From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 18:01:20 GMT
Hi Sam:
> Moreover, the simple sense of life after death that you seem to think
> accounts for the appeal of Christianity is one that is, to say the least,
> spiritually untenable, as it is too egoistic. 'Those who seek to save their
> life will lose it' and all that. Christianity is geared around a
> renunciation of the ego rather more than it is geared around the ultimate
> salvation of the ego. That you find both Wim and my views on the matter
> surprising - especially if we are otherwise fairly typical
> Christians/Quakers - might say more about the general preconceptions held
> by our society, rather than reveal the truth about Christian faith.
Well, general preconceptions by our society appear to be the criteria for
"truth" if you believe the postmodernists. :-) But, being no pomo, I am
still surprised that you appear to deny the literal resurrection of Christ
from the grave and the Christian promise of life everlasting. I don't know
about salvation of the ego, but salvation of the "body" is specifically
promised. For example, the Apostle's Creed:
"I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the Communion
of Saints, the Forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the body; And the
Life everlasting."
Or John:
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Besides, what is Easter all about if not the resurrection of Christ? IMO
without that historical event Christianity would have been just another
cult with minimum historical impact.
>Which brings me to Pirsig. He seems to be thinking of human life in
general
> being maintained, rather than the existence of any one individual. As such
> I'm not sure it makes sense to think of it as a form of 'life after death'.
> Is he thinking of the maintenance of the biological level?
Perhaps. I'm not sure what he means either. Whatever, it doesn't seem
to be a significant part of the MOQ, nor does it uplift one's spirit or soul.
> Also relevant are his comments in Lila's Child about the difficulties of
> making individuality anything substantive. If he thinks individuality is
> ultimately an illusion it makes it a bit difficult to maintain any coherent
> sense of life after death.
What comments are you referring to? I must have missed them.
My reason for bringing all this up is the broader question of religious
belief vs. philosophical belief. The former has had broad appeal for
humanity, the latter practically none. I wonder why? I'm very interested
finding an answer to this question.
Platt
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