Tom Ellis
Jul 19, 2021

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Interesting. But basically, you (and Wallace) are using the religious-inflected words “worship” and “god” as metaphors for what others call egocentricity; what the Church Fathers called “pride,” and what Buddhists call “samsara” — and what George Harrison excoriated in his song “I me mine.” True “worship,” however you define it, entails transcending egocentricity. And while personifications of the Sacred like “god” or “Jesus” or “Allah” can be useful mental formations for transcending egocentricity, they can also — all too often — become mere projections of it. This is why, for example, Meister Eckhart, the medieval German mystic, proclaimed “Therefore I pray God that he rid me of “god.”

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Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis

Written by Tom Ellis

I am a retired English professor now living in Oregon, and a life-long environmental activist, Buddhist, and holistic philosopher.

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