RoxyRollah

Ive read the Gnostic Gospels of Christ,lost Gospels,The Imation of Christ and several versions ofthe bible.Had to pass tests in order to be a liscened minister as well as a certified anger management teacher.Yet I find no joy in doing that sort of thing and more.I burned out.

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Chula Vista

Totally get this. If you ever have the time that Karen Armstrong book blows the roof off. In a great way. She's amazing.

Karen Armstrong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Frownland

Not necessarily, with the differences in times and authors it makes less sense to accept it in a singular sense.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Chula Vista

Agree, but as soon as you allow that loophole all hell breaks loose on its historical validity.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

grindy

I first read the description as:

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Batman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao.

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A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.

John Wilkes Booth

Chula you ever read Philip k dick?

Chula Vista

Of course. I think everyone from my generation has.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

The Batlord

I thought I was the car?

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John Wilkes Booth

i only asked cause it looks like you're a gnostic? could be wrong i'm assuming based on roxy's response really, i didn't check out the book you posted.

but i was curious did you ever read valis? and if so what did you think of it?

Frownland

I'd say each book (or series of books, since some of them were written at the same time) should be taken on its own accord in terms of historical validity. For example, the Torah (first five chapters of the Bible, might be four i forget) can be taken with a larger grain of salt than other biblical texts because it was created to justify Judaic laws after the Jews were conquered by the Persians. The Persian emperor allowed for autonomy in religion and law as long as they were based off of holy texts, so while some things were earlier carried by word of mouth like Genesis, things like Deutoronomy can be written off as products of their time.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.