Comments on: The Rosary http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/ and now, a word from our creator Sun, 20 May 2012 05:04:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: gglazer http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-50 Sun, 05 Nov 2006 06:22:13 +0000 http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-50 Well, we could go on for some time on the definition of crazy, but one broad stroke at it is to define sanity in terms of socially normative behavior and degrees of craziness as standard deviations away from the norm. The farther you are from the norm, the crazier society thinks you are. This allows people to be different without being labelled as (completely) crazy. Back to the point, society finds prayer normative and many, if not most people do it. (If only just before exams...) On the flip side, when the wasted derelict wanders around the Venice boardwalk and claims that God is talking to him, it is hard for us to verify whether that's true or he's just deranged. But that is only the 'little' crazy - history has shown us a parade of folks who claimed to have been divinely inspired and then led humanity into some of its darkest episodes of barbarism and mass insanity. The Children's Crusade, Jim Jones, Aum Shinrikyo and the list goes on. Yet as horrifying as I find their actions, I have no way of knowing whether they were truly divinely inspired or not. I really hope not, but I cannot know this. So, to finally answer your question, I can pretty reliably verify with my senses when someone else is praying. I have no way of verifying if God is talking to them (including Toby). Thus, I draw a distinction between the known and the unknown and the unknowable. Well, we could go on for some time on the definition of crazy, but one broad stroke at it is to define sanity in terms of socially normative behavior and degrees of craziness as standard deviations away from the norm. The farther you are from the norm, the crazier society thinks you are. This allows people to be different without being labelled as (completely) crazy.

Back to the point, society finds prayer normative and many, if not most people do it. (If only just before exams…) On the flip side, when the wasted derelict wanders around the Venice boardwalk and claims that God is talking to him, it is hard for us to verify whether that’s true or he’s just deranged. But that is only the ‘little’ crazy - history has shown us a parade of folks who claimed to have been divinely inspired and then led humanity into some of its darkest episodes of barbarism and mass insanity. The Children’s Crusade, Jim Jones, Aum Shinrikyo and the list goes on. Yet as horrifying as I find their actions, I have no way of knowing whether they were truly divinely inspired or not. I really hope not, but I cannot know this.

So, to finally answer your question, I can pretty reliably verify with my senses when someone else is praying. I have no way of verifying if God is talking to them (including Toby). Thus, I draw a distinction between the known and the unknown and the unknowable.

]]> by: FangVT http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-48 Fri, 03 Nov 2006 22:43:33 +0000 http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-48 Or maybe the question is why do you make a distinction between being crazy and praying? Or maybe the question is why do you make a distinction between being crazy and praying?

]]> by: gglazer http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-44 Fri, 03 Nov 2006 05:02:07 +0000 http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-44 Why is it that when we talk to God, we are praying, but if God talks to us, we are crazy? Why is it that when we talk to God, we are praying, but if God talks to us, we are crazy?

]]> by: FangVT http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-43 Tue, 31 Oct 2006 02:15:51 +0000 http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-43 I think you may be on to something there. If you view prayer as a form of meditation, then it doesn't matter if God answers prayers or not (and studies have shown no evidence of them working). If praying has a benefit to the person praying despite not being answered, that could explain part of the success of religion. On the other hand, real meditation is probably more effective for the practitioner than the pseudo-meditation of ritualized prayer. I think you may be on to something there. If you view prayer as a form of meditation, then it doesn’t matter if God answers prayers or not (and studies have shown no evidence of them working). If praying has a benefit to the person praying despite not being answered, that could explain part of the success of religion. On the other hand, real meditation is probably more effective for the practitioner than the pseudo-meditation of ritualized prayer.

]]> by: Deej http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-42 Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:07:32 +0000 http://unscriptured.com/2006/10/30/the-rosary/#comment-42 I'd use roseries for the meditative quality of them, if I were Catholic ( and I'm not sure how that works - I was born into a Catholic family, so I'm sure I was baptized there. Does that make me a lapsed Catholic? ). I've used prayer that way, and it's had a calming effect. Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and all the formal prayers seem very much like mantras to me. Actually, they probably serve that exact purpose, along with whatever other salvation they may bring. Their repetition, while perhaps not as good a tool as 'om', would help clear your mind, so that you could see things more clearly. Yeah, I like that idea. I've been re-reading CS Lewis' "The Abolition of Man" because of the subject of this site. The book is a modified transcription of a couple of lectures he delivered, on how the modern educational system is failing our children ( though this book was published in 1947, the problem he addresses is still with us ). He posits that our educators are leaving out an important assignment : moral instruction. He's not speaking of any specific religious practises, except for one, which really isn't a religious observance at all. Moral conduct, he contrends, is not simply how we treat our neighbors, but how we look at the world, and react to it. The practise that he does emphasize on is the Tao. He's all for it, and I like the fact that he can look at it as a whole thing, and that it is truely the Way. I wonder if he knew Milne, because they both seem to be on the same track about this - they were both Tao-Christians. I’d use roseries for the meditative quality of them, if I were Catholic ( and I’m not sure how that works - I was born into a Catholic family, so I’m sure I was baptized there. Does that make me a lapsed Catholic? ). I’ve used prayer that way, and it’s had a calming effect. Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and all the formal prayers seem very much like mantras to me. Actually, they probably serve that exact purpose, along with whatever other salvation they may bring. Their repetition, while perhaps not as good a tool as ‘om’, would help clear your mind, so that you could see things more clearly. Yeah, I like that idea.
I’ve been re-reading CS Lewis’ “The Abolition of Man” because of the subject of this site. The book is a modified transcription of a couple of lectures he delivered, on how the modern educational system is failing our children ( though this book was published in 1947, the problem he addresses is still with us ). He posits that our educators are leaving out an important assignment : moral instruction. He’s not speaking of any specific religious practises, except for one, which really isn’t a religious observance at all. Moral conduct, he contrends, is not simply how we treat our neighbors, but how we look at the world, and react to it.
The practise that he does emphasize on is the Tao. He’s all for it, and I like the fact that he can look at it as a whole thing, and that it is truely the Way. I wonder if he knew Milne, because they both seem to be on the same track about this - they were both Tao-Christians.

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