Other meanings and interpretations of scriptural sources

[Lark]

Have you ever thought about this? Of any world religions I mean, not exclusively Christian ones, but I am going to use some examples here.

I remember reading a Philip K Dick novel, I think it was VALIS, which was a bit of a mess anyway but it had some religious references and dealt with the following line of script:

GODNOWHERE

Which one of the character interprets as meaning:

GOD NOWHERE

But another interprets as:

GOD NOW HERE

There's other examples I can think of, Erich Fromm when he was writing about zen buddhism and psychoanalysis and other religious traditions talked about how Atonement, instead of Atone-ment, really meant At-one-ment, taking up some of Suzuki's ideas about being from Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist.

The latest about this that I've been thinking has been the whole idea of "you must be born again", what if Jesus meant "you will need a new identity" when he was saying that and I dont mean in a spiritual renewal sense, what if it was very practical advice, ie the authorities are going to kill me, probably kill all of you, you'll need a new identity or you'll need to go undercover or fake your deaths to survive, you know? Would put a pretty different, less obscurantist take on the scriptures there.

What are your thoughts about curious interpretations or do you have any examples?

 

[Dave Fallon]

I think, to some degree, religious text have to be a little obscure because the meaning is personal to each individual, and also communal but to communities separated from one another. If the religious text was an engineering drawing with precise instructions that could not possibly be interpreted two ways, it wouldn't be religion. At the same time and for the same reason, I really dislike when anyone determines that their personal interpretation of a religious text translates to strict laws for everyone else, even if they do identify with that same religion.

There is also, possibly, an element of self discovery and life journey involved. The interpretation you had as a child may be completely different as an adult, and they are still both equally true and correct to you.

I think this is especially true in Buddhism, where each individual is expected to practice in his or her own life the teachings, and to arrive at enlightenment on a personal level without the benefit of someone "giving it away". The very point of koans is to trick the mind to get out of the realm of temporal reasoning and be open to unification with the universe.

Great topic, though! Looking forward to what everyone else has to say!