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JustGeorge

JustGeorge

Imperfect
Staff member
Premium Member
I am noting that most of the great lessons to be learned in religion and mythology are the results of somebody's **** up.

For example, the Abrahamic religions wouldn't exist if Eve had chosen an appropriate fruit. The Mahabharata starts out with someone mistreating a puppy. We have dear Ganesh with his elephant's head because of Shiva losing his temper. King Arthur exists because his father tricked another guy's wife. Many religious figures are very flawed... yet loved anyways.

What are some screw ups that have had meaning to you?

(Note: Respectfully asking, if you think all religion is a screw up, and don't have anything productive to add, this isn't the thread for you.)
 
Secret Chief

Secret Chief

Degrow!
JustGeorge said:
I am noting that most of the great lessons to be learned in religion and mythology are the results of somebody's **** up.

For example, the Abrahamic religions wouldn't exist if Eve had chosen an appropriate fruit. The Mahabharata starts out with someone mistreating a puppy. We have dear Ganesh with his elephant's head because of Shiva losing his temper. King Arthur exists because his father tricked another guy's wife. Many religious figures are very flawed... yet loved anyways.

What are some screw ups that have had meaning to you?

(Note: Respectfully asking, if you think all religion is a screw up, and don't have anything productive to add, this isn't the thread for you.)
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Well... Siddhartha was brought up thinking the best life is an endless shagathon. Duh. Then he decided to give up on most food, drink, air.... and reduced himself to a living (barely) skeleton. Duh number 2.

So two **** ups in one religion. Bargain!
 
JustGeorge

JustGeorge

Imperfect
Staff member
Premium Member
Secret Chief said:
Well... Siddhartha was brought up thinking the best life is an endless shagathon. Duh. Then he decided to give up on most food, drink, air.... and reduced himself to a living (barely) skeleton. Duh number 2.

So two **** ups in one religion. Bargain!
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What an overachiever!

I guess we don't get anywhere unless we **** up first.
 
Eddi

Eddi

Christianity, Taoism, and Humanism
Premium Member
An interesting idea for a thread!!

Religiously speaking, I would not believe what I currently believe had I not ****ed up big time

But at least I am now happy
 
Quintessence

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
The mysteries taught by OBOD in the form of exploring the tale of Ceridwen's cauldron is a big one. The enlightenment of Gwion and his rebirth as Taliesin was an accident. The brew wasn't for him, it was for Ceridwen's ugly son Morfran who needed some sort of positive quality to balance out his hideous appearance. Gwion was just the nobody who tended Ceridwen's cauldron, stirring the brew for a year and a day for someone else's benefit. But he screwed up and the precious three drops of the brew landed on his thumb instead. Ceridwen was, shall we say, not happy with the ordeal.

There are different lessons that can be learned from the tale, but the one that struck me was this: if you do the work, the enlightenment will come whether or not it was intentional. It will just happen. In a way that is not unlike an accident, but sort of a divinely guided accident. It... it's hard to explain unless you've walked the walk.
 
JustGeorge

JustGeorge

Imperfect
Staff member
Premium Member
Quintessence said:
The mysteries taught by OBOD in the form of exploring the tale of Ceridwen's cauldron is a big one. The enlightenment of Gwion and his rebirth as Taliesin was an accident. The brew wasn't for him, it was for Ceridwen's ugly son Morfran who needed some sort of positive quality to balance out his hideous appearance. Gwion was just the nobody who tended Ceridwen's cauldron, stirring the brew for a year and a day for someone else's benefit. But he screwed up and the precious three drops of the brew landed on his thumb instead. Ceridwen was, shall we say, not happy with the ordeal.

There are different lessons that can be learned from the tale, but the one that struck me was this: if you do the work, the enlightenment will come whether or not it was intentional. It will just happen. In a way that is not unlike an accident, but sort of a divinely guided accident. It... it's hard to explain unless you've walked the walk.
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Good post!

I always wondered what became of the children, though, especially Morfran.
 
Spice

Spice

StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
Well since I'm an admirer of all heretics, the options abound. But the first thing that comes to mind is a very conservative religious figure who spoke up and said he's biggest mistake was publicly voicing his political position. That was the Reverend Billy Graham who became Nixon's personal religious confidant. He was burned badly by that mistake. It's a shame his son did not also learn from the example.
 
Kathryn

Kathryn

It was on fire when I laid down on it.
JustGeorge said:
Which of his screw ups had the most meaning for you?

I don't know King David's stories terribly well, but the little I do shows that the Divine can have love for us, even though we may be far from perfect.
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Two of them really reach out to me - one in which he sleeps with Bathsheba and the other in which he is not a good father.
 
Spice

Spice

StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
Kathryn said:
Two of them really reach out to me - one in which he sleeps with Bathsheba and the other in which he is not a good father.
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Yeah, but that sending her husband to the frontlines of the war so he could have her permanently was a bit much. Not to mention presenting Saul all those foreskins as proof of the enemy killed. You would think that would have been proof of those converted. :shrug:
 
JustGeorge

JustGeorge

Imperfect
Staff member
Premium Member
Spice said:
Yeah, but that sending her husband to the frontlines of the war so he could have her permanently was a bit much. Not to mention presenting Saul all those foreskins as proof of the enemy killed. You would think that would have been proof of those converted. :shrug:
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Do you think there are any esoteric reasons for the stories?
 
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