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An Unsanctioned God
The history of religion as a revolt against the ruling class, dictatorships and tyranny. | |
Another thing to include in my letter to Richard Dawkins
and a proposal for a book I'll write later. Maybe tomorrow
or never. Never works good too.
Simple concept, that if you have a dictator who says
they're
god, you come up with an imaginary god as a way of
disavowing his control over
you.
So if we all have to bow to the Divine Emperor
McEmperorface and I'm getting sick of his BS, I announce
my allegiance to a doorknob. The holiest doorknob you've
ever seen, the divine doorknob of the kingdom of
Doorknobia.
This might be one reason why religions are so common in
all cultures. All cultures have assholes that want to
control
them and this would be a handy day way to declare your
independence from their rule.
"Sorry McEmperorface, I answer to a higher power, the
doorknob, and the doorknob says you suck."
Googled "doorknob with halo" and got this:
https://images.app....l/VDfhpinABiHNzmP37
[doctorremulac3, Feb 24 2020]
...aaaand this:
https://images.app....l/Pv9ySLQUgvX5iCVT8
[doctorremulac3, Feb 24 2020]
...aaaaaaand this:
https://images.app....l/QsDvRscJKmZ3AjiL8
[doctorremulac3, Feb 24 2020]
...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand this:
https://images.app....l/dkBeQSo9GUUYKZ6Z7
[doctorremulac3, Feb 24 2020]
Religion timeline
https://www.precede...-of-major-religions
An amazing read. [doctorremulac3, Feb 25 2020]
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// , you come up with an imaginary god as a way of disavowing his control over you. // |
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... unless the Divine Emperor is Gaius Caligula. |
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As a moral stance, it's flawless. As a survival strategy, maybe not so much. |
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on that subject, I have two all time favorite quotes. |
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One is from The Gadfly, and it goes something like: |
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God is a clay idol I can break with a hammer. |
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And the other from Benny Hill, and it goes something like: |
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God is Dead (signed Fred), and below it,
Fred is Dead,(signed God) |
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And finally [Doc] -- if you have not as yet checkout out
Young Pope and New Pope (on HBO), I would strongly
recommend it. |
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Naah, they're both just Popeulist Trash ... |
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CH, check the title, this is for a history book, not a new
idea. I'm saying this has happened many times
over the years and a history book exploring the origins
from
this perspective would
be interesting. |
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And the Flying Spaghetti Monster would only be
applicable if its first rule was "Don't pay taxes" or "Rise up
against Kim Jung Un" in which case I'd say "Hey, where do
I
sign up?" |
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The FSM lacks the threat appeal of other gods necessary
to garner a following. While Thor's throwing lightening
bolts, the FSM's dripping sauce on the dictator's newly
cleaned floor at best. |
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Remember the most successful recruiting edict of all
time:
"If you don't follow me you'll burn in hell, damned for
eternity in torment and agony... but I love you." |
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FSM's gotta lot of work to do on his game. That's a tough
act to follow. |
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But seriously, it's important to remember, every religion
has some guy who made it up. What was their mindset?
What was their goal? What made them think they could
rise up against Caesar with this story? I'd like to see that
explored. |
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Also also, I'm not a religion basher, I'd rather see
somebody follow the doorknob than Kim Jung Un. I think
religion might have been helpful in this regard. Of course
the dictators have always been quick to just grab a new
hat and say "Yes! Yes! I just talked to the holy Doorknob
and he assigned me as envoy to all the people of Earth,
and he's very pissed off that you're not paying him
enough...through me!". |
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But again, religion it must be said can have its upside.
This is coming from an atheist, but an atheist that thinks
other atheists are pretty stupid if they think they have
the universe all figured out just because they know a
doorknob names Doorknobius of Doorknobia isn't the son
of the great door latch in the sky. |
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I know how much I don't know, and it's a lot. It might be a
little more than others, but not enough to even bother
measuring. |
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Holy Doorknobius, did I just write all that shit? |
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Ignore, typing exercise on my part is all. |
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A sort of photographic negative of this idea can be seen in
the
history of Greek religion, before and after Alexander the
Great.
Before Alexander, one of the most persistent themes of
Greek
thought was the hubris/nemesis trope - if you get too
conceited,
the gods will drive you nuts and ruin you. After
Alexander,
everyone could see that this was not true, every man and
his dog
wanted to be the next Alexander and, for centuries, many
brutal
despots emerged with this idea in their heads ... |
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... not least Julius Caesar who, according to Plutarch,
very much
viewed Alexander as a role model (yes he was not a
Greek but,
by that time, the Greek cultural influence on Rome was
strong) ...
