[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist ethics in a contemporary world

[Benito Carral]

On Friday, March 11, 2005, Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:

>> But  my  point  is  that  having a sense of being related to God is
>> already a very big step away from Narcissism.

> I'm  not  that  optimistic about relationships with God. Some people
> seem to benefit from it but it seems to me that for the greater part
> God  is  just  a  kind  of  cosmic  hollow  mirror. But knowing your
> involvement with unitarism, I can understand that we here must agree
> to disagree.

   I  think  that  the  idea of G-d makes sense in relationship with a
broader  context.  G-d  without context is not G-d. For example, it is
not  the  same  the  Jewish  G-d than the Catholic God; the Jewish G-d
can't live or be understood outside the Jewish metanarrative. So if we
talk  about 'G-d' in abstract, we don't get the feeling of G-d, we are
not  talking about G-d. People don't benefit from G-d in isolation but
from G-d in context. I think that it is not possible to understand G-d
without  having  learnt to feel as a Jew, and the same is true for the
Catholic God and the rest. G-d is not only an idea.

   Best wishes,

   B