(no subject)
Just watch Dark City.
I am currently reading the introduction to the Eight Theories of Religion and an idea struck me. The basic plot of the move Dark City deals with aliens who are dying off who have taken humans to study in order to understand what the "soul" is and how does it come about. Their survival depends (or so they think) their understanding the soul and I suppose the assumption is made that the soul is the redeeming and renewing agent in human beings.
So, the aliens in the movie are advanced beings who control their minds with great dexterity and are highly rational and such and such. So they delve into a world of supposed irrationality, of heart, of instinct... all qualities people see as essential to being human. Why am I bringing this up along with the fact that I am reading a book on the eight theories of religion? Well the author/editor is introducing the theories in the context of scientific study of religion. Studying religion through hypothesis, experiment, observation and so forth... and it struck me in such a way. I am much like the aliens in Dark City. Har har funny I know. But in all sincerity it rings true. Why did I take interest in religion? Why devote my life to studying it? Well I can trace it back to being young in middle school and realizing I felt nothing, no connection, no belief in God or higher beings, so on. Yet, I was deeply interested in the concept. Mostly from the point of view much like a jealous child who does not have the toy a playmate may have. I didn't have this deep feeling of connection to a God... I did not attend church, or when I did I thought of it as just rubbish nonsense adults bored children with. So here I am ... an alien seeking to understand what I have never experienced. Maybe at one point in time I sought to understand in hopes that it would turn a key and allow myself to experience this faith, this love, this genuine belief in God... maybe seeking salvation in such a thing. However, one has to think... salvation from what? As I have gotten older and encountered many different theories of thought.. of the whys, the hows, the meaning and great big pictures I have come to terms with my disbelief.. or at least close to it. There is no real way to tie this up... it was just a interesting connection that came to me while I was reading that I just had to write down for myself.
That is all.
I am currently reading the introduction to the Eight Theories of Religion and an idea struck me. The basic plot of the move Dark City deals with aliens who are dying off who have taken humans to study in order to understand what the "soul" is and how does it come about. Their survival depends (or so they think) their understanding the soul and I suppose the assumption is made that the soul is the redeeming and renewing agent in human beings.
So, the aliens in the movie are advanced beings who control their minds with great dexterity and are highly rational and such and such. So they delve into a world of supposed irrationality, of heart, of instinct... all qualities people see as essential to being human. Why am I bringing this up along with the fact that I am reading a book on the eight theories of religion? Well the author/editor is introducing the theories in the context of scientific study of religion. Studying religion through hypothesis, experiment, observation and so forth... and it struck me in such a way. I am much like the aliens in Dark City. Har har funny I know. But in all sincerity it rings true. Why did I take interest in religion? Why devote my life to studying it? Well I can trace it back to being young in middle school and realizing I felt nothing, no connection, no belief in God or higher beings, so on. Yet, I was deeply interested in the concept. Mostly from the point of view much like a jealous child who does not have the toy a playmate may have. I didn't have this deep feeling of connection to a God... I did not attend church, or when I did I thought of it as just rubbish nonsense adults bored children with. So here I am ... an alien seeking to understand what I have never experienced. Maybe at one point in time I sought to understand in hopes that it would turn a key and allow myself to experience this faith, this love, this genuine belief in God... maybe seeking salvation in such a thing. However, one has to think... salvation from what? As I have gotten older and encountered many different theories of thought.. of the whys, the hows, the meaning and great big pictures I have come to terms with my disbelief.. or at least close to it. There is no real way to tie this up... it was just a interesting connection that came to me while I was reading that I just had to write down for myself.
That is all.