Sorry I have not posted anything in a while; I've been working on a political campaign.
I recently came across the idiom "God is Love," which I believe refers to a requited loving relationship between the biblical God and his (or it's, because why would God have a gender?) worshipers, i.e. if you promise to love God, he/she/it/them will love you in return. Instead, I began thinking about this phrase in what could be it's most literal meaning: God, or a belief in God, is in fact love.
I suppose I'll have to have a different definition of love than is typically adhered to; love, in this sense, would represent a feeling or acknowledgement of belonging and acceptance regardless of personal or physical faults, traits that are often mocked or scorned in society. The fact (as claimed by proselytizers) that God would accept a person regardless of their downfalls is a comfortable feeling, almost like being wrapped up in the arms of a lover. That someone, whether they are a supernatural deity or not, is willing to accept the totality of a person means that those who consider themselves faulty will have some chance at redemption, since God is all-forgiving and understanding (at least in some beliefs).
Thus, the feeling of embracing the notion of a God is one of love- acceptance, comfort, a jovial quid pro quo of love and forgiveness.
One would wonder whether this would set a bad precedent, i.e. if one's relationships always fail, there is always the love of the intangible God to fall back upon. Does that mean that instead of attempting to improve one's acknowledged faults, one would simply turn towards the comfort of a supernatural being? Does this negate human love in any way? Would a love (a true love instead of a superficial one that many hold) of God require a diligent and constant devotion towards maintaining the preternatural relationship? There are too many open-ended questions for my taste.
Being the ardently Socialist-Communist-Jedi-Lennonist (not misspelled) Atheist that I am, the consideration of a relationship with an omnipotent being doesn't concern me. I go about my life as anyone else- seeking comfort, warmth, love, friendship, happiness, prosperity, etc. If I do, mazel tov; if not, tough luck.
Anyway, there's my two cents on that. In other news, I need to study for the GREs. They're in a month. Hooray.
That's all for now,
Das Flüg
Perhaps you are over thinking the whole phrase. "God is Love" may not have to do with loving "God" or anything resembling the biblical God. But rather that the pure human emotion of unrequited love is that which the bible may refer to as God. God= Love, all accepting, non judgemental, complete pure love (which is rather far from how the bible describes God) So in a sense "God is Love" could mean WE HUMANS are "God" or have the capability to be "God" (again not in the biblical sense but just in the divine enlightened sense that trancends) as in to be completely loving towards one another, not just to your significant other but more of a Universal all encompassing Love.
ReplyDelete"God is Love" the pure feeling of deep love is God and we are capable of that love so we are God and all divine and beautiful and capable to love and be loved...we are everything and everything is us and everything is love and light and to some that is God, Allah, Buddha, w.e it's all the same the real message is love.
It's fascinating to speculate that we are ourselves the God we both worship and fear, and at the same time, fail to realize this inherent supposition. Instead, we reify God into a tangible object to be worshiped.
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