=====Posting some raw notes from my diary today--its a messy stream of consciousness, but it fits together on a deep level=============== Question posed on CNN: How can we apply the teachings of Jesus in a Recession (I horrible and barely meaningful question--but a deep question nevertheless because it presents a strange-loop in history) -- the industrial and atomic age grew out of Christendom --so to say that we apply the teachings to a Recession in an atomic/industrial and information age is like saying we need to present the teachings on how to be an acorn and grow roots in order to grow branches or sprout buds and leaves. Perhaps there is something deeply similar between the two hypothetical teachers (the acorn and the leaf) however rudimentary--it represents the universe of things (molecules of DNA and such) and the beginnings of strong AI -- if we are to apply the teachings of Jesus in a way that is relevant to a Recession, we might as well turn the monitor to its source camera and watch an infinite recursion of doubt, despair and elation (all of which are combined into the contradiction entity known as a Christian) There simply isn't a way to map the industrial and atomic age matrix of the world as is now to the same 2000 years ago. In fact, one could argue that the presentation of a synthesis of human thought and ritual spilled over into rationalism of the enlightenment (an attempt to unify deities into a conscious omnipotent and omniscient godhead correlated to the unity of science under naturalism which later became physicalism--for good or bad. Again...the application of Jesus teaching would presuppose a fantastic understanding of the 20th century before it happened--this is not too difficult for Christians to accept, however contradictory the passages of the NT may be regarding Jesus apparent "oneness" with God. Interestingly enough, when questioned in the Gospel of John (a later source than the first three according to scholars) regarding his statement as to his divine nature, he responded with a retort that basically gave all humans the same exact nature (if you are to believe in this instance the literal interpretation) The merchants outside the temple--a free enterprise feeding on the superstitions of the Jewish people at the time (for the temple was actually an instance of the same vein as the south pacific cargo cults--the temple was a mockup of a control room that use to exist as an alien outpost to study human beings on this particular planet--once they left, and the gods (aliens) stopped mutilating their animals (hence the sacrifice)...they built a fake outpost). More on the striking similarities between the cargo cults and the Jewish (and by extension the Babylonian temples to Marduk. The reason for the high priest is simple...he was the one chosen by the alien archons as an intermediary--as the humans were too irrational and unpredictable being around the advanced technology. Don't laugh too hard at this until you read the history of cargo cults All of this of course does not negate the concept of God anymore than the calling of a tomato with different pronunciations changes the wordless (I emphasis this) target--i.e the tomato. Humans continue to put magic into their symbols--not realizing of course that the seemingly logical and grammatically correct arrangement of the words doesn't necessarily correspond to something meaningful in reality. Lao Tzu says that "naming is the origin of all particular things"--that is to say the a name is a packet of thought. "A thing is a think (Alan Watts)"
My only "religion" is to treat people the way I want to be treated. However, I also honesty "believe" that I and all creation can and do on some level have the same exact nature of Jesus. I think that is what he said and was saying. I do get more holistic the older I get. On the other hand I have to agree with boomerang. I don't really see the connection in the way the question is framed. But, I do understand from personal experience that our most inner thoughts which are built up over a lifetime, are really hard to convey with mere words.
If the Lord Jesus would come down and teach us how to walk on the water, we might find ways it would help with our energy problems. If the Lord Jesus would come down and teach us how he fed 5000 with only fives loaves and two fish, we might really be able to save a lot on food. If the Lord Jesus would come down and teach us how to magically heal the sick, we could save a lot on health care. We've already figured out how to create money from nothing so we don't need him for that.
If my understanding of Christianity is correct the whole question is moot. There is no great philosophical or social engineering angle to the teachings of Jesus. The believer's union with Christ is supposed to be a transformative experience removing the necessity for written law or overt instruction. One's being is placed in communion with the Holy Spirit making the believers intention, if not execution, in union with the purposes of the Godhead. Doesn't really seem to work out that way though. Or at least that has been my experience. That said, that is an insider's view from within one sect within Christianity. Take it for what it's worth, I don't even think it applies to the thread now that I think of it.
I forgot to mention some strange little thoughts about religion I've had lately: i.e. that religion is an ancient technology of directed (or arrested) development driven by information replicators - c.f. memetics.
Here is a tie-in with the George Leonard book and strange things on the Moon. The following is from pg. 89, George Leonard, Somebody Else is on the Moon and describes a portion of his sketch I posted in another thread that I include below the quote here. The Y marking on the back of the gleaming object cutting into the shade is identical to that on the three objects along the upper rim of the crater, and somewhat similar to that of the fourth. A review of all the world’s alphabets reveals that this Y with a line beneath it is similar to an ancient Semitic Z found on the famous Moabite stone and dates to 900 B.C.; and to an ancient Karosthi Z, Karosthi is an adaptation of the old Aramaic alphabet, thought to have been used by Jesus, to the needs of the Indian languages. But pursuing this line of thought leads perhaps to the notion that current occupants of the Moon helped Earth's populations make the history of the Old Testament and Vedas times. From that to the idea that the Bible and the Vedas were UFO stories . . . No. Best forget that z altogether. It's simply the "tree of life" . . . or a y with a line beneath it . . . and who knows what else?
