Opensewer Gathering #8 Ithaca, New York Friday, March 30, 2001.
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	SUMMARY - The Gathering and Discussion by Jason Carroll This Opensewer gathering was one of the most rambunctious that Rose and I have seen yet. While the last Ithaca OS was rather a restrained, logical meeting, this one was rowdy, noisy, opinionated, and people came and went all night. Talking dog says, "It's good! It's good!" No less than three over-arching concepts of "god" were generated during the meeting. Their origins and relationships were discussed at length. Here they are: The Western view: "God is God." This is the idea that God is an actual being who exists independently of whether we believe he exists or not. Implied here is the idea of absolute truth, absolute right and wrong, and also the notion that one religion is "right," and the rest are "wrong." Thanks to Amy for effectively communicating this point. The Cynical (Modernist) view: "We create god." God only exists because we need god to exist. Thus, god varies across cultures and serves as a sort of cultural "pacifier," calming everyone down and reassuring us all the there really is a point to all of this. Thanks to John, Theo and Rose for putting forth this view. Last but certainly not least, the Eastern view: "God is everything." This is what George Lucas was trying to show us by inventing "the Force," and it's also a concept well illustrated in books like Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha (which came up more than once during the evening). Most eastern religions hold to one form of this or another: god is everywhere, god is everything. God is all and all is god and god is us. Many Native American tribes subscribe to these views, as well as "undeveloped" societies all over the globe. By the end of the evening, many in the group had arrived at the startling realization that God Concept #1 and God Concept #3 were really the same thing, just with different manifestations. Some other interesting contributions: "The current condition of spirituality is a result of the cultural shakeup of the 1960s. Before the sixties, there existed a very defined implicit moral framework in America. After the sixties, because of free love, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other things, this framework disappeared." --Theo "Morality has remained the same throughout history--it's just that those actions which are considered acceptable and visible on the surface of society have changed." --Rose "MAD magazine humor is now the norm. MAD is irrelevant because now everyone is just that cynical." --Amy, referring to a recent New York Times article. This cynicism is what leads to God Concept #2. "Belief in god is a delusion AND an insight into the workings of the universe." --Casey Martinson Referring to Siddhartha: "Truth is indeed in the river, but how do natural disasters fit in? Aren't those bad? If they are, are they evil? Is evil necessary? If it is, doesn't that mean that evil is really good?" --Oneal "No universal definition of evil exists because it is framed differently in every culture." --Anonymous "God is not your buddy." --Seth The process of arriving at the Cynical View (#2) of god, according to Seth: "Sages created icons to create truth. Then, people interpreted those icons too literally. Finally, scientists and cynics criticized those who took those symbols too literally. This process took about 2,000 years." Oh, my. Four hours wasn't nearly enough time to devour this topic. We may just have to hit it again at a future gathering. At Stella's 403 College Avenue Ithaca, NY : Map (607) 277-1490   Jump to: Cleveland | Columbus | Ithaca Back to Opensewer 8 Main Page