Re: "The Way of the Pilgrim"
Cecilia A. Baader (cbaader@my-Deja.com)
Thu, 21 Oct 1999 17:02:20 -0700
Jim,
True. It's not "rooted" in the Christian faith if you find it everywhere, bad word choice. All excellent points that you make, but I was by no means trying to equate all the world religions to each other.
My point was simply that there's a certain number of "truths" found literally everywhere. There's a book by Joseph Campbell about the Hero myth. (I can't remember the title offhand.) Campbell's main point is that there is only one story the world over, and every story is a variation on the same theme.
I just find the connections incredible. Sure every religion explains them differently, but so many of the concepts are the same.
Tricky J.D., though, using the Russian Orthodox mysticism to get across a more Eastern concept.
Regards,
Cecilia.
---
On Thu, 21 Oct 1999 07:02:42 AntiUtopia wrote:
>Well, first off, it's not "Rooted" in the Christian faith if it is indeed
>found in every major religion :).
>
>Next, you need to remember that in Salinger you have a presentation of
>Christianity (F and Z is the closest you're going to get) from the point of
>view of one committed to an Eastern viewpoint -- a westerner's version of an
>Eastern viewpoint, but still an Eastern Viewpoint. The monism behind this
>point of view will tend to emphasize similarities in religions and
>de-emphasize differences.
>
>However, that being said, there are similarities between Christian mysticism
>and the mysticism of other faiths. There are some similarities between
>Christian apophasis and Buddhist apophasis. But there are also radical
>differences.
>
>Once you've observed the phenomena, you also need to observe that a Christian
>and, say, a Buddhist will explain the phenomena very differently.
>
>Not that you are guilty of this, but it's pretty dishonest to ignore that
>last fact. I only say it because a lot of people do.
>
>Jim
>
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