On Wed, 24 Mar 1999, Robin Faichney wrote:
> In message <Pine.GSU.4.05.9903231153570.21800-100000@garcia.efn.org>,
Perhaps that's true to some degree. But I don't think most Christians
would feel comfortable attending an institution called
"The Church of Christ, Imaginary".
> Eva-Lise Carlstrom <eva-lise@efn.org> writes
> >
> >I've experimented with meditation on a medicine wheel arrangement of
> >personal fetishes (miniature animals of one sort and another, in this
> >case), and received advice from each of them, some of it novel and
> >surprising to my usual conscious mind. I understood throughout that these
> >spirit guides were imaginary friends, but that didn't negate the value of
> >their collective viewpoints to my coming to some decisions. Gods and
> >spirits can be useful focuses for thinking about personal questions,
> >whether or not one actually Believes in one's phetishes.
>
> I don't think it can be emphasised too often around here:
> that is exactly the basis on which many "religious"
> people operate -- fundamentalists are the only entirely
> literal believers.
> Though I've yet to complete the book, I get the impression
> that Sue Blackmore thinks Zen Buddhism superior to (e.g.)
> the Tibetan variety because of all the gods, demons, etc.,
> in the latter, not appreciating the extent to which the
> symbolic nature of these is acknowledged by Tibetan
> Buddhist teachers. (Which is just about the only criticism
> of anything she's written I've managed to come up with!)
> --
> Robin Faichney
I look forward very much to reading it. I just got an Amazon gift certificate, so it's time for another shipment, despite all vows not to buy more books till we've moved into a house.
--Eva