posted
I find the different interpretations of the Tommy story very interesting. Everybody seems to be interpreting the circus as the greater fulfillment/ happiness and the parade as the lesser. Dan Raven seems to think that Tommy was right to find fulfillment in the parade and stop there without searching for greater fulfillment. Dagonee seems to think that Tommy settled and missed out on the greater fulfillment and that this is truly sad. Aspectre seems to think that the journey to the circus (fulfillment) is what's truly important. Please correct me if my interpretations of your statements are incorrect.
What I find most interesting about the Tommy parable is that Tommy doesn't know that there is greater fulfillment than the parade. He believes he has already found the great end. So is he wrong to accept this end and find fulfillment as he can? If he keeps looking and finds the Great Circus and discovers that it completes him in a way he couldn't have expected, then clearly it was worth it for him to keep searching.
But what if there is no circus? What if he fails to appreciate the parade in its fullness because he keeps looking for an even greater circus that doesn't exist? Or what if he finds the circus but isn't sure that it's the Ultimate Circus, thinking that perhaps there's even greater fulfillment out there than what he's found? Is his whole life spend in vain trying to find this circus that may not exist and even if it does, he might not recognize it as such? Or is it as aspectre said that the journey to find the circus is in and of itself the worthwhile end?
Furthermore, what if he's aware of all of these possiblities... Is it worth the gamble to try and find the circus, even though it may not exist? Or is it better to forego the agony of the search and just accept the fulfillment offered by the parade?
Just some thoughts.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Tommy's cousin Lou missed the parade, but found his way to the circus. Unfortunately the tent caught fire and Lou and 57 other people burned to a horrible death.
Nah, not a good story either.
I am sorry I used the term "Sermon" in this title. Would poorly Christianized parable be a better phrase?
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Scott, the Tree is the Divine Feminine, the World Tree.
Even creepier. Who wants to sit under a tree that the All-father hung on? Where's the spear through the center? Where's the serpent at the root?
Then again-- serpents, spears, and undead, blood-thirsty, one-eyed gods. Hey, perfect environment for a growing boy. Wonder why he left.
You sure you want to call it a world tree, Jenny?
quote:She gives because that is her nature. She loves, because she believes in the boy. He takes advantage because he is oblivious to who and what the Tree is. I think it's a great parable about humanity and the natural world.
posted
I have a more blatent example, and I will call this a sermon because that is what it was. Last year my son's high school in Minnesota hired a band to come in and play as a school assembly. I guess it was all pretty cool for the kids, they had beach balls that were being tossed around the bleachers, the whole nine yards. When I picked up my son from school he handed me a Christian Tract. When I asked him where he got it he told me that the band handed them out to everyone at the assembly. I read through the tract and it was all about accepting Jesus as your Savior. I asked about the band and the assembly and found out that it was a Christian band that played all Christian songs, and at the end of the concert the leader of the band gave his testimonial and shared the Christian plan for salvation.
Now let me say up front that I am a Christian, but I feel strongly about separation of church and state. So this whole thing greatly offended me(not to mention that there was a large Muslim community at the school) I really debated whether or not to say anything to the school. I know that I would have been in the right to do so but I did not want to cause any more problems for my son. I had already had several run-ins with the school--but that is a story for another post someday . So I just let it slip and I am sure that they will probably do it again, if we were still up there I don't think I could let it pass a second time.
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