Keep on Voyaging.
by the Editor
Really, The Voyage In/The Voyage Out has a special meaning for us at EAP. Because we around here think you have to go into yourself, have a look around, explore the darkest parts and the most winding roads, get a rough geographical idea of what you’re dealing with, before you can make any effective Voyage Out.
Mike Madrid’s new project takes that as a given. He’s asking people who haven’t necessarily accepted the traditional inner maps of received religions how they navigate those deepest, darkest jungles inside. It’s a fascinating study. And I think here is the proper place to say to all of our dear atheist friends and loved ones who, well, not to put too fine a point on it, FREAK OUT if you even mention the G word: Listen, I know you guys have been driven mad by the fundamentalists on all sides, but this is no reason to ignore an idea that, at the very least, has formed your very own culture. I appreciate your reactiveness, but please don’t bug Mike about the subject he’s chosen. No more outraged emails, please. Mike’s look at what you and I think at the moment the airplane is going down is, if you think about it for a moment, an exploration of a basic symbol, one at the heart of all of our assumptions. Now if you think of that symbol as a bearded man in the sky who grants prayers and punishes, or of a sentient web that we are all a part of like cells in a body, or even of a superheroine, a UFO based alien, or a pantheon of various misbehaving heroes with classical Grecian profiles, it doesn’t really matter. The fact that you think at all, or, rather, feel at all, about this is what is interesting…and how you define it for yourself, and how you relate to that definition, or feeling, or being…that is not only going to tell you a great deal about yourself and your own culture, it is going to give you a baseline from which to take further action. Going to give US a baseline from which to take further action.
And are we or are we not agreed that further action is required these days? I mean, anyone looked at Wisconsin lately? Don’t we need to know what the basic building blocks are that got us into those messes, and what building blocks we need to get out?
Well. Yes. I thought so. So you atheists…hey, no one’s beating up on you. We LOVE you. We love how bolshie you get when some creep is using the blameless concept of God to beat up on someone weaker than they are. But this isn’t about those creeps, okay? This is about real, reasoning, deeply feeling, concerned people looking at their own inner life. The Voyage In, mapping dark terrain in high hopes of having more accurate maps for The Voyage Out. So give Mike’s project a half decent chance, will you? There’s nothing like a new look at an old God. Or even a new God.
And anyway, I personally can’t turn over my decisions on how to move forward to Richard Dawkins. I much prefer Brian Griffith and his fascinated look at the culture that’s been formed by Chinese goddesses. Have a look.
Welcome back!