I don't know, of course. I'm 19. Just thinking about the situations
ahead of time, so I'll be ready... (ha!)
> visiting friends who are "blessed" with families. I remember being the
> only one in the house at a time wehen five year-old Clayton came rushing
> into the kitchen in a terrible state of distress. He was watching a
> disney cartoon about dinosaurs and a big T.Rex ate one of the
> characters.
>
> All of a sudden you are made aware of the fact that whatever you say
> right now will be remembered for a long time.... (or maybe it won't, but
> you hope it will... vanity thy name is parenting instinct)
Even if the kid doesn't remember it word for word, s/he will remember
the underlying structure of the meme. I think I'd say "that is how the
world works... beasts eat beasts, and we are no exception. It may be
cruel and ugly, but hey, meat tastes good!" Later the kid might turn
into a vegetarian...
> The diety meme has changed and is changing still. It changed from a
> punishing force, to a forgiving man, and to many-- just an abstract
> force of love.
Another thing Nietzsche said was that the "original" meme behind "God"
was a being to thank for bountful harvests. Literally a super-human to
celebrate Thanks-Giving to. That is how it all started.
Then, when the harvests wern't so good, God got blamed. God was
punsihing "us". Then, once punsihment was a thing a God could do, the
Priests, who formerally did only the "thanks-giving" ceramonies, now had
an opportunity to seize power. And they did. Voila: vengeful rathful
God. Christianity evolved out of that as an attempt to throw off the
power structure of the dominate priest class. It worked, to, for a
time. But as John well knows, it works no longer.
We need a second Christ to fix *exactly* the same problems the first one
did!
> want?? :-) (or rather, what god do we allow to invent us?)
What Gods do we allow to invent us? yes! So sweet! What an awesome
"loaded" question! Have to keep it in mind...
It's one of those questions that really strikes at the core of the
religious controversy. There are 10000(+) Gods; which one is the "true"
God, and why? In essence, which God do we *allow* to invent us? I love
it!
ERIC