Hi There !
So, straight from the
Blog Notebook
to you
we continue
what we began
last week:
notes and notions
on
IMAGES
OF THE
IMAGELESS.
These jottings are UNEDITED,
random, incomplete,
right from the Blog Notebook
as is for you and The Spirit
to sort and shape.
A different take on
what is here to take.
Our spiritual lives
are conditioned
by our images
of God.
Stand by for
more and more
paradox.
IMAGES I
is available by scrolling down
or at
Blog Archive
*****
We continue from
The Blog Notebook:
- Interestingly, of the three
monotheistic religions,
only Christianity has
images of God
such as statues, icons,
paintings, stained glass.
- What do the Jews
and the Muslims
know that Christians don't,
or
what do Christians know
that Jews and Muslims don't?
- Or do all three come
at the same thing
variously because of our limits
and God's unlimitedness?
- Yet the three do have all sorts of,
and voluminous at that,
word images of God,
necessarily and limitedly so,
given the human
condition and capacity
- It is crucial to get lost
in The First Bible
- Nature is just that.
Before any religions
or sacred writings,
God was and is
reflected, revealed,
indeed present in nature.
- See Genesis.
- Check out the life and sharings
of Francis of Assisi -
he met God in nature
-Get immersed in the sayings
and rituals of nature religion
- The spirituality of
The Original Americans
is especially helpful here.
- Get into biology, archeology,
geology, anthropology,
chemistry, cosmology,
so much of God imaged there
- Have a pet
- Grow a garden
- Farm
- Most of all, get outdoors!!
- Images and presence
of God all over the place!!
- A principle:
"As the image,
so the relationship."
- True re. our relationship
with self, other, all of existence,
and indeed with God.
- Images: how we see,
feel, sense, understand
self and other.
- Images made up of sensations,
experiences, ideas, associations,
emotions, thoughts, feelings,
instinct and intuition,
and who knows what else.
- A negative image leads
to a negative relationship.
- A positive image leads
to a positive relationship.
- RE. Image of God:
consider the image of God as
judge, police officer, record keeper,
a universe or many away, warrior,
creative and inclusive ( see Genesis ),
merciful and tender ( see psalms )
lover ( see Song of Songs) ,
"daddy" (literal meaning of "Abba" -
the image of God Jesus shared )
and the kind of relationship
with God they cause and foster.
- God, like everything
and everyone else,
is "imaged" for us by others
( parents, teachers, peers, )
as well as by ritual, text,
teachings, cultural coloration .
That imaging is done
in terms of the imager:
their maturity, depth,
level of consciousness,
not exhaustively in terms
of what is imaged.
We don't get God from them.
We get a thought/feeling/
perhaps experiential
picture of God composed
from other peoples' experience base.
- This is true of biblical images of God.
They are toned by how evolved
that biblical writer,
and that writer's culture was.
Thus the vindictive,
violent God imaged in some
Old Testament portrayals.
They often say a lot more
about the writer
and the consciousness level
and culture of the times
than about an accurate and fuller
portrayal of God.
-They and we "speak" God
and attribute to God
how we are and what we know.
- Evolving consciousness
( personal/societal ),
evolving images.
- They and we talk about everything,
including God, in our limited,
often cockeyed terms.
- "Our idea of God says more about
ourselves than about Him"
Thomas Merton
(That's for sure !! )
-Always consider your source
-So critical in scriptural "revelation."
-Approach scripture as Jesus did -
selectively - employ Jewish Midrash:
types/levels of understanding
- literal
- deep meaning: symbolic
or allegorical applications
- comparative: combines different texts
to explore entirely new meanings
- hidden: gets at the Mystery itself
- "Jesus consistently ignored or even denied
exclusionary, punitive, and triumphalist
texts in his own inspired Hebrew Bible
in favor of passages that emphasized
inclusion, mercy, and honesty."
Richard Rohr, 01-07-19, daily email,
Center For Action And Contemplation
-Jesus: " You have heard it said,...
but I say unto you..." ( Matthew 5:38-42)
Jesus rejected Exodus 21:23-24,
Jesus actually rejected sections of scripture -
that is is not commonly known,
and knowing it is critical
-Early Fathers of the Church encouraged
as many as seven "senses" of scripture
seven "takes", as in take on scripture -
prominent were:
- literal
- historical
- allegorical
- moral
- symbolic
- eschatological
- Great help here:
"What Do We Do With The Bible?"
Richard Rohr, 2018,
CAC Publishing
It is a gem!!
If image and meaning are concerns,
this little book is probable the best help
for the general reading public
- " If you can comprehend it,
it isn't God."
Augustine
( That's for sure for sure l!!)
- Need to pry free
the core insight/revelation
from its cultural coloration,
how it is imaged.
- See "A Testament of Violence?",
Christian Century, November 8, 2017.
That's it for today.
Next week we'll continue all this.
Our whole spiritual life is so dependent
on our image of God.
All the best !
Holding one and all in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
*****
It is so good of you to recommend
"frankly speaking"
in conversation and through
your connections on social media.
It's a big help
and
it's greatly appreciated.
A sincere word of welcome
to those joining us for the first time.
This week we greet new participation
from Turkmenistan.
Thank you for your good company.
Please see
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE ?
and
CONSIDER YOUR SOURCE
( to the right online )
for a bit of orientation to what
we are all about here.
*****
"frankly speaking"
spirituality for the street
-Is posted online each Friday at
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
and can be bookmarked for ease
of weekly access
-Is available by automatic email
each Saturday - sign up is at the top
of the online version.
-Past Postings are available at
Blog Archive
located at the lower right
of the online version.
Thank You
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