Letters to the editor
We are never more innocent than the day we were born
Stan Smith, Nanaimo
Volume 29 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: December 14, 2015
The Editor:
Happy Holidays! No ISIS!
It is religion just as much as the Crusades, the cover-up of clergy sex abuse, the inter-Christian wars, the inter-Muslim wars (today’s Syria, Iraq vs. Iran), the Palestinian – Israeli unending strife, etc.; no matter what Pope Francis, all the other religious leaders and all the religiously-educated politicians say to the contrary with their “prayers” for the Parisian victims. Only ISIS is honest: “God is great”.
The Editor:
Happy Holidays! No ISIS!
It is religion just as much as the Crusades, the cover-up of clergy sex abuse, the inter-Christian wars, the inter-Muslim wars (today’s Syria, Iraq vs. Iran), the Palestinian – Israeli unending strife, etc.; no matter what Pope Francis, all the other religious leaders and all the religiously-educated politicians say to the contrary with their “prayers” for the Parisian victims. Only ISIS is honest: “God is great”.
You don’t have to be a psychoanalyst/psychiatrist to see through it all. Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) was a Jew by birth and religion (the Jewish puzzle) but later became irreligious (said Moses was Egyptian, not a Jew by Birth). Carl Jung (1876-1961) was a Protestant Trinitarian Christian by upbringing (his father, two uncles on his father’s side and six on his mother’s side were pastors), but ended up liking “God is love”, though never able to explain the mystery of love. He did like Meister Eckhart (1260-?1327) and Jacob Bohme (1575-1624), both Trinitarian Christians and so he was considered too religious by some… used the word soul. Our problem today regarding God is love (= an afterlife) or God is matter (= no afterlife). Jung considered Jesus to be a fallible man, just “a mere mouthpiece for the Holy Ghost”, a manifestation of the unconceivable God.
There is nothing magical about Jung’s “collective unconscious” as the brains, from the flatworms to the highly complex humans just have information constantly poured into and stored in them. These brains are always curious, seeking food, shelter, a mate: the five Q’s – What? Where? When? Who? How? Human beings add a sixth Q = Why? (= Truth?). Jung was not impressed by mere beliefs about God/no God, all being ‘mystery’.
Jung put the Vatican and all religious leaders in their places with their teaching “idealistic beliefs or conduct which people know in their hearts they can never live up to” and which those leaders have never lived up to and never will. Our superstitions are just tactics to get us to do or not to do certain things, e.g., “If you want curly hair you must eat your crusts”. But to really scare the wits out of people, say the divinity will reward or punish you, e.g., wear a medal, a cross, a particular piece of clothing on your head or whole body. We are never more innocent than the day we were all born = naked. And, our “day” means nothing: one of ours is different for other planets.
Stan Smith, Nanaimo