faith/knowledge

[Guest guest]

Sara says:

>>I am unsually stuck between the two worlds - not

believing and sometimes knowing. It feels lonely.<<

--That's normal. The people who act certain are just

identified with their public persona and incapable of

accepting the natural tension between perspectives.

There may also be things people *know* that aren't

literally true, but which still have meaning. Religion

has never been very good at dealing with that either,

although zen might be an exception.

Tribalism is also an issue. Tribalism uses external

expressions of belief as " brands " , and mixing brands

is taboo (Coke and Pepsi try to get exclusive deals

with restaurants and stores... religions do the same

thing). Groups which frown on intermarriage with other

groups always squeeze out their mystics, because

mysticism involves a marriage of all things and all

people into a unifying context. The only other option

is for the mystics to speak in code, to adapt their

vision to language acceptable to the tribe. If you

feel like an outsider with knowledge rather than mere

faith, you may be one of those people whose function

is to bridge religions rather than reinforce existing

beliefs.

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