (shameless plug: There is still time to enjoy the six part series.)
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Finding Fault with God
It's nice to see that other mainstream media, aside from In Progress, attempts to venture beyond childhood notions of religion. Yoram Hazony, a Jewish Philosopher, writes a nice piece in the New York Times. This statement may be part of our mythical canon:
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My God is not Almighty. He struggles for he is in peril every moment; he trembles and stumbles in every living thing, and he cries out. He is defeated incessantly, but rises again, full of blood and earth, to throw himself into battle once more.
He is full of wounds, his eyes are filled with fear and stubbornness, his jawbones and temples are splintered. He does not surrender, he ascends...
* * *
My prayer is not the whimpering of a beggar nor a confession of love. Nor is it the triial reckoning of a small tradesman...
My prayer is the report of a soldier to his general: This is what I did today, this is how I fought to save the entire battle in my sector, these are the obstacles I found, this is how I plan to fight tomorrow....
Our love for each other is rough and ready, we sit at the same table, we drink the same wine in this low tavern of life.
As we clink our glasses, swords clash and resound, loves and hates spring up. We get drunk, visions of slaughter ascend before our eyes, cities crumble and fall in our brains, and though we are both wounded and screaming with pain, we plunder a huge Palace.
-- Nikos Kazantzakis, Saviors of God
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