"Most Christians would say anything is true about how devoted they are to Jesus Christ. Yet they never show it. Never truly show it. Never sacrifice until the end to show it. Paraphrased from his lectures on religion and enlightenment, Adorno utters, “In many churches, the proclamation of the Gospel has become a substitute for its content.” You are right. And you remind is that we can do better, which is a good thing.
Thank you so much for commenting. I didn't want to come out too snarky against Christians. Also, I don't know if the Mormons are Christian, the Catholic priests usually don't consider them Christian at all! I think we can all do better, I think faith and secular humanism or other variants don't have a "completion" it's always a journey. Everyone has room for improvement! I wish you all the best!
"At the bottom of all things I am a truly spiritual person, but it’s a lonely decision. There is no one I can talk theology with. There is no one I can attend church with and feel enlightened, transfigured even...According to Kierkegaard, “The crowd is untruth.” This is devastating. He believed truth was radically individual, that faith begins only when you leave the herd behind."
IMHO, it's only lonely until you begin to recognize that you’re experiencing God. I was 38 when an event occurred that made me really wonder. Twelve years later I started to try to write about what I was experiencing. Four years later I found Carl Jung.
I’m experiencing profound synchronicity, some of which I’ve been able to document (I have a collection of essays here called "Synchronicity, Documented"), and I’ve been experiencing premonitions and guidance in the manner that Jung describes below.
I'd be happy to talk to you about Theology any time.
Carl Jung said, “I do not need to believe in God; I know,” which does not mean: I do know a certain God (Zeus, Yahweh, Allah, the Trinitarian God, etc. ) but rather: I do know that I am obviously confronted with a factor unknown in itself, which I call ‘God.’
It is an apt name given to all overpowering emotions in my own psychical system subduing my conscious will and usurping control over myself. This is the name by which I designate all things which cross my path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans, and intentions and change the course of my life for better or worse. In accordance with tradition, I call the power of fate in this positive as well as negative aspect, and inasmuch as its origin is beyond my control, ‘god,’ a ‘personal god,’ since my fate means very much myself, particularly when it approaches me in the form of conscience as a vox Dei, with which I can even converse and argue.”
-- The message that Jung actually intended to convey as written in his letter to “The Listener” on January 21, 1960 after his comment was misconstrued subsequent to the BBC Broadcast.
This is beautiful Ceejae! I have your memoir in my kindle library! I look forward to closely reading it. I'll message you with my thoughts! I'd love to talk theology and will reference your great memoir as soon as I get the chance to dive into it. I really like Jung and have had trouble understanding him but that's such a wonderful quote. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a remarkable comment. I wish you all the best!
Thank you! Please keep in mind my memoir isn't a thriller. It's a woman's journey of wanting to understand life and God, but never dreaming I'd know any more than what other people have written. I'll look forward to hearing from you again!
Thanks for sharing your life journey & thoughts on organized religion. It sounds to me ,you've been through enough suffering to understand life better than most. I hope you keep writing & exploring life to find your own joy.
Thank you so much, Mitch! I really appreciate your note. I have suffered so much but so has the world. I think we all suffer in many ways, differently, and it cannot really be ranked or even categorized. My objective history sounds like I've experienced A LOT of trauma however. I wish you the best with everything in your life!
I've walked into cathedrals to attend mass several times. It is indeed like a drug: like when when the older kid sells you a bag of chronic, but it was just oregano. I suppose, if I were childish, I could say to the others 'oh wow I'm really feeling it'. The symbols and the sermons don't hit for me. Theoretically I am allowed to take communion, since I'm baptized orthodox. That would be the double-down dose. But I don't want to be disappointed.
There is a moment during mass in the Anglican church where you turn to the people in the pews around you and shake hands, saying 'peace be with you'. It's a nice gesture, but I think the point is to do that with people outside of the church, too. Well, no one on the street ever talks to me. I wonder how many of them are Christian?
The highs can be really high. I was in a Cathedral in Chicago and the priest was so good, I felt like I was on some kind of powerful opiate drug. I felt higher than high. Unfortunately, priests like that are super rare. People on the street talk to me all the time. In Downtown St Paul a ton of people knew me. I'd walk the skyway and get hellos, hugs, etc.
