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PAINPANG.COM: TWO DOCUMENTS

ONE IS ABOUT GOD

ONE IS ABOUT ART

9/24/04 Does God Exist?

PBS is advertising one of their programs as addressing the fundamental question "Does God exist?"

I think the question "Does God exist?" is not fundamental at all. In fact, it is meaningless without first asking the question "What is your concept of God?". Suppose someone's concept of God is that God is everything. In that case, it is pretty ridiculous to ask the question "Does God exist?". Suppose someone else's concept is that God is "the Unknowable". Once again, why bother asking about the existence of the Unknowable? (Although Kierkeggard had a lot of fun playing with that paradox.)

That is one of my beefs with many atheists. What they are really saying is they don't acknowledge the existence of a very pedestrian concept of God, such as, the invisible friend, the puppet master, the judge or the builder who made the earth and lets it run on its own while he watches.

I like to tell people that I am in the next evolutionary stage after atheism, where I listen to peoples' concepts of God, but I pay more attention to their suffering, their fears and their powerlessness. That is the ultimate reality for me at this point in my life.

- Richard Wicka's On-line Journal entry

reader-friendly version

9/24/04 Does Art Exist?

PBS is advertising one of their programs as addressing the fundamental question "Does Art exist?"

I think the question "Does Art exist?" is not fundamental at all. In fact, it is meaningless without first asking the question "What is your concept of Art?". Suppose someone's concept of Art is that Art is everything. In that case, it is pretty ridiculous to ask the question "Does Art exist?". Suppose someone else's concept is that Art is "the Unknowable". Once again, why bother asking about the existence of the Unknowable? (Although Kierkeggard had a lot of fun playing with that paradox.)

That is one of my beefs with many art-haters. What they are really saying is they don't acknowledge the existence of a very pedestrian concept of Art, such as, the ideal of Beauty, the origin of the Beautiful, the puppet master of Beauty, the judge of Beauty or the builder who made the Beautiful and lets it run on its own while he watches.

I like to tell people that I am in the next evolutionary stage after art-hating, where I listen to peoples' concepts of Art... Beauty... the Beautiful... the Beatitudes..., but I pay more attention to their suffering, their fears and their powerlessness. That is the ultimate reality for me at this point in my life.

- Painpang.com's friendly reinterpretation of Richard Wicka's On-line Journal entry)