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Description
This is the second comic page of my final project for my Invitation to Philosophy class. The paper was titled "A Personal Mythology to Aid in my Quest for Self Knowledge". Here is an excerpt from the Paper:

"Joseph Campbell says in his PBS series, "God is a personification of that world-creative energy and mystery which is beyond thinking and beyond naming. We think not only that our God has been named and known, but that he’s given us a whole system of rules. But this system of rules is not from God, it’s from man, and the rules are man’s clues as to how to get to the realization of God."

I have no doubt that my idea of God as portrayed in the comic “In the Beginning…” is still a misunderstanding, but I believe I am closer to the truth now than I was when I believed in the Christian idea of God. At the time my boyfriend had left me and my Grandmother passed away, many people would have turned to their faith to see them through. But though I was raised as a Christian, I could find no comfort in my religion. I could not accept the “facts” surrounding Jesus and his miraculous birth. I believed that he was a man who truly existed at some point in time, and had great ideas on how to worship God and live our lives. But I also believed that over time his words had been twisted and corrupted by those seeking power. I knew that by thinking this way, my religion condemned me to an eternity in hell, but since I believed that I was already there, even that could not change my mind on Jesus.

The thing I find most limiting about Christianity is that it doesn't allow for other ideas. It forces you to accept one Truth and you are taught that any other thought or idea is blasphemy or hearsay. It pigeon holes the thinker, stifling their need to grow and expand and understand other people, cultures, and ideas. It tells the rest of the world, "You are wrong! Join us or you will burn for eternity in Hell!"

The idea of religion being a mythology, a metaphor for how to live one’s life, put the stories I had been raised with from the bible in a new light. I learned that it was ok to think of God as a kindly old man up in heaven looking out for me and guiding me on the paths of my life, even if I didn’t believe in him that way one hundred percent. In this way I was able to bring science and religion together into one creation story, which is not only the creation of the universe, but the creation of my Gods and the creation of my Mythology. Though I know God exists in that form only in my mind and the minds of countless others, I can still pray to him and the power of those prayers will continue to work because they go beyond the mask that is my God into the unknown that I cannot quite comprehend.

I have a friend who is a born again Christian. In her public journal she wrote about an addiction she was suffering and how she prayed to God to help her through it. She has since broken that addiction and she credits God for the miracle that saved her. I wanted to tell her that she should be thanking herself. She should be taking the credit for this deed as she is the God that she had been praying to. The power of her prayers is what saved her, not the God she directed them towards. She has all this strength within herself.

My same friend used to be Pagan and believe in the Goddess. Now she denies her existence since it does not fit in her new views as a Christian. This was one idea that never sat right with me. As a Protestant, we did not even have the Mother Mary to worship in our religion. I had often thought that perhaps I should become Pagan myself, but I did not want to give up my idea of God to just replace him with a Goddess.

Now I understand that I can have my God and my Goddess because they make sense for my personal Mythology. God has his power over Man, and Nature has her power over the Earth. But Man and the Earth are one in the same, and God and Nature are different ways of perceiving the one whole that is the creative energy of the universe."

Description
This is the second comic page of my final project for my Invitation to Philosophy class. The paper was titled "A Personal Mythology to Aid in my Quest for Self Knowledge". Here is an excerpt from the Paper:

"Joseph Campbell says in his PBS series, "God is a personification of that world-creative energy and mystery which is beyond thinking and beyond naming. We think not only that our God has been named and known, but that he’s given us a whole system of rules. But this system of rules is not from God, it’s from man, and the rules are man’s clues as to how to get to the realization of God."

I have no doubt that my idea of God as portrayed in the comic “In the Beginning…” is still a misunderstanding, but I believe I am closer to the truth now than I was when I believed in the Christian idea of God. At the time my boyfriend had left me and my Grandmother passed away, many people would have turned to their faith to see them through. But though I was raised as a Christian, I could find no comfort in my religion. I could not accept the “facts” surrounding Jesus and his miraculous birth. I believed that he was a man who truly existed at some point in time, and had great ideas on how to worship God and live our lives. But I also believed that over time his words had been twisted and corrupted by those seeking power. I knew that by thinking this way, my religion condemned me to an eternity in hell, but since I believed that I was already there, even that could not change my mind on Jesus.

The thing I find most limiting about Christianity is that it doesn't allow for other ideas. It forces you to accept one Truth and you are taught that any other thought or idea is blasphemy or hearsay. It pigeon holes the thinker, stifling their need to grow and expand and understand other people, cultures, and ideas. It tells the rest of the world, "You are wrong! Join us or you will burn for eternity in Hell!"

The idea of religion being a mythology, a metaphor for how to live one’s life, put the stories I had been raised with from the bible in a new light. I learned that it was ok to think of God as a kindly old man up in heaven looking out for me and guiding me on the paths of my life, even if I didn’t believe in him that way one hundred percent. In this way I was able to bring science and religion together into one creation story, which is not only the creation of the universe, but the creation of my Gods and the creation of my Mythology. Though I know God exists in that form only in my mind and the minds of countless others, I can still pray to him and the power of those prayers will continue to work because they go beyond the mask that is my God into the unknown that I cannot quite comprehend.

I have a friend who is a born again Christian. In her public journal she wrote about an addiction she was suffering and how she prayed to God to help her through it. She has since broken that addiction and she credits God for the miracle that saved her. I wanted to tell her that she should be thanking herself. She should be taking the credit for this deed as she is the God that she had been praying to. The power of her prayers is what saved her, not the God she directed them towards. She has all this strength within herself.

My same friend used to be Pagan and believe in the Goddess. Now she denies her existence since it does not fit in her new views as a Christian. This was one idea that never sat right with me. As a Protestant, we did not even have the Mother Mary to worship in our religion. I had often thought that perhaps I should become Pagan myself, but I did not want to give up my idea of God to just replace him with a Goddess.

Now I understand that I can have my God and my Goddess because they make sense for my personal Mythology. God has his power over Man, and Nature has her power over the Earth. But Man and the Earth are one in the same, and God and Nature are different ways of perceiving the one whole that is the creative energy of the universe."