2012, or not
Admission: I've tried to keep my eyes and ears closed on this subject, before I realize my arguement is irrelevant and off topic (yes it happens rather a lot). So if it is off the mark, that's just fine.
Forewarning: It is a religion post.
Did you see the Armegeddonesque movie trailer before Harry Potter? The new John Cussack? (WTF, John?) Wait, I just looked it up: 2012. I gaped with incredulity, but then found out it was about the Mayan 2012 calendar end thing, alas.
Why should Hollywood pussy-foot around the big questions or just completely ignore them for the box office bribe? Most likely religion does not even register on their mental think pad, as I don't know, and issue that is relevant to millions of Americans. Still I will be interested to see how they resolve/igonor this one. And this is why.
Ok, Mayan, we get it. So no Armeggedon? You know, the end of the world brought upon, if I understand correctly, by God. Stock footage: chaos and distruction, fleeing, and mayhem. *Mmmmm* I know it well: kick the alien ass, atomize the space projectile destined to kill us all, and a ride off into the nuclear sunset. Wait. Action movie = humans win, every damn time. Do you see the possible complications? This is the box office gold, baby, (and if they bring back some extinct Mayan god I'll wet the seat.) I know, I know, Mayan. And my argument:
It is possible we've reached another pivotal moment in history where we must redefine God. And who better to do it than the paragon of our culture, Hollywood? But seriously, I know, it doesn't even make sense. God is in essence, undefinable. I think I do recall the word "infinite" being thrown around Sunday school. Nevertheless, the gelatinous 3 pounder (residing in the cranium) needs some rules here. And the old definitions are sounding a little tinny these days. Churches are severing at the seams, congregations unraveling at the homily. Maybe the all-powerful father figure can fix it.
Joseph Campbell argued we need a new myth for this age; after all, we no longer believe the world is a empty snow-globe in a swimming pool (us dry on the inside, waiting for the ceiling full of water to cave in). Hence this new mythology will be defined by space for the Space Age- redefining humanity in a universe, in a multiverse.
And then there are the Genesis stories,and the version they left out of Sunday school. Eden, and Babel, and the Flood are struggles for supremacy between God and man, to see whom will come out on top. Followed by YHWH, the warrior god, serving up Israel on a platter, and the rest of Biblical history tumbling after.
To sum up possible questions:
1) Is man worth saving?
2) Does man save himself?
3) Did God create this destruction and/or is He/She powerful enough to stop it?
4) Did the aliens do it? Or wait, aliens are soo 90s.
Eighteen Thousand Universes Through Eighteen Thousand Eyes
It is essential to know that there is no end to the Ipseity of God or to His qualification, consequently the Universes have no end in number, because the Universes are the places of manifestation for the Names of Qualities. As that which manifests is endless, so the places of manifestation must be endless. Consequently, the Qur'anic sentence: "He is at every moment in a different configuration," means equally that there is no end to the revelation of God.
The Power (quadra) of God is constantly and permanently in a state of Perfection. Because of this Perfection He does not reveal Himself twice to the same person in the same manner. He is constantly in new revelations, ... so the same revelation may not even happen to two different people.
In a hadith it is said: "God has eighteen thousand universes and this your world is just one universe in part, and in total eighteen universes, is drawn from the hadith mentioned above even though there is no extremity to the revelation of God and no end to the places of revelation of God....
Hazreti 'Ali has said it this way:
"You thought yourself a part, small;
Whereas in you there is a universe, the greatest."
That is to say, you think of yourself as a small thing, whereas in you there is hidden the biggest of the universes....
You may imagine the greatness of the Perfect Man in this manner: if eighteen thousand universes were put in a mortar and pestled to a paste, its composition would be the Perfect Man. This Man will see the eighteen thousand universes through eighteen thousand eyes. He sees each universe with the eye of senses, matters of intellect with the eye of intellect, the meanings with the eye of the heart....
The meaning of the Qur'anic verse becomes clear to the gnostic: "Whichever way you turn, there is the face of God." That is to say, which ever way you turn your face, there you will find a road which leads to God. It is true that according to the rule that: "He is at every moment in a different configuration, " there are states and degrees; but He shows in every wink a caprice, and in every caprice a scent, and in every scent a beauty, and in every beauty a love, and in every love a wink, and in every wink a caprice, and in every caprice a scent, and in every scent a kind of recommencement....
