The three religions of the Book each help us to differentiate the divine from the sacred. This liberating concept culminates in Paul's claim, from Ephesians, that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against leaders, against authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual wickedness in the heavens." Can religious fundamentalism be overcome only with the help of an emancipatory political theology? Philosopher Slavoj Zizek debates this and other incendiary questions on the LIVE stage.
This event is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Bio
Paul Holdengräber
Paul Holdengräber is the Director of LIVE from the NYPL.
Slavoj Zizek
Slavoj Zizek, born 1949 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Senior Researcher at Birkbeck College, University of London, is a Hegelian Philosopher, Lacanian psychoanalyst, Christian atheist, Communist political activist, and he thinks these four features are four aspects of one and the same Cause. His latest publications are: in philosophy The Parallax View, in psychoanalysis How to Read Lacan, in theology The Monstrosity of Christ, and in politics Living at the End Times.
Relation of human beings to God or the gods or to whatever they consider sacred or, in some cases, merely supernatural. Archaeological evidence suggests that religious beliefs have existed since the first human communities. They are generally shared by a community, and they express the communal culture and values through myth, doctrine, and ritual. Worship is probably the most basic element of religion, but moral conduct, right belief, and participation in religious institutions also constitute elements of the religious life. Religions attempt to answer basic questions intrinsic to the human condition (Why do we suffer? Why is there evil in the world? What happens to us when we die?) through the relationship to the sacred or supernatural or (e.g., in the case of Buddhism) through perception of the true nature of reality. Broadly speaking, some religions (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are outwardly focused, and others (e.g., Jainism, Buddhism) are inwardly focused.
Zizek is hilarious. Out of control, interesting, wild, stimulating. And not above discussing things beyond his pay grade. But there is no law against that in America.
ZiZeK is easy to like,
Wil Durant "wisdom is when you learn to live in a culture you were not born in.
"See Yourself in Others" Buddha
You are the other me,I am the other You. Mayan Wisdom.
"What you Know is Who you become"
I I have little need, and of this little need!
!I have little need-St.Francis
Let me nonetheless after this depressing scene conclude on al lighter tone. I think the God you get is a God from a wonderful old bolsjevic joke from early 20's when communist propagandists were still taken minimally seriously, as the one who can really convince people - such a joke wouldn't have been possible already in the late 20's in Sovjet Union - about an able communist propagandist who - after his death - finds himself in hell, where he quickly (of course, being a good propagandist) convinces the guards to let him go, out, and he escapes to heaven. When, after a week, the devil notices, inspecting hell, his absence, he (devil) also goes up quickly, pays a visit to God demanding that God returns to hell what belongs to the devil. However, immediately after the devil starts to address God "Oh my Lord", God interrupts him because - of course - the communist propagandist has done his job also in heaven. God interrupts him: "First, I'm not your lord but a comrad. Second, are you crazy talking to fictions! I don't exist. And third: be short, otherwise I will miss my party cell meeting, I'm on the way to it."
This is the God we need today, a god who fully, wholy becomes man, a comrad among us, crucified together with 2 social outcasts and who not only doesn't exist but himself knows this, entirely passing over into the love that binds together members of the holy Gost, which is the name of a - the emancipatory collective, running to meet to the party meeting means: "Sorry I belong to the holy Gost, the community of believers where I'm one of the equals. That's the God I'm ready to die for.
Yeah, but he's hardly a bible bashing fundamentalist Christian ... God is a comrade and undergoes psychotherapy. I'd be up with that ... better than all the New Age spiritual gibberish.
I won't be serprised if it was censored. The end of this speech goes against the dusgusting-atheist ideas Fora-TV wants to push.
Listen to how Zizek ends on the NYPL website.
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