Published on September 1, 2007 By pseudosoldier In Religion
While waiting to pick up a delivery yesterday, I meditated a bit on some things I had recently read. I have a thought fragment that I'll attempt to reproduce here and one that I've already put into the Philosophy sub-forum.

That religion (esp. x-ian, e.g. RCath) is full of blatant contradictions can actually be useful as an exercise of faith. Similar to meditation on a Zen koan, reflection upon seeming contradictions can induce mental acrobatics like no other thoughts. The easy things to do in this case are either outright rejection and derision of these thoughts, or blind aceptance without any thought whatsoever, both of which we see far too often.
Contrasting the multitude with unity (Holy Trinity), vengeance with mercy (old T. vs. new T.) and 10 commandments w/ 1 commandment, including the oversights of the law, lead to a truth that is non-contradictory yet full of contradictions.
This truth "IS" and is often defined as "God."

That's what I jotted down yesterday on the back of an old operations order. The middle bit and some of the end were very influenced by what I was reading at the time, The Method of Zen, by Eugen Herrigel. Like I said, it's not an entirely complete thought, and it's not as clear to me even now as I know it was yesterday. Still, it's something I'll attempt to revisit and build upon, at least for myself.

Comments
on Sep 08, 2007

In a different time and a different place......