[MD] The Edge 2006 Annual Question

[Scott Roberts]

David M,

DM said:
Are the feelings mankind has had in relation to idols
appropriate in relation to something else? I think so,
I wonder if we agree as to where they might be appropriate?

Scott:
I think not, if I understand your question. The problem with idolatry is 
that it gives one the idea that one understands God (or whatever), and that 
means one stops thinking about the problem. Now there are two points to 
make. One is that what I am saying is "Not for Everyone". It is just for 
people who take an intellectual path to salvation. The second is that what I 
am saying presupposes the "insanity" business. This is just another name for 
what Buddhists call "avidya" (ignorance), Hundus call Maya, and Christians 
call Original Sin. That is, there is something basically wrong with the 
unreflected ways we think about things. These ways work for getting along in 
the world, but they fail when applied to the problem of salvation. Idolatry 
is applying these ways of thinking to God (or Emptiness, etc.). To accept an 
idol is to stay within our insanity.

- Scott

>
> Scott:
> In my point of view, there is no non-negated without differentiation,
> which
> is what I oppose in your essentialism. There is no undivided source
> ontologically prior to differentiation or negation, nor is differentiation
> a
> source. There is, that is, no source above and beyond what is, which is
> CI,
> which is consciousness, value, and/or semiosis (or a bunch of other
> non-things), depending on the point one wants to make. Such a source is an
> idol. I like to think (but could be wrong) that CI avoids being turned
> into
> an idol because it cannot be thought through (cannot be "understood").
>
> - Scott
>
>
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