[MD] Fear of Death

[John Carl]

Greetings Dan,

I like what I've learned here about God.  Its through thinking and writing
that I came to the conclusion that God is a high Quality pattern.   When you
need  to create group unity, deal with fear of death, enforce a moral code,
nothing comes in handier than a conceptualization of God.

The problem comes in when this conceptualization becomes a static club to
beat other people over the head.  But the same can happen with any rigidly
held belief - witness the recent discussions of SOL, for instance.

I also think that God is a high quality intellectual concept in the
maturation of children.  They need something to attach to early, that they
can grow out of later and become fully self-realized beings.  In order to
create a strong individual, you need a strong metaphysical weight to push
against.  I believe the MoQ could be a helpful tool in this process, but not
by adopting a rigid anti-theistic attitude.  That just creates a hostile
reaction in a world where the majority do believe in some kind of theos.

Sometime, I'd like to revisit an old discussion that probably passed away
before I (recently) came aboard.  The God = Good formulation hinted at in
ZAMM and promised fuller explication in the next book, which never came.

Take care,

John