Perhaps there are things that cannot be rationally explained or understood on a conscious level. Maybe you can read something and not worry if it true in any obvious way. Maybe it’s like dreams and the only interpretation that matters is that in the mind of the dreamer.
Or maybe not.
Do you really mean that?
Perhaps there are things that cannot be rationally explained or understood on a conscious level. Maybe you can read something and not worry if it true in any obvious way. Maybe it’s like dreams and the only interpretation that matters is that in the mind of the dreamer.
Or maybe not.[/quote]
I dunno, I feel good when I urinate in someone’s dessert too.
Shouldn’t this be in the spirituality and religion forum?\
oh wait, we don’t have one.
Perhaps there are things that cannot be rationally explained or understood on a conscious level. Maybe you can read something and not worry if it true in any obvious way. Maybe it’s like dreams and the only interpretation that matters is that in the mind of the dreamer.
Or maybe not.[/quote]I think I know what you’re getting at, Dr McCoy.
We do tend to look at things in an unvaryingly literal way, from our own preconceptions. That can be a handicap when we read something such as a poem intended to point to something beyond immediately tangible experience.
Regarding religious texts, theologians and exegetes often try to find their deeper, non-literal meanings, though they don’t generally feel that “the only interpretation that matters is that in the mind of the dreamer”.
Yes, the experts will tell you what things were really supposed to mean, but the key to enduring spiritual or literary popularity is it’s impact on the individual human mind.
[quote=“Dr. McCoy”]Yes, the experts will tell you what things were really supposed to mean, but the key to enduring spiritual or literary popularity is it’s impact on the individual human mind.[/quote]I don’t think it has to be either/or.
Actually the problem with religion is not the actual texts, it’s experts trying to impose one ‘correct’ interpretation of those texts. I think you could argue that if anything became the absolute unquestionable truth, even things that are 90+% true like desirability of Taiwan Independence, the existence of global warming or the divinity of Barack Obama, that would be a bad thing.
All those truths would produce martyrs ready to die or at least get banned attacking them, and we should respect that, even the martyrs are not sympathetic characters to say the least.
Blessed are the trolls, the griefers and the dissidents because they make us question our assumptions.
On the other hand, is it so terrible to admit the possibility that, in some regards at least, someone else may have more insight than us? To listen to what they have to say in an open-minded way and see if it strikes a chord with us?
That doesn’t mean, of course, that we have to see them as 100% perfect human beings, or accept what they say blindly. But at least it would be good not to reject what they say out of hand simply because they are in a position of “authority”.
This thread has me literally riveted to my seat.
You’re not supposed to take what those experts say literally.
I think you mean ‘laterally’.
[quote=“Dr. McCoy”][quote]Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:9-14[/quote][/quote]That’s a good example of the need to not take things literally (or at least not interpret them in a narrow, out of context, first-glance kind of way). I think some people might read “fear the Lord” and take that as further evidence of what they perceive as Christian authoritarianism; of religion trying to scare people into submission.
I’d suggest that “fear” in that passage means more like respect and awe. Awe in a positive sense like the feeling people have when they see a great waterfall or a vast mountain range. But to be confident of that interpretation, I’d want to know the original word that was translated from; how that word was used in other passages; and how it was usually interpreted at the time those passages were written. For that, I could either do a few months’ research myself, or I could consult the works of a biblical scholar, an “expert” if you like 
.
Where’s Fortigurn when you need him? 
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“Dr. McCoy”][quote]Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:9-14[/quote][/quote]That’s a good example of the need to not take things literally (or at least not interpret them in a narrow, out of context, first-glance kind of way). I think some people might read “fear the Lord” and take that as further evidence of what they perceive as Christian authoritarianism; of religion trying to scare people into submission.
I’d suggest that “fear” in that passage means more like respect and awe; in a positive sense like awe people have when they see a great waterfall or a vast mountain range. But to be confident of that interpretation, I’d want to know the original word that was translated from; how that word was used in other passages; and how it was usually interpreted at the time those passages were written. For that, I could either do a few months’ research myself, or I could consult the works of a biblical scholar, an “expert” if you like .[/quote]
Yes. And that’s one part I just totally disregarded. I mostly got out of it, do good, don’t lie, and seek peace. I’ve heard the fear part explained as awe.
I am literally a bigger man than you
You haven’t met the Doc, I guess. 
Funk500 definitely literally has bigger hands at least.
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“Dr. McCoy”][quote]Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:9-14[/quote][/quote]That’s a good example of the need to not take things literally (or at least not interpret them in a narrow, out of context, first-glance kind of way). I think some people might read “fear the Lord” and take that as further evidence of what they perceive as Christian authoritarianism; of religion trying to scare people into submission.
I’d suggest that “fear” in that passage means more like respect and awe. Awe in a positive sense like the feeling people have when they see a great waterfall or a vast mountain range. But to be confident of that interpretation, I’d want to know the original word that was translated from; how that word was used in other passages; and how it was usually interpreted at the time those passages were written. For that, I could either do a few months’ research myself, or I could consult the works of a biblical scholar, an “expert” if you like .[/quote]
I’ll have to check my lexicons when I’m home, but ‘awe’ is likely to be the correct sense. Having said which, there’s a cultural issue involved here. To the ancient Hebrews there was absolutely nothing wrong with feeling abject terror when confronted with the almighty creator of the universe. That made a lot of sense to them. It makes a lot less sense to post-modern Western minds conditioned to view fear as an exclusively negative emotion. I see no reason to re-interpret ancient Hebrew concepts for the comfort of post-modern Western minds.