"Most Christians would say anything is true about how devoted they are to Jesus Christ. Yet they never show it. Never truly show it. Never sacrifice until the end to show it. Paraphrased from his lectures on religion and enlightenment, Adorno utters, “In many churches, the proclamation of the Gospel has become a substitute for its content.” You are right. And you remind is that we can do better, which is a good thing.
Thank you so much for commenting. I didn't want to come out too snarky against Christians. Also, I don't know if the Mormons are Christian, the Catholic priests usually don't consider them Christian at all! I think we can all do better, I think faith and secular humanism or other variants don't have a "completion" it's always a journey. Everyone has room for improvement! I wish you all the best!
"At the bottom of all things I am a truly spiritual person, but it’s a lonely decision. There is no one I can talk theology with. There is no one I can attend church with and feel enlightened, transfigured even...According to Kierkegaard, “The crowd is untruth.” This is devastating. He believed truth was radically individual, that faith begins only when you leave the herd behind."
IMHO, it's only lonely until you begin to recognize that you’re experiencing God. I was 38 when an event occurred that made me really wonder. Twelve years later I started to try to write about what I was experiencing. Four years later I found Carl Jung.
I’m experiencing profound synchronicity, some of which I’ve been able to document (I have a collection of essays here called "Synchronicity, Documented"), and I’ve been experiencing premonitions and guidance in the manner that Jung describes below.
I'd be happy to talk to you about Theology any time.
________________________________________________________
I DO NOT BELIEVE, I KNOW
Carl Jung said, “I do not need to believe in God; I know,” which does not mean: I do know a certain God (Zeus, Yahweh, Allah, the Trinitarian God, etc. ) but rather: I do know that I am obviously confronted with a factor unknown in itself, which I call ‘God.’
It is an apt name given to all overpowering emotions in my own psychical system subduing my conscious will and usurping control over myself. This is the name by which I designate all things which cross my path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans, and intentions and change the course of my life for better or worse. In accordance with tradition, I call the power of fate in this positive as well as negative aspect, and inasmuch as its origin is beyond my control, ‘god,’ a ‘personal god,’ since my fate means very much myself, particularly when it approaches me in the form of conscience as a vox Dei, with which I can even converse and argue.”
-- The message that Jung actually intended to convey as written in his letter to “The Listener” on January 21, 1960 after his comment was misconstrued subsequent to the BBC Broadcast.
This is beautiful Ceejae! I have your memoir in my kindle library! I look forward to closely reading it. I'll message you with my thoughts! I'd love to talk theology and will reference your great memoir as soon as I get the chance to dive into it. I really like Jung and have had trouble understanding him but that's such a wonderful quote. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a remarkable comment. I wish you all the best!
Thank you! Please keep in mind my memoir isn't a thriller. It's a woman's journey of wanting to understand life and God, but never dreaming I'd know any more than what other people have written. I'll look forward to hearing from you again!
I'll read a good portion by the end of the week for sure! Probably sooner! It sounds really interesting.
Thanks for sharing your life journey & thoughts on organized religion. It sounds to me ,you've been through enough suffering to understand life better than most. I hope you keep writing & exploring life to find your own joy.
Thank you so much, Mitch! I really appreciate your note. I have suffered so much but so has the world. I think we all suffer in many ways, differently, and it cannot really be ranked or even categorized. My objective history sounds like I've experienced A LOT of trauma however. I wish you the best with everything in your life!
I've walked into cathedrals to attend mass several times. It is indeed like a drug: like when when the older kid sells you a bag of chronic, but it was just oregano. I suppose, if I were childish, I could say to the others 'oh wow I'm really feeling it'. The symbols and the sermons don't hit for me. Theoretically I am allowed to take communion, since I'm baptized orthodox. That would be the double-down dose. But I don't want to be disappointed.
There is a moment during mass in the Anglican church where you turn to the people in the pews around you and shake hands, saying 'peace be with you'. It's a nice gesture, but I think the point is to do that with people outside of the church, too. Well, no one on the street ever talks to me. I wonder how many of them are Christian?
The highs can be really high. I was in a Cathedral in Chicago and the priest was so good, I felt like I was on some kind of powerful opiate drug. I felt higher than high. Unfortunately, priests like that are super rare. People on the street talk to me all the time. In Downtown St Paul a ton of people knew me. I'd walk the skyway and get hellos, hugs, etc.