Thoughts on Real
Apr. 25th, 2010 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdI used the phrase "real writing" in a fan forum without thinking. When someone took umbrage, I totally missed the tone, mistook it for praise and cited my bibliography.
*headdesk*
Tonight, i'm in a discussion on the reality of God/gods/etc.
Real is a funny word.
All writing is real, in that it is a visible, tanglible object and the product of someone's thoughts.
Yet there are levels of real as well. There is real (paid) writing vs. hobby writing. There is real (what professional associations consider for membership) writing vs. paid, nonqualifying writing. There is real writing (hardback/mass market/print) vs. ebook writing.
Whe it comes to gods, there is the reality of "they're all real, that is someone believed in/created them."
Yet, some say there is only one real God, and all the others were either prep work or a falling away from the truth.
Or the reality of "this is the one I pray to" vs. "the one you pray to."
Or a god is real in the sense of actively working in a believer's life, vs. not working in a believer or a nonbeliever's.
All the gods have the same reality to me, which is to say, none at all. They are anthropomorfic personifications, like Prachett's Death, of the forces in the universe. They are metaphors we use to understand the Divine, conduits we use to access and influence the Matrix of Reality.
(yep, that word again) They were created to explain the universe to humanity and many passed from common use when science took over a lot of that function.
There are people who have intense personal relationships with their god(s). I have enough trouble having relationships with real--er--tangible people.
Real.
Reality.
It's a bigger concept than I thought.
*headdesk*
Tonight, i'm in a discussion on the reality of God/gods/etc.
Real is a funny word.
All writing is real, in that it is a visible, tanglible object and the product of someone's thoughts.
Yet there are levels of real as well. There is real (paid) writing vs. hobby writing. There is real (what professional associations consider for membership) writing vs. paid, nonqualifying writing. There is real writing (hardback/mass market/print) vs. ebook writing.
Whe it comes to gods, there is the reality of "they're all real, that is someone believed in/created them."
Yet, some say there is only one real God, and all the others were either prep work or a falling away from the truth.
Or the reality of "this is the one I pray to" vs. "the one you pray to."
Or a god is real in the sense of actively working in a believer's life, vs. not working in a believer or a nonbeliever's.
All the gods have the same reality to me, which is to say, none at all. They are anthropomorfic personifications, like Prachett's Death, of the forces in the universe. They are metaphors we use to understand the Divine, conduits we use to access and influence the Matrix of Reality.
(yep, that word again) They were created to explain the universe to humanity and many passed from common use when science took over a lot of that function.
There are people who have intense personal relationships with their god(s). I have enough trouble having relationships with real--er--tangible people.
Real.
Reality.
It's a bigger concept than I thought.
