This made me smile, I like it.youkrst wrote:viva la metaphor!
Cindy
Moderators: Clemsy, Martin_Weyers, Cindy B.
youkrst wrote:This brings us back to the thoughts of Krugers who started this topic:wooohooo! yes to continue in esoteric christian parlance "first that which is natural then that which is spiritual" first the child then the man. first the milk then the meat (all metaphoric) vegetarians please choose another metaphor
To create a church based on metaphor is an oxymoron. First of all the word church simply means, called out ones. It speaks of those who have been called out of the outer world of literalism into an inner world of substance. The way the word church is commonly used today to refers to an organization rather than a living experience that is birthed out of wholeness.I wonder if anyone has used Joseph Campbell views of Christianity as a powerful metaphor and myth to create a church?
It seems we all start out like Neo, living in the matrix with no idea that the world around us is actually made up of things that represent a higher order. When our adventure begins our eyes slowly open to the real world and we begin to see the outer life is really a symbolic representation of a inner life.
It would be nice if we could take everyone with us on this journey and every eye could see the symbolism that surrounds us but it doesn't seem to happen that way. We all have our role to play in order for the drama to unfold. What a boring story it would have been if Pharaoh had released the Israelites the first time Moses said, "Let my people go."
yes i sense we are of one mind in these matters Douglas.
It is a nice reality check when we have the opportunity to compare notes with others who may be on a similar journey and understand the same language.
youkrst wrote:man i could use a beer about now.
It doesn't get any more profound than that!
If you hear somebody knockin' on your door
If you see somebody crawlin' across the floor
Baby it'll be me, I'll be lookin' for you
And if you see somebody climbin' up a telegraph pole
If you find a new lump in your sugar bowl
Baby it'll be me, and I'll be looking for you
or how about
You‘re my world, you‘re every breath I take
You‘re my world, you're every move I make
Other eyes see the stars up in the skies
But for me they shine within your eyes
yabba dabba doooooo!
my bad entirely Douglas, i'm afraid i mixed my metaphors, but in this case it kinda worked!Now I am confused. I'm having visions of both Fred Flintstone and Yogi the bear!
Charles, nice to meet you, and I am in full agreement with your wife.charlesupton wrote:My wife Jenny says: "Christianity was understood as a metaphor from day one" -- by the "pneumatics", that is, not the "psychics" or the "hylics". It was a metaphor that was lived out in the flesh, as all metaphors (for good or ill) ultimately are. Jenny says: "Go back to the medieval concept of the 4 levels of meaning: literal, moral, allegorical, amd anagogical (mystical)," There is ABYSMAL IGNORANCE of the Christian tradition in today's world; don't try to re-invent it until you first understand it. Read Dante, Eckhart, Augustine, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Scotus Eriugena, Bernard, Maximos the Confessor, Dionysius the Areopagite, Simeon the New Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Palamas, , the Philokalia, etc. etc. etc. they will wipe the idea of an unsophisticated, literalistic Christianity out of your mind forever.