which is how we arrived at the divine Gaius Caligula, as
instanced by [8th]. |
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By contrast, the Abrahamic religions start from the Book
of Job*
which, in turn, starts from the observation that bad
things keep
happening to good people, and proceeds to the question,
whatcha gonna do about it? |
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I suppose my point is, different religions are not
interchangeable,
politically. They have content. |
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*As I understand it, current scholarship indicates that this
was
the first book of the Bible to be written down - before,
for
example, the Book of Genesis. |
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Damn P, save some knowledge for the rest of us! |
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Seriously though, interesting stuff. |
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I'm smack busy now but I gotta revisit your post with a little
more time and a cup of coffee. |
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Here's a secret, [doc]; the total volume of primary source
material on Greek antiquity in particular is essentially
fixed*, and not all that large - so, with only a few years'
study it is possible to know virtually everything about it. |
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It is far more impressive to be knowledgeable in a field
like [MB]'s, where new facts appear every day. |
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*Barring the occasional discovery of a new inscription
reading "Diogenes woz 'ere", or whatever. |
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Well, some cool stuff there P. |
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Hear what you're saying CH but I'm looking at a new angle
I think. I'm not writing a book, if I did it wouldn't be on
this. Just an idea for a book or a study of some sort for
somebody else to do. |
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Why religions are created is always sold as "Some guy
wanted power over people so he made up a story about a
magical guy he's friends with that will smote them if they
don't give him that power." OK, but how many religions
are just a counter to tyranny, a revolution against the
ruling class? A tool against oppression. I don't know, that's
why it would be interesting to see. |
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As far as Christianity, that would be Jesus vs Caesar, that's
an easy one. That revolution worked pretty well. I'd like
to zero in on the revolution aspect of similar religions.
Put it this way, how many religions were basically an act
of war and revolution? How many of those revolutions left
the people better off? How many left them worse off? I'd
like to hear those stories. |
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One last sentence to try to clarify an idea I'm a bit foggy
on myself to be honest. Tell the stories like you'd describe
any war. Who was in charge? Why was their power
susceptible to being overthrown? Who led the revolution?
Why did the (religious) revolution take over? What tools
did they use? The history of religions I've heard are
tedious and boring, to me at least. They shouldn't be.
Maybe they're just being told wrong. |
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OK, see the link. This link makes this slapdash post all
worth while. it's a timeline and very brief description of
all the world's top religions. |
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Idea: ehh, Link: incredible. |
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Oh my god! They left out Zoroastrianism? Easily the
300th most important religion on Earth? |
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It's a list is the religions that won. |
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Don't forget to mention how the catholics "converted" the Iberian Jews after the Reconquista ... |
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Just joshing CH, that is interesting. |
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You should be the one putting together a Netflix show or
something. But zero in on the main concept here, show
the rise of various religions as what they are, wars against
the old order. Religious history that I've seen is very
boring, at least to
me. |
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The stories probably aren't boring though as long as
they're told properly. |
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It's like how I was first told the amazingly fascinating
story of WW1 such that I could barely stay awake. "Some
guy got shot so we all had to kill each other." WW1 is the
most fascinating story in modern history, it shaped the
modern world, it created the never ending wars for peace
industry and we were told it was because it was because
some guy got shot. Yes, it was triggered by that, but
that's like saying somebody died because their life
functions ceased. Well, yes, but that's not really telling
you anything. |
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I think the stories could be made much more interesting
by zeroing in on this dynamic. I'm not going to do it, but
as a consumer that's what I'd ask of somebody creating a
documentary or book on the subject. |
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Doors and doorknobs, the antique type, are one of my
favorite design articles of architecture that I find deeply
interesting and very much worth spending extra moola on.
That and windows. |
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Frank Lloyd Wright built homes that the very first impression
a person received was located in the entryway. Everything
that the house held had to be visible with one lengthy
glance. To allow people to appreciate what was the object
of the house, it had to have a beginning that was cohesive
with the conception and all the way to the end of the
desired effect. |
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The doorknob is like a God, to a door as well as to some
architects. The first part of the house you touch should be
as special as the ceilings and the floors. |
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So once again the God thing is meaningful and of purpose to
those who embrace it as a part of their consciousness so that
it/she/he can exist. |
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(Me with a mic on stage yelling to the audience)
"Hallelujah
brothers and sisters, we have a believer among us! Let's
welcome sister Blissmiss to the Holy Order Of
Doorknobians!
Praise the mighty trinity, the doorknob, the door lever
and
the deatbolt! May the latch be with you sister!" |
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But seriously, I'd think that doorknobs would be very
collectible. Some are very beautiful and ornate. |
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In fact, instead of writing the book at the center of this
idea I'm going to start collecting doorknobs. |
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Always a suitable compromise, [doctor]. |
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"Today, I'm going to change the Worl ... ooooh, donuts ! " |
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Saint Peter's Church of the Martyred Doorknob. |
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"Death waited until the pen had stopped, and picked up the paper. |
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'BUT YOU ARE A MACHINE. THINGS HAVE NO DESIRES. A DOORKNOB WANTS NOTHING, EVEN THOUGH IT IS A COMPLEX MACHINE.' |
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'+++ All Things Strive +++', wrote Hex ..." |
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"Multivac, is there a God ?" ... |
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Lots of good stuff there CH, I'll check it out. |
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