the Dao of Atheism :jeffers' petroglyph, pre-dakota, minnesota : the Shaman Atheist 28/81

28

One who knows religion
and holds close to atheism
is like the valley of the world
into which everything flows.
Being the valley
everything is drawn to it
like the actions of a young child.

Learn the simple and easy, the myths and traditions,
but study the deep and profound, the experiences and insights,
become the model of being.
By becoming the model of being,
loosing the boundaries and limits,
return to the source.

A person who has experienced glory and honor
yet lives a quiet and meager existence
is like the valley of the world.
Everything is drawn to it.
All power is there
all simplicity
all wholeness.
When power is divided, it is cut up up into departments, chain stores, churches, vice presidencies and district managers, ...
So they say, "the best sculptor does the least carving."

There are different planes of truth
that bear no relation to science, empiricism, or philosophy.
Something may be emotionally true
and logically false
or empirically false
but culturally true,
yet have no validation in reason or logic.
Reason can help understand the relation of myth to other cultures and how it forms social patterns, but reason cannot define the power of myth.
Religion and regional culture create ideas and values that defy reasonable explanation. How then should an atheist deal with religious ideas that are strange and irrational?

Yes.




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