God and Man

Now that'a s lofty title for a lowly blog post!

I've thrown up some comments and posts that might lead people to think I am certainly irreligious if not anti-religious. Your preceptions would be correct.

Someone else recently posted on a blog that "economics and religion are the over-arching philosophies of social organization in this world". I believe that, totally. I believe religion is a completely human institution. That in itself is fine. I'm all for human constructs and systems because that is all we have. Such systems evolve or devolve - serve many well or poorly - we are them and they are us, etc . . .

(pardon the scatteredness - it's morning - I've been sleepless lately - I just want to keep my hand in)

I bristle at religion because the major ones all claim for themselves divine rights to the "truth". No human and no human institution should be allowed to get away with that hubris, or at least set their divinity over anyone else's.

As high as we are on the food chain, I believe humans are still humble creatures looking for meaning and happiness. I believe:

"There is that of God in everyone" - a central tenet of the Society of Friends - the Quakers.
and
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I'm also rather fond of Zen because it eschews dogma and acknowledges or even revels in our limitations as humans - that we can never know the fullness of reality in our current state of bondage to our particular type of consciousness. We can point the way.

Just because I am critical of organized religion, doesn't mean I'm down on people of religious conviction. It just depends on how they put that conviction into practice.

There, so all that's rather egotistical sounding. These are really just notes toward something larger I'd like to say, but have no time to put together. Ca suffise.