Shamash is smiling

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, which goes back to ancient times where legend and history cannot usefully be separated, there an evocative moment where the hero, Gilgamesh, rails in frustration before his god Shamash about his unfulfilled need to conquer the land of Humbaba. Here's what he says:

"If this enterprise is not to be accomplished, why did you move me, Shamash, with the restless desire to perform it?"

How perfectly put, for anyone who believes in a supreme being who takes an interest in individual lives. Of course, Shamash relents, takes pity on Gilgamesh's tears and lets him get on with his campaign. But it's a perfect question for anyone who believes in God, but finds their ambitions stunted, or their dreams constantly overlooked. Why indeed would a God who took a personal interest in your life gift you with a restless desire if he/she didn't want you to do something about it?

In my experience this is one area in which atheists, or others who don't feel bound by the notion of an external authority (other than the social ones we all submit to), have a massive advantage. They weigh up evidence, impulse, sense of purpose, moral and ethical aspects, practical abilities and interests and just get on with pursuing their life projects, delightfully free of the hand-wringing that characterises the thinking of so many religious people. 

So is there a God whose permission we require before we make any life decision?  In practice, I think we might be better off behaving as though there wasn't. Or, another way of looking at it is that our god is like Shamash, takes pity on our tears, and tells us to get on with it. Taking responsibility for our own decisions, after due reflection, is just part of growing up. Some we'll get right, some not. How terrible to get to old age with a great portfolio of All The Things I Was Too Scared To Do.

Note to self:  Please re-read, several times.

"Religion is poetry which intervenes in life."

The title quote is from Dr David Tracy of the University of Chicago Divinity School.  And here's how the piece by Kurt Elling opens:

"Enigmatical beauty . . . beautiful enigma. Double-thing . . . always duplicitous, never single. Disturbing, unsettling. We do not know what is real and what is not. Imprisoned in constant change, serious, solid men do not remain (undecided). They make up their minds and in doing so die. Shiftless fools and shifty drifters are neither imprisoned nor dead. They err aimlessly in a permanence composed of impermanence. Morning and evening, arising and passing away – endlessly form an ever-dawning festival. In this playful dance, players make gay the hallucinations in surfaces." –Mark Taylor, Erring

"Why should I wish to see God better than on this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then. In the faces of men and women I see God – and in my own face in the glass. I find letters from God dropped in the street. And every one is signed by God's name. And I leave them where they are, for I know that wherever I go, others will punctually come forever and ever." –Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Please read this extraordinary piece of writing about spirituality, jazz and poetry. I think this is right on the money.

http://integrallife.com/node/208235