Santa Boogey - Myth, Mystery and Manure

Recently, I skimmed a discussion thread between an evangelical christian and a non-evangelical gay person regarding salvation, sin, god and of course homosexualtiy. The gay person was trying to reason with the evangelical while the evangelical was trying to exorcise the gay man. It was all rather insane.

After all their back and forth it seemed apparent that nothing was being achieved. But I did find, at least, that both - at some deep deep infinitesimal level - were interested in confronting similar phenomena: the mysteries of birth, life and death; and the desires to improve oneself, to make sense of the world, to find hope in tragedy, to work together more harmoniously and to be more compassionate.

Well maybe they weren't really interested in any of that but, well, I am. So I got to thinking about something I read the other day that really seemed to be worded well. It was merely two small paragraphs from Stephen Batchelor's Buddhism Without Beliefs but those few sentences revealed, I think, a lot of insight into the dangers of losing oneself in irresponsible religion. Here follow those two paragraphs (paraphrased a bit):

"...the danger though is allowing these noble human desires to mutate into fantasies of moral superiority. Exhilarated by the outpouring of selfless altruism toward others, we may come to believe that we are their savior. We find ourself humbly assuming the identity of one who has ben singled out by destiny to heal the sorrows of the world and show the way to reconciliation, peace and salvation.

When subverted in this way, compassion exposes us to the danger of messianic and narcissistic inflation. Once inflation has taken hold -- particularly when endorsed by supporters and admirers -- it becomes notoriously difficult to see though it."

After reading these two paragraphs I thought the following:

We can recognize these 'inflated saviours' by the incredibly preposterous arguments to which they always resort. Luckily these supposed arguments mostly deflate to the following absurd exhortations:

• CAUSE I SAY SO!
• CAUSE THEY SAY SO!
• CAUSE IT'S WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK.
• CAUSE LOTS OF PEOPLE BELIEVE IT'S TRUE.
• CAUSE GOD SPOKE TO ME SO I KNOW AND YOU DON'T.
• CAUSE THAT'S JUST THE DEVIL PUTTING DOUBT IN YOUR HEAD.
• CAUSE I FELT A REAL GOOD FEELING ONCE SO THAT PROVES IT.
• CAUSE A BUNCH A BIG PEOPLE TOLD ME SO WHEN I WAS A KID.
• CAUSE YOU'RE LOST.
• CAUSE OTHERWISE YOU'RE GONNA GO TO HELL!!! TERROR!!!! MISERY!!! PAIN!!! EVERLASTING TORMENT!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!

It's a common danger that man's most powerful tool, the mind, can be usurped by charismatics preaching comfort, consolation and justification for all sorts of subjective claptrap. Don't bother with this superstitious, mind-warping, medieval boogeyman vs. santa claus mythology.

Thankfully that silliness does not diminish the mystery of life, its beauty, its potential for grace, and its capactiy for wonderful wise compassionate human beings. I suggest humbly to keep on believing in today's gift and tomorrow's potential for the mystery that is human existence is too large for any of the silly nonsense with which man has tried to capture it so far.