Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Fishy/Dancing/Bill Edelen

(P1) Poetical

"Neither Fish Nor..." (Watercolor & Acrylic by Ed Coletti - 4-1-09)

(P2) Political

Dancing With the Stars

Nothing earth-shaking here. I just couldn't resist! Sarah and Barack!

Comment or Read Comments Here on any of the above or below. Log in under "Name" or "Anonymous" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net if you have difficulty.





(P3)Philosophical (below)

William Edelen is a long-time friend. He's a minister, WWII Marine pilot, friend of the earth, and the most sensible person I know. He married Joyce and me.

VIRUSES OF THE MIND

by William Edelen
April 26, 2009

A child comes into the world, born an atheist as all babies are, and then is quickly indoctrinated with the religious virus of his or her parents and culture. A child through enculturation absorbs the culture of his, or her people. Enculturation is the process by which an individual learns the patterns of the family;

Children, through innocence, believe everything the parents tell them. They believe in the "tooth fairy"..."Santa Claus"..."The Easter bunny"..."witches changing princes into frogs"..."a man being born of a virgin"..."a man who could rise up from the dead"..."walk on water" and so forth. Children, being gullible, are easy prey for mental infections. It is easy for a child's consciousness to be exploited by a mind virus that is identical in nature to a computer virus or a biological virus.

The helpless young are easy victims of an insidious propaganda regardless of how ignorant or bigoted.

RELIGION IS A CULTURAL ACCIDENT. Children believe what their parents tell them and so follow the religious belief of their parents, or culture. The diety of ones worship is a product of ones culture. Catholic nuns do not have visions of the Buddha...nor do Buddhist nuns have visions of Christ.

Religions come with built in guilt mechanisms if the host starts to question. It is like a computer's warning statements if you try to delete a file needed for its operating system. Fear will usually remain even if guilt is overcome. A woman in my Congregational church in Tacoma, WA had grown up as a Roman Catholic and left to become a Congregationalist. She told me that she often awakened in the night in a cold sweat afraid she was going to be punished for that after death.

(Press here to read the full essay)


Comment or Read Comments Here on any of the above or below. Log in under "Name" or "Anonymous" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net if you have difficulty.

3 comments:

Duncan said...

Thank you so much for posting William Edelen's column. Why is it so difficult for people to understand what he's saying?
Organized religions, with Christianity leading the way, have carried out the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time on thier followers. Promising unpaid rewards for lifetimes of investments.

peter money said...

Really nice watercolor work, Ed! I enjoy, especially, that “Neither Fish Nor.”
Interesting array of subject matter throughout the blog too. I want to print a copy of that Tom Tomorrow cartoon (my first book is called These Are My Shoes; I keep a file on everything “shoes”--including the Bush incident in Iraq).

Today put Jules Feiffer, James Sturm, and me and my kids side by side at a stop light. Later we met up again, at Dartmouth, with the added pleasure of Jeff Danziger and Ed Korin in the room. Some of our best political cartoonists, right there.

Be well in California. --We’re still elated about the VT legislation that out-did the governor’s veto.

--Peter.

Unknown said...

ED!

A fine essay by Edelyn. I will be in touch with him.

I am just finishing my new book of about 50 poems. It's entitled ALL WAR IS DEFEAT. I'll send it to you as soon as the complete text is on line.

I'm looking forward to seeing you some time soon.

VIVA ED!

Park