In the first pages of the Bible - the Genesis - the creation of everything is being explained as if it all happened in six days.
Each day ends with the words "God saw that it was good". And at the end of the sixth day - marking the end of the creation - He he even said: "God saw all that he had made and behold, it was very good".
Well, I do not agree with that and try to explain why.
Looking around and looking up at the sky, night or day, one must admit: everything works smoothly. But it is far from being optimized. I mean we all live in a kind of crocodile creation. Mister Big feeds on Mister Small. That goes for ants and for cats and especially for us, you and me.
If you can, you devour those who cannot help it without having much qualms about it. Eaten or being eaten: that is the motor of all that is living, crawling and growing on Mother Earth.
And if you look up at the sky, at those stars sparkling so peacefully above, the same script prevails. There are those black holes gobbling up everything in the vicinity. And even our sun will not warm us dutifully for ever. In some billion years she will explode and roast the whole system. No mercy here either.
That's what I call the crocodile creation. It works, true, but only at the price of immense suffering at absolutely all levels.
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prepare to take some heat from your biblical deviation. at least that's what happens here in the states if you propose something that is common sensical as opposed to nonsensical.
ReplyDeleteGeorg,
ReplyDeleteIn the Hindu belief system, there are many accounts of how and why the omnipresent, omnipotent, never born, never dying, beyond cause and effect, unmanifested, "God" if you will, manifested and created the physical and mortal world.
Although in many scriptures it is said that the Supreme God created the world as His playground, the question that eludes most of us normal human beings is: why did He do it?
This question arises arises from the same observations that you have made. What is the point of creating so much of suffering and pain?
Some ascetics and spiritually enlightened souls who probably have taken a peek at the worlds beyond our sight, have perhaps understood the 'why' of the whole exercise. Buddha was one, as many believe, who showed a practical path by which we could all see, if we traveled that path. How many have traveled, and how many of those have attained enlightenment? I don't know.
But seeing the world around, I too believe that something about the many theories and reasons of creation just does not gel.
Answer to Betmo and Vinod,
ReplyDeleteThanks to you both for answering. I am not a philosopher with deep thoughts, just exercising my little brain during spare time.
If I would be let's say Billy Graham that would cause an uproar. But the Internet being as it is, this will be read by ten to 15 people and then we pass to something else.
Georg
Georg
ReplyDeleteI think it IS good that nothing last forever, how dull that would be. One of the main reasons I could never be a christian is the whole " sheep, flock" mentality. I much prefer being a wolf, than a lemmingbest reagrds
One of the 15 ...
Hiiiiiiiii & happy new yearrrrrrrr
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your entry, by the way, I've sent you an email & lots of photos, have you received them?
Best wishes for the new yearrrrrrrrr
Chackavak
Oh! Georg,
ReplyDeletewhat a negative view!! and we just started 2008 :-)
"immense suffering" ...the world is mostly peaceful and if we did not have "negative" oriented media we would have better view of the world...yes there are many pockets of violence and suffering but overall we do live in a more comfortable and peaceful world than say 500 years ago.
cheers to you my friend!
Bonjour Frieda,
ReplyDeleteFirst: thanks for commenting. I was hopefully looking forward to this.
In fact, I am not negative at all and personally, I never had a better life.
No, there is a misunderstanding here: I am talking exclusively about the basic conditions that govern life on this earth, we all love so much.
Georg
Bonjour Georg, je n'ai pas tout compris de ta théorie du crocodile, mais ne pas croire que le monde a été créé en 6 jours ne veut pas dire qu'on ne croit pas à une intelligence supérieure
ReplyDeletePersonnellement, je ne suis pas croyante, mais je peux admettre cela
Mon père était un homme de savoir, il était conservateur des eaux et forêt et de voir les merveilles du monde lui donnait à penser que cela ne pouvait pas être sans avoir de sens
Finalement on peut toujours trouver un sens au monde qu'on l'appelle Dieu ou Nature ou autre
Nous avons besoin de spiritualité, de beauté, d'ouvrir les yeux et les oreilles et le coeur sur toute la beauté qui nous entoure
Ne serait ce que sur les magnifiques fresques de la Chapelle Sixtine réalisées par un génie universel
Merci d'être passé chez moi sur Cergipontin, tu te demandais pourquoi je n'aurais pu faire la photo il y a vingt ans : il y a vingt ans, la technologie n'était pas la même, nous ne pouvions imaginer l'essor de la téléphonie mobile, d'internet etc
L'homme au coin de ma photo jouait avec son téléphone portable
(Personnellemnt je peux m'en passer...)
Une bonne année pour toi et ceux que tu aimes, Georg !
Hello Georg, followed you from jmd1125. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your bicycling adventures.
ReplyDeleteRegarding little creatures and suffering. I just see it as Just The Way It Is, which I suppose is kind of Zen. This is the universe we live in so we make the best of it that we can.
Suffering is a human concept -- remove man from the equation, and these subjective judgments about the "rightness" of creation don't exist.
Regarding Betmo's comment: You and he might count me as a biblical literalist, so I'm uncertain why he thinks any of us give a rat's patootie about 'biblical deviation' from somebody who clearly doesn't hold to the literalist viewpoint. Billy Graham certainly would not have debated or addressed the topic at all.
Hi Fritz,
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming and having a look. Yes, the love of biking unites us and the love of God separates us.
Unfortunately, I don't know what a biblical literalist is. Please explain.
Georg
HI Georg. I clicked on a few of your tags (God being the first that appealed to me).
ReplyDeleteI found your view on the way the Universe(or at least Earth) works, interesting. A tiny bit "negative", as another commenter noted, but I also see how you would not see your view as "negative", just "as is".
A Non-Theist/Atheist for nearly 18 years, I awakened to a heightened, uh, "awareness" of Spirituality in mid-late-2003, and this culminated in my re-visiting the faith of my childhood(Roman Catholic, though I'm certain they would NOT want me as their spokesperson--I'm extremely progressive/liberal in nearly all my political/social views)).I now consider myself a Spiritual(internal) person, if not particularly religious(external/structure-oriented).
And I'm certain many more than 11 folks have read this.In fact, I'll probably send several over to read this entry!
P.S. I think a Biblical Literalist is one who believes that the Bible is LITERALLY TRUE--every word of it(including parables, stories, and "miracles"). This is probably what your friend, Fritz, subscribes to.