Stripe-lovers
19-12-2004, 17:23
There was once a group of highly intelligent bees, and highly intelligent caterpillars. They both often fed from the same plant. The bees would land on the flowers and suck on the nectar inside. The caterpillars would eat the leaves of the flowers. Now, the bees would always tell the caterpillars that the best food was in the flowers, and that they were wasting their time on the leaves. The caterpillars would tell the bees that the best food came from the leaves and they were wasting their time with the flowers. Eventually the caterpillars became so tired with the bees mocking them from above that they rose up and killed all the bees. Then they found that the food inside the flower was, indeed, very tasty. The caterpillars then decided that the best food was in the flowers. They told all caterpillars to stay in the flowers. Any caterpillars that left the flowers and dared to suggest that there was good food on the leaves were killed. Eventually the caterpillars all died out. Because everyone knows caterpillars eat leaves, not nectar.
What is the point of all this? That the bees and the caterpillars were both right and wrong. The best food for the bees was nectar; the best food for the caterpillars was leaves. Where they were wrong is suggesting to the other that their way was best. They simplyn didn't understand the plant as a whole, and didn't understand their position on the plant.
God is the plant. No human can hope to understand God. He is infinite. He is perfect. Humans are neither. How can a finite. fallible being hope to comprehend something that is the negation of that which defines their existence? We can only ever hope to grasp one small part of God. That part which is most suitable to us.
How do you know God? Those who truly know God would surely know Him through personal connection. But you can never know all of God. Because God is beyond the ability of even the greatest of us to comprehend. All you could know is that which God allows you to know. That which you need to know. That which is best for you.
Yet what is best for you is not neccesarily what is best for others. Your own personal fallibilities and inadequacies are different from that of others. When God speaks to you he is speaking to your faults, to your tendancies to sin. Others can be, and probably are, fundamentally different. So by telling them to act in the way you are told you are like the bees. This action leads not only to their destruction, but to yours too.
Remember too that the words of even the greatest teacher, of those closest to God, are only the words God chose to give to them. They are not the words God chose to give to you. If God wants to guide you He will. Any intemidiary is flawed, only by opening yourself to Him and truly accepting Him can you find the way. Teachers, prophets, books, second hand commandments, all are pale shadows compared to the direct word of God.
In short: if you want to know God, open yourself to him. Listen to what he says. Accept his words. Test the words of others, spoken or written, against your own connection to God. And never mistake your own connection to God for a universal ideal. In doing so you lessen both the beauty of your own connection to God, and the very nature of God Himself.
PS. Yes, I am an atheist. I am also, however, a student of religion. Please do not dismiss this as some kind of conversion by stealth. This is how I would approach religion if/when I found God. I am interested in the relfections of any mono-thesits and I will respect to your arguments fully. Please do the same with mine.
What is the point of all this? That the bees and the caterpillars were both right and wrong. The best food for the bees was nectar; the best food for the caterpillars was leaves. Where they were wrong is suggesting to the other that their way was best. They simplyn didn't understand the plant as a whole, and didn't understand their position on the plant.
God is the plant. No human can hope to understand God. He is infinite. He is perfect. Humans are neither. How can a finite. fallible being hope to comprehend something that is the negation of that which defines their existence? We can only ever hope to grasp one small part of God. That part which is most suitable to us.
How do you know God? Those who truly know God would surely know Him through personal connection. But you can never know all of God. Because God is beyond the ability of even the greatest of us to comprehend. All you could know is that which God allows you to know. That which you need to know. That which is best for you.
Yet what is best for you is not neccesarily what is best for others. Your own personal fallibilities and inadequacies are different from that of others. When God speaks to you he is speaking to your faults, to your tendancies to sin. Others can be, and probably are, fundamentally different. So by telling them to act in the way you are told you are like the bees. This action leads not only to their destruction, but to yours too.
Remember too that the words of even the greatest teacher, of those closest to God, are only the words God chose to give to them. They are not the words God chose to give to you. If God wants to guide you He will. Any intemidiary is flawed, only by opening yourself to Him and truly accepting Him can you find the way. Teachers, prophets, books, second hand commandments, all are pale shadows compared to the direct word of God.
In short: if you want to know God, open yourself to him. Listen to what he says. Accept his words. Test the words of others, spoken or written, against your own connection to God. And never mistake your own connection to God for a universal ideal. In doing so you lessen both the beauty of your own connection to God, and the very nature of God Himself.
PS. Yes, I am an atheist. I am also, however, a student of religion. Please do not dismiss this as some kind of conversion by stealth. This is how I would approach religion if/when I found God. I am interested in the relfections of any mono-thesits and I will respect to your arguments fully. Please do the same with mine.