Ibn Arabi (1165-1240 AD)
Forewarning: It is a religion post.
Did you see the Armegeddonesque movie trailer before Harry Potter? The new John Cussack? (WTF, John?) Wait, I just looked it up: 2012. I gaped with incredulity, but then found out it was about the Mayan 2012 calendar end thing, alas.
Why should Hollywood pussy-foot around the big questions or just completely ignore them for the box office bribe? Most likely religion does not even register on their mental think pad, as I don't know, and issue that is relevant to millions of Americans. Still I will be interested to see how they resolve/igonor this one. And this is why.
Ok, Mayan, we get it. So no Armeggedon? You know, the end of the world brought upon, if I understand correctly, by God. Stock footage: chaos and distruction, fleeing, and mayhem. *Mmmmm* I know it well: kick the alien ass, atomize the space projectile destined to kill us all, and a ride off into the nuclear sunset. Wait. Action movie = humans win, every damn time. Do you see the possible complications? This is the box office gold, baby, (and if they bring back some extinct Mayan god I'll wet the seat.) I know, I know, Mayan. And my argument:
It is possible we've reached another pivotal moment in history where we must redefine God. And who better to do it than the paragon of our culture, Hollywood? But seriously, I know, it doesn't even make sense. God is in essence, undefinable. I think I do recall the word "infinite" being thrown around Sunday school. Nevertheless, the gelatinous 3 pounder (residing in the cranium) needs some rules here. And the old definitions are sounding a little tinny these days. Churches are severing at the seams, congregations unraveling at the homily. Maybe the all-powerful father figure can fix it.
Joseph Campbell argued we need a new myth for this age; after all, we no longer believe the world is a empty snow-globe in a swimming pool (us dry on the inside, waiting for the ceiling full of water to cave in). Hence this new mythology will be defined by space for the Space Age- redefining humanity in a universe, in a multiverse.
And then there are the Genesis stories,and the version they left out of Sunday school. Eden, and Babel, and the Flood are struggles for supremacy between God and man, to see whom will come out on top. Followed by YHWH, the warrior god, serving up Israel on a platter, and the rest of Biblical history tumbling after.
To sum up possible questions:
1) Is man worth saving?
2) Does man save himself?
3) Did God create this destruction and/or is He/She powerful enough to stop it?
4) Did the aliens do it? Or wait, aliens are soo 90s.
Eighteen Thousand Universes Through Eighteen Thousand Eyes
It is essential to know that there is no end to the Ipseity of God or to His qualification, consequently the Universes have no end in number, because the Universes are the places of manifestation for the Names of Qualities. As that which manifests is endless, so the places of manifestation must be endless. Consequently, the Qur'anic sentence: "He is at every moment in a different configuration," means equally that there is no end to the revelation of God.
The Power (quadra) of God is constantly and permanently in a state of Perfection. Because of this Perfection He does not reveal Himself twice to the same person in the same manner. He is constantly in new revelations, ... so the same revelation may not even happen to two different people.
In a hadith it is said: "God has eighteen thousand universes and this your world is just one universe in part, and in total eighteen universes, is drawn from the hadith mentioned above even though there is no extremity to the revelation of God and no end to the places of revelation of God....
Hazreti 'Ali has said it this way:
"You thought yourself a part, small;
Whereas in you there is a universe, the greatest."
That is to say, you think of yourself as a small thing, whereas in you there is hidden the biggest of the universes....
You may imagine the greatness of the Perfect Man in this manner: if eighteen thousand universes were put in a mortar and pestled to a paste, its composition would be the Perfect Man. This Man will see the eighteen thousand universes through eighteen thousand eyes. He sees each universe with the eye of senses, matters of intellect with the eye of intellect, the meanings with the eye of the heart....
The meaning of the Qur'anic verse becomes clear to the gnostic: "Whichever way you turn, there is the face of God." That is to say, which ever way you turn your face, there you will find a road which leads to God. It is true that according to the rule that: "He is at every moment in a different configuration, " there are states and degrees; but He shows in every wink a caprice, and in every caprice a scent, and in every scent a beauty, and in every beauty a love, and in every love a wink, and in every wink a caprice, and in every caprice a scent, and in every scent a kind of recommencement....
Ibn Arabi (1165-1240 AD)