"You have to break past the image of God to get through to the connoted illumination. The psychologist Jung has a relevant saying: “Religion is a defense against the experience of God.” The mystery has been reduced to a set of concepts and ideas, and emphasizing these concepts and ideas can short-circuit the transcendent, connoted experience.
"An intense experience of mystery is what one has to regard as the ultimate religious experience.
"… You have to go past the imaged image of Jesus. Such an image of one’s god becomes a final obstruction, one’s ultimate barrier. You hold on to your own ideology, your own little manner of thinking, and when a larger experience of God approaches, an experience greater than you are prepared to receive, you take flight from it by clinging to the image in your mind. This is known as preserving your faith."
"An intense experience of mystery is what one has to regard as the ultimate religious experience.
"… You have to go past the imaged image of Jesus. Such an image of one’s god becomes a final obstruction, one’s ultimate barrier. You hold on to your own ideology, your own little manner of thinking, and when a larger experience of God approaches, an experience greater than you are prepared to receive, you take flight from it by clinging to the image in your mind. This is known as preserving your faith."
~ Joseph Campbell
From The Power of Myth
1988
1 comment:
That, Greg, is the precise reason for the famous Buddhist quote, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!"
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