mmmn platmmn
Copyright © 2008 Steve Games First serial rights released to SoulCast. Photos, graphics, contents and characters may not be replicated for use outside SoulCast or commercial use in the open market or on other websites without express permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2008 Steve Games First serial rights released to SoulCast. Photos, graphics, contents and characters may not be replicated for use outside SoulCast or commercial use in the open market or on other websites without express permission of the author. All rights reserved.
mOOn platOOn mOratOrium: A DAY OFF FOR GOD
Maybe April 1st?
Let’s give God a day off. It’ll be good for us, too…
Imagine the look on God’s face when the clatter of human babble praying to God and cursing God’s name and debating God’s existence suddenly stops! The silence will be startling, even for the omniscient.
As for you and me, it can only do us good. We’ll catch ourselves every time “God!” starts to erupt from our faces, and actually stop and think about it. It’s amazing how many times a day God casually comes up.
If you’re constantly thinking about God, you’re constantly thinking about Death. Why else are you letting God dominate your every waking thought? God is your talisman against Death, ironically keeping Death at the forefront of everyday life. Won’t we be dead long enough? We have to dwell on it now, too?
There are people who say that you should live every day as if it’s your last. Really? Because if this were my last day, I’d be running all over the place. And I would be clinging to my kid like barnacles on a wharf. I’d also be laughing hysterically when not weeping uncontrollably. And part of the time I’d just be numbed out. I’d throw caution to the wind and kiss every pretty girl I saw. I’d grab the hottest car I could heist for a quick spin and punch out the most deserving bully I encountered. In other words, if this were a typical day, I wouldn’t last for long.
A moratorium on God would shut some people up completely. Priests, rabbis, ministers, reverends, ayatollahs, holy men, nuns or evangelicals, I hardly trust a one anyway. It has always raised my suspicions, same-sex dress-alikes secluded with their symbols of bondage and their sadomasochistic art. Oh sure, that’s just my take on it.
Hey, we all need this day off at least once a year. Humility is a good thing when not taken to extremes. The ‘Fear of God’ is often cited as a good thing, but any God that I have to fear is going to earn my resentment sooner or later. Worship by intimidation is a condition usually conjured up by super villains.
On the day of the moratorium, however, I think we should try to bend over backwards in the other direction as well – just to avoid trouble. Here’s an example of what I mean:
“Bless you.”
“Fuck you.”
I find both phrases mildly offensive. Both reek of arrogance. One phrase dismisses you disrespectfully and the other forces a point of view on you that distinguishes you instantly as friend or foe. Both contain alienating elements, one aggressive, one passive-aggressive. So let’s put a lid on the “Fuck yous” that day if possible. Why allow unfair advantages?
Nor should we encourage atheists to pile on while “God” cannot be uttered. If this is going to work, the atheists must agree to clam up for the day, too. Where do they get off, anyway? Cynicism against the supernatural? Fuck off (oops). You haven’t got the experience or the insight to dismiss the Unknown. Your brick and mortar existence has pores and those empty holes are full, ‘cause there’s no such thing as nothingness. Anyhow, chill for a day, will ya?
By the end of the day, even the most die-hard God-taker-for-granteders will be wondering: could you sustain your Faith if you were the Last Christian? The very Last Muslim? The only Jew on Earth? With no one to stand beside you or reinforce your Faith, would it hold up, surrounded by an indifferent, streaming universe? It’s almost like being high.
Will we discover, at the end of the day, that we get along just fine without God?
Naw.
Let’s not dismiss the God Squad cynically, for their instincts aren’t whacky. They’re on the right track. A certain reverence for life and wonder at existence itself makes for a fuller, purposeful experience. Placing a loaded concept like “God” at the center of their reverence is unfortunate, but for many “God” is the single concrete image (subconsciously provided by religious organizers) upon which that desire can focus conscious meaning.
An acute awareness of the world – however it is brought about - is an advantage in many situations.
- OO –
