the timboucher experience

One of the things that’s interesting about the human mind is that we are able to come up with the concept of infinity, but that it’s impossible to really hold an image of it in the mind from a practical standpoint. It’s much easier for us relate to something tangible, or which we have experienced, or which can be measured. For example in Daoism, they use the phrase “the 10,000 things” as a stand-in for the concept of infinity. It’s hard for me to imagine an infinite number of, say, pebbles. But it’s more manageable if you chop it down a bit, and say 10,000.

I think this is one of the main drives between religious representation. Our minds are capable of conceiving of infinity, but we aren’t especially good at relating to it after that. Ascribing forms, characteristics & attributes to the infinite or the divine or the ineffable makes them easier for us to handle and to relate to on some sort of “concrete” level in our imaginations. This is the process whereby people start saying things like “My god looks like an old man in flowing robes with a white beard.”

Then you have the ability to take this a step further beyond conceptual representation, into physical representation. This is perfectly cool in some religious traditions, and perfectly uncool in others, where they consider it idolatry. I guess the worry here is that people sometimes will get too caught up in the objects themselves, and start worshipping them, instead of god(s) directly. I think they also feel threatened because this starts to get close to the more democratic religious beliefs of pantheism, wherein the divine becomes manifest in every-thing. To me, idolatry seems like the next logical step in the very natural and very human process of reducing the divine infinitude into a smaller more manageable concrete form. Although, perhaps the argument could also be made that idolatry is the result of the failure of the power of imagination.

An interesting sidenote to the battle against idolatry in some religions is iconoclasm. Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious objects, icons and idols. It’s usually done for religious or political reasons. Sometimes it is done from one religion against another, but more often it is done in between disputing sects within a religion. Another notable example of iconoclasm occurred when the US military engineered that “spontaneous” celebration wherein the “Iraqis” toppled that statue of Saddam Hussein. (Perhaps the argument could be made that the USA was sending the message that worship of Saddam Hussein - an idolatrous power previously supported by the US govt - needed to now be replaced by worshipping the United States directly…)

One more thought I had on this topic of idolatry, is that I wonder if any groups historically have considered the Bible itself to be an idol. I don’t necessarily mean to say that people “worship” the Bible as it’s own deity, but people certainly come very goddamned close to doing that at times. Also, in reference to an earlier post about avatars, I wonder if any groups have ever considered the Bible or other sacred text to be a literal physical manifestation or avatar of God. The concept of the Logos is sort of similar to that, but the Logos (Word of God) is usually associated with Jesus - “the Word made flesh”. Sikhism contains the closest example to this I can think of offhand. They had their Ten Gurus, who were all human beings, and the last of these named their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, to be their prophet and leader from ever after. The Sikhs treat the Granth as though it were a living guru.

• @bushwhakcer
• Kill Your Idols!
• Infinity and beyond
• Harness Present Realities
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