Written back in Sept, 2011...
Yes, it is 2:45am. Yes, I should be sleeping. No, I really don't want to talk about it. I found this as I was siffling through my files. It seemed to be appropriate for the moment. Wanted to throw it out there and see what (if any) responses I get. You see, many years ago I attended this institution called college and one professor really made a mark on my life which until this discovery this evening, I had forgotten. We'll see what the next few days bring, but the moment we sat down in class and class began, he said, "You have 5 minutes to write a response to this statement. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, or anything else...just let your thought flow." and wrote: “God is dead.” My response to him was this: "I find it hard to believe that you start the semester’s first diagnostic paper with the sentence, “God is dead.” When you ask the class to continuously write any and all thoughts regarding this statement for a full five minutes, I think you are completely crazy. Now, you are asking for a few sentences either agreeing or disagreeing with the topic, and I think you are merely borderline insane. However, I think am beginning to understand why you asked us to write on so controversial a subject, and the fact that we could take this subject many ways is actually kind of amusing. I could tell you why I agree or even why I disagree with the statement and come up with quite a few reasons, but that would only be a drummed-in, and somewhat forgotten, religious background talking. Most Gods that you read about are invincible and even though I grew up being shoveled from Catholic to Lutheran churches and learned very early on that people have completely different views of a “God,” most religions would probably be devastated if you could provide any kind of proof that their God is indeed dead, whether biologically or even emotionally. The statement “God is dead,” would also sustain that a God did in fact exist. There is a matter of perception in the statement – perhaps it is just a metaphor for you feeling that your God has wronged you somehow. That you have chosen to ignore him and he is dead to only you. For the time being, to help enable this discussion further, I have chosen to be more of Wiccan faith than any other. So the statement “God is dead” would merely have me asking, “Which one?” Furthermore, although the Wiccan culture has influence over my life, I also chose to live my life to the best of my ability, to my own morale, with as few outside influences as possible, be it with or without the Gods. Here is where I second-guess myself and contemplate whether or not I would really care about the statement, though. Religious discussions have always been a thorn in my side due to the fact that all beliefs are different, all arguments cannot be proven (this is the definition of “faith” after all, is it not?) and I grow weary of people telling me what I SHOULD or SHOULDN'T believe. This is my life. This is my faith. So, I guess you would have to say, for me, the subject is as dead as the statement." "and...time." I earned an A+ with a few very intriguing comments and knew my semester in Advanced English was going to be fun.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Julie WestphalAuthor, Poet, Dreamer Archives
February 2024
Categories |