I miss the greater good
There is definitely something missing.
As de-cons we look to fill it by talking about ethics as opposed to obedience and faith.
But honestly, it's not the same...doing something good because it's good and doing something good because there is something greater. I don't know about you, but when I did good things as a Christian, I thought they might magically add up to even more than I did.
My good deed + God's magic wand of love = Even more goodness
I loved the possibilities of what could happen when I obeyed God and he rewarded that obedience somehow. And I'm not talking about good consequences for me, but for the whole world. At least, that's what I was taught. When we follow God's will, there's no limit to the great things that can happen.
My following God + God's magic wand = Amazingly beautiful goodness
Now there is just small me + my small deeds = my small effects
Does anyone else feel like this?
No great being is calling me to love or challenging me to be better. All the motivation has to come from me, and there's no magic and there's not necessarily a reward.
UGH.
I miss the supernatural. Believing in God creates layers of meaning that are gone now. And yes, we can say that it's awesome that we're even here, but at the end of the day, we just ended up here for a few years. We survive and then we die.
No God. No Magic. No Beauty that really depends on us.
Suckage. That's how I feel tonight.
As de-cons we look to fill it by talking about ethics as opposed to obedience and faith.
But honestly, it's not the same...doing something good because it's good and doing something good because there is something greater. I don't know about you, but when I did good things as a Christian, I thought they might magically add up to even more than I did.
My good deed + God's magic wand of love = Even more goodness
I loved the possibilities of what could happen when I obeyed God and he rewarded that obedience somehow. And I'm not talking about good consequences for me, but for the whole world. At least, that's what I was taught. When we follow God's will, there's no limit to the great things that can happen.
My following God + God's magic wand = Amazingly beautiful goodness
Now there is just small me + my small deeds = my small effects
Does anyone else feel like this?
No great being is calling me to love or challenging me to be better. All the motivation has to come from me, and there's no magic and there's not necessarily a reward.
UGH.
I miss the supernatural. Believing in God creates layers of meaning that are gone now. And yes, we can say that it's awesome that we're even here, but at the end of the day, we just ended up here for a few years. We survive and then we die.
No God. No Magic. No Beauty that really depends on us.
Suckage. That's how I feel tonight.
7 Comments
Hello again.
Not all is suckage. There is a god but most of us look for him/her/it in all the wrong places, namely the supernatural. I suggest that you look within. There you will find god.
I hope you feel better tomorrow.
Roy
This and the rest of what you wrote resonates well with me. I, and most other de-cons, went through this thinking. In some measure, the "solution" is in simply accepting that indeed we are small, short-lived, of little importance, etc. Yeah, no real comfort huh?
But then again: my small efforts and my small effects, combined with those of others can produce something amazing. For instance? In my own case, my small efforts and those of many others added up to the once universally lethal disease called AIDS being brought under control. We didn't cure it outright, but we found a way to stop the virus from replicating. Now, instead of a 5-15 year death sentence, a patient with AIDS can live out most or all of a normal life span. Maybe someday, we'll figure the actual cure, but in the meantime, we've stopped the outright rampage of death.
No magic. Just all of us struggling together. Someday we may retard (or even cure?) aging. Of a certainty, we will cure more diseases over time. Maybe someday, we'll reach the stars, transform planets. Who knows?
I won't be part of all that, but I'm OK with doing my small deeds and letting others do theirs. Together, we may make some beauty.
Leo, do you think reincarnation is a possibility?
No.
You survive for a few years and then you die. Was the world a better place because of it?
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