[MD] new blog

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Mel]
I read (or misread) your earlier comments to mean that God is an 
occidental 'pathology', as it were.

[Arlo]
Yes, I think you've misread (or I've miscommunicated). Obviously, 
"god stories" are not confined to the Occident, and are found across 
the globe and throughout history (and I'd wager pre-history, as 
well). My point is that (IMO) the Occidental tradition has spawned 
the most aggressively anti-esoteric responses in this history. Part 
of me goes back to Pirsig's talk about "the word" in western (SOM) 
culture and would argue that the (or at least "one") reason 
Occidental religion tends towards aggressively anti-esoteric has to 
do with the SOM culture that subsumes it. (Of course, as I have also 
said, there have been rich, esoteric responses within the Occidental 
tradition as well- Gnosticism, Sufism, and Kaballah to name three).

[Mel]
The actions of the faithful tell you more about the worshiper than 
the worshiped.

[Arlo]
Agree.