Religion

rug

(82,333 posts) Thu Feb 6, 2014, 06:20 PM Feb 2014

My Sweet Lord: An Atheist Meditation on the God that is Love [View all]

February 5, 2014
By James Ford

“Unpack karma and you get cause and effect. Unpack cause and effect, and you get affinity. Unpack affinity and you get the tendency to coalesce. Unpack the tendency to coalesce and you get intimacy. Unpack, intimacy and you will find that you contain all beings. Unpack containment and there is the Goddess of Mercy herself.” - Robert Aitken, Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teaching for Western Students

In my youth I prayed to know God. I prayed with complete earnestness, with the fullness perhaps only a youth can muster with a deal. Show me your face and after that you can kill me.

Meant it.

And I was met with silence.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2014/02/my-sweet-lord-an-atheist-meditation-on-the-god-that-is-love.html

61 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

My Sweet Lord: An Atheist Meditation on the God that is Love [View all] rug Feb 2014 OP

Biggest bunch of nonsensical gobbilty gook MattBaggins Feb 2014 #1

You haven't been in GD lately. rug Feb 2014 #2

Yes, indeed. We in the Religion Group are mostly reasonable. longship Feb 2014 #3

We are nothing if not erudite, tempered and affable. rug Feb 2014 #4

You don't "piss off atheists" - you merely embarrass yourselves even more. mr blur Feb 2014 #8

Er, longship is not only an atheist, but a pretty forceful voice. cbayer Feb 2014 #9

Lol, I think he meant it for me. How embarassing. rug Feb 2014 #10

I'm not so sure. cbayer Feb 2014 #12

If the weather here disagrees with you, I don't see any locks on the door. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #37

No, unfortunately the locks are all in your minds. Oh, and congratulations, mr blur Feb 2014 #59

Tsk, tsk. And I was about to give you a heart. rug Feb 2014 #60

I suspect, based on her other posts, that this member is fully capable cbayer Feb 2014 #61

OK, I'm confused; can you help me out? Goblinmonger Feb 2014 #13

No, I am saying that it is a common narrative by some believers. longship Feb 2014 #14

I think there was some confusion about your post. Goblinmonger Feb 2014 #15

How do you unpack unpack? Fumesucker Feb 2014 #5

I admire your talent to ask unanswerable questions. Truth to tell, I envy it. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #46

Too confusing for you, was it now? IrishAyes Feb 2014 #42

Rug's lifetime error: failing to see Atheist Anger is resolved by SECULAR, not religious, liberalism Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #6

Atheist anger? cbayer Feb 2014 #7

Brettongarcia's current incarnation error: conflating personality with ideas. rug Feb 2014 #11

Does Rug's '60's, leftish/liberal Christianity or religiosity, still work? For Atheists? Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #16

Actually your generalizations are once again wrong. cbayer Feb 2014 #17

I am not totally opposed to liberal religionists. But are their old arguments still effective? Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #19

Not totally opposed? Well, that's peachy, because assuming you are a cbayer Feb 2014 #22

You make more sense than I sometimes manage to do. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #44

"Wanting to make this a war is counter-productive to the causes that democrats share and support." IrishAyes Feb 2014 #33

I tend to think that most people who are confident cbayer Feb 2014 #51

You're very kind. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #52

What on earth is "'60's, leftish/liberal Christianity"? rug Feb 2014 #18

The video you post is classic 60's: Band Aid or whoever, singing a Beatles song by George Harrison Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #20

The video is in the article from the Atheist Channel at Patheos. rug Feb 2014 #21

Your first is VERY retro. You can see the same thing in 1976. The song is Beatles; 1969-70. Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #23

If I might - why do you sport that particular avatar? cbayer Feb 2014 #24

Kennedy was the archetypal Liberal; but liberalism was revolutionary in his own era. Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #25

So, you support the archetype that prompted the liberal movement of the 60's an 70's, cbayer Feb 2014 #26

My point is that classic 60's persons, liberals, think of themselves as timelessly advanced; but ... Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #28

I disagree. cbayer Feb 2014 #29

What you say seems about right. Except I see modern Atheists as the true extension of that Brettongarcia Feb 2014 #30

I don't think the problem with intolerance of atheists come from the religious left. cbayer Feb 2014 #32

Doesn't look to me, a latecomer to this thread, that liberals started the bickering. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #39

Clarification question Goblinmonger Feb 2014 #47

I simply meant that self defeating behavior benefits no one. I should know, IrishAyes Feb 2014 #48

On face value that is an interesting thought Goblinmonger Feb 2014 #49

Oh noes, you're putting words in my mouth. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #50

I'm talking about your original post Goblinmonger Feb 2014 #56

See a doctor for your paranoia. They have meds that can do wonders these days. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #57

Well that escalated quickly Goblinmonger Feb 2014 #58

My dear Rug, IrishAyes Feb 2014 #34

Thanks, Irish. rug Feb 2014 #54

Knowing we can question certainty comforts me. Perverse little snot that I am. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #43

Ummm.... 'scuse me, please? When did anyone fall under the obligation to please or placate you? IrishAyes Feb 2014 #38

well that is really weird... madrchsod Feb 2014 #27

I think I might be an Agnostic. We don't know for sure, nor do we wish or care to know. libdem4life Feb 2014 #31

Me too; with a strong dose of animism thrown in. I used to astro-trip stone cold sober, IrishAyes Feb 2014 #35

I have had the privilege of sitting in the presence of a number of Masters. Living in LA/SF libdem4life Feb 2014 #36

Although I have a special way with horses and feel closer communion with them than with many IrishAyes Feb 2014 #40

That's a great story. Zen was my way of learning to let go. Rather bleak, I must admit, but libdem4life Feb 2014 #45

I love this post. cbayer Feb 2014 #53

Seems we are made up of some pretty complex materials which doesn't always fit into a neat libdem4life Feb 2014 #55

BTW, dear rug, many thanks for a stimulating thread. IrishAyes Feb 2014 #41