>Why don't you go become a Christain, then? They promise immorality of
>the soul. All you have to do is sacrifice you life here on Earth in
>worship of their God! What a great deal!
Eric; I've been thinking about this. First, I thought "what?" and then I
thought "oh! Someone's spoofing Eric, and he doesn't know this has been
posted." And then I thought, "well, mailing lists are a little better at
that now, though not much," and then I thought, "maybe the Buddhist memeset
just hasn't taken complete hold yet..."
ERIC: This is good... points out the /need/ to accept the world,
ERIC: even if it /is/ just an illusion. It is all we have.
[Earlier]
ERIC: This is what I mean when I say that self consciousness is a key to
ERIC: dissolving self identity. The longer you look for yourself, and the
ERIC: harder you try, the more obvious it becomes that in fact "you" is simply
ERIC: an illusion. There does not exists any being "Eric Boyd", although my
ERIC: physical body is /of/ the world.
[Even earlier]
ERIC: Desire. I've been aware for a long time that desire (to /want/
ERIC: something) is very important. Unfulfilled desire results in
ERIC: unhappiness. And so for a long while I've been trying to avoid it.
ERIC: Reading that Zen book has brought me into contact with an entire field
ERIC: who's sole aim is the abolution of desire (or graspingness, as it's
ERIC: called there).
And now...
>From the "Book of Discipline," created by the United Methodist Church and
revised every four years. The "Book of Discipline" is the official Doctrice
and procedural guide for the Methodists Church as a whole in the US; your
local results may vary...
Paragraph 65, section G: Human Sexuality.
"We recognize that sexuality is God's good gift to all persons. We
believe persons may only be fully human only when that gift is
acknowledged and affirmed by themselves, the church, and society.
We call all persons to the disciplined, responsible fulfillment of
themselves, others, and society in stewardship of this gift..."
And again, Eric:
ERIC: Why don't you go become a Christain, then? They promise immorality of
ERIC: the soul. All you have to do is sacrifice you life here on Earth in
ERIC: worship of their God! What a great deal!
Question: which is more life affirming in this instance?
Eric's? Or the UM? ;-)
-- John "
Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me aside so discourteously..."
Williams
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John Williams ICQ Address: 1213689 prefect@tricon.net
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"See my loafers? Former gophers!"
Various Artists: Raising the Tide of Mediocrity for Two Years
http://www.3wave.com/~prefect/