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I guess it is that old impersonalism that seems the great disappointment in most Eastern religions. Joel Send a noteboard - 11/03/2012 04:48:54 AM
Some sects, the coarser ones that appeal to common supertitious people, allow for the existence of stuff like 'ghosts' and 'gods' as in the iconic sorts, but in the end those and all other things reduce completely to an impersonal ultimate reality.

Nirvana may be the utmost and fundamental, but without a consciousness it is hard to call it a deity. It saddens me a bit, because Eastern religions (Buddhism more than any other) are great advocates against the destructive effects of pride, but in subordinating all humanity to the God in Whom "we live and move and have our being" (Bible Gateway helpfully notes Paul was quoting Epimenides there ;)) they sacrifice His personality along with ours. Forms and Ideals can find no purchase in that environment, but there IS "an 'I' in 'team,'" without which the admirable holism loses all value and meaning.
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Atheism: The Iconoclasm of the West? - 10/03/2012 05:42:56 AM 1292 Views
I think about as highly of athiesm as I do of christianity. *NM* - 10/03/2012 05:54:20 AM 356 Views
I would chide you on that basis for having a love/hate relationship with God, but who does not? - 10/03/2012 06:05:11 AM 522 Views
If the divine made men... - 10/03/2012 06:27:42 AM 517 Views
True, but by the same token, in denying our nature we deny the divine. - 10/03/2012 06:57:40 AM 532 Views
I was actually just saying in Skype this is the first post you've made in a long time I've enjoyed. - 10/03/2012 07:02:56 AM 551 Views
Thanks? It is all Dans fault, really. - 10/03/2012 07:21:19 AM 820 Views
But you do comparable things all the time! - 10/03/2012 08:35:31 AM 745 Views
You've made this analogy before and it's still a bad one, those aren't comparable - 10/03/2012 03:43:08 PM 630 Views
You said what I was thinking far more respectfully than I probably would have. - 11/03/2012 12:14:55 AM 598 Views
... and apparently it was a waste of time - 11/03/2012 03:27:04 AM 537 Views
Perhaps he just missed it in all my spam? - 11/03/2012 04:59:31 AM 609 Views
Basically what Isaac said. *NM* - 10/03/2012 07:22:07 PM 307 Views
who? *NM* - 11/03/2012 12:00:13 AM 287 Views
Me - 11/03/2012 03:31:51 AM 565 Views
You're right and wrong. - 10/03/2012 05:09:32 PM 942 Views
Re: You're right and wrong. - 11/03/2012 12:28:25 AM 849 Views
Nope, Buddhists are explicitly atheist and also explicitly Ontologically engaged - 11/03/2012 01:39:20 AM 850 Views
Actually, Buddhists are not explicitly atheist in the conventional sense of the world. - 11/03/2012 02:42:36 AM 649 Views
Yeah, that's very true. - 11/03/2012 03:27:09 PM 743 Views
My Buddhist readings are definitely Tibet-focused. - 11/03/2012 04:00:17 PM 795 Views
Duplicate post *NM* - 11/03/2012 03:28:58 PM 374 Views
I guess it is that old impersonalism that seems the great disappointment in most Eastern religions. - 11/03/2012 04:48:54 AM 751 Views
What exactly do you mean by "The irreparable damage it inflicted in the Great Schism"? - 10/03/2012 07:57:59 PM 721 Views
That Byzantiums iconoclasm was one of the many wedges between it and Rome that led to the Schism. - 11/03/2012 12:27:05 AM 642 Views
Bull. Shit. - 11/03/2012 01:54:07 AM 713 Views
I did not say it was decisive, but that it did irreparable damage to the relationship. - 11/03/2012 04:23:43 AM 730 Views
Bull. Shit. - 11/03/2012 04:30:08 AM 594 Views
It is not like I just pulled it out of my rear, any more than my HS history text or Wikipedia did. - 11/03/2012 04:57:31 AM 672 Views
Bull. Shit. - 11/03/2012 05:14:01 AM 747 Views
Irreparable damage is damage that cannot be repaired, not necessarily serious or fatal. - 11/03/2012 10:34:57 AM 817 Views
ο κοπρος. του ταυρου. - 11/03/2012 02:19:11 PM 778 Views
Very edifying; can you do Mandarin or Swahili next? - 12/03/2012 05:47:23 PM 684 Views
No. Even English seems to be beyond your grasp. - 12/03/2012 06:29:50 PM 592 Views
Citing scripture does not justify telling me to kill myself. - 13/03/2012 12:08:02 AM 726 Views
I'm not telling you to; God is. - 13/03/2012 12:35:45 AM 510 Views
Or can only you use that sort of specious logic? *NM* - 13/03/2012 03:50:20 PM 262 Views
And re: particular bullshit - 11/03/2012 02:33:15 PM 702 Views
Re: And re: particular bullshit - 13/03/2012 12:07:42 AM 608 Views
Give it up already. You are wrong. - 12/03/2012 12:53:37 AM 897 Views

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