Sunday Stream (170) ~ The God Expression

[mtmynd]

The God Expression

Is it an English speaking thing, calling out the word "god" in various contexts ? "God! this is really happening isn't it?"... " God almighty! How many times...!!!" ... "God I can't believe it" ... "O my god... you've got to be kidding!" ... "O god, you should have seen her..!" ... "oh! god..! fuck me! fuck me!" .. we're full of this god calling in our daily speech. I don't know which is more used, 'god' or 'fuck' even though 'shit' must rank right up there. Maybe someday someone will have the patience to do a survey on such a pressing question.

But returning to 'god'... something a lot of worried folks do when the going gets tough.. return to god. We've all seen clips of prisoners doomed to spend their lives in prison that claim they've returned to God to seek comfort and forgiveness for their evil ways. A very yin/yang thing to do - going from one extreme to the other... too much yin seek the opposing yang.

Then we have those whose general lives are fractured. They could've lost their jobs with little to no prospect for anything in the near future... or there are those that have gotten very, very sick and the worry that goes with how to pay for the medical care compounds the stress and the next logical choice is 'return to god' for an answer to their woes.

The unfortunate among us that have suddenly lost a loved one through an accident that nobody ever expected.... they may very well 'return to god' to (hopefully) seek solace in their time of sorrow and grief. O god! the brutality of mankind and the killing and cruelty that we unleash upon others... all in the name of 'god.'

God, when we we ever learn..? When will we ev-er learn..? How many times and in how many ways will we summon the name 'God' and capitalize it for emphasis to show our humility and lowliness in the presence of this Lord of Life that will reek havoc on any one of us or our families if we dare stray from 'His' deafening commands. But who amongst us have ever seen this 'God', this 'Dios', this 'Allah' and can convince the listener that they were not on drugs or otherwise mind-altered prior to seeing 'Him'?

Speech is the only conviction that will convince a listener to the truth or untruth of what is being said. There is no other way. The written word should be included here... not just the voice, but the word, spoken or written. Although we may agree that the spoken word does have the edge. The holy books of the world's religions hold great sway over their followers because of what is being said. Followers follow those passages that bear the greatest influence upon the reader's lives, and there are many, many passages in books such as these all with something for everyone that reads within the covers. Very few believe in every single written word although they will defend to their death that every single word is the holiest of the holy words ever said or printed. They never, ever question anything about the origins of these books, these words, the writers who allegedly have written the passages. To do so would show their lack of faith which in turn would be an affront to the God they believe in. And we know, religious or not, how important and powerful the word 'god' is and seemingly has been since the books were compiled.

This one three-letter word (in English), 'god,' is as omnipresent as the word god suggests. Agnostics, atheists, believers and non-believers, even Buddhists, everyone that has been subjected to this word, that has heard what the word means, has been influenced by the word in one way or another.

I ask a Spanish speaking woman: "Como esta usted?" with a gentle smile on my face. ("How are you?")

She answers : "Muy bien, garcias a Dios!" (Very well, thanks to God!) A very common reply to hear.

Ubiquitous. "Praise to Allah!" a common place phrase we're familiar with since the Iraq war. 'God' or the language equivalent is in use, probably globally. Russia during its so-called communist era for some 75+ years was almost immediately snapped back into the 'God-realm'... churches became open, religions blossomed and 'God' was no longer a prohibitive word.

Like I wrote in the beginning of this Stream, 'god' is not the only highly used word. 'Fuck' and 'shit' are used as commonplace as 'god.' Physical (shit), mental (fuck) and spiritual (god)... the trinity of words in our dualistic lives. I place the word 'fuck' under mental because we think of sex often, talk of sex often and have sex not as often as many of us would like. 'Shit' under physical because it is a very physical act that is reliant upon eating, something we do several times daily. And it goes without saying, 'god' is placed under spiritual due to the god-nature.

((o, god, I've run out of steam on this stream... ))


cecil
06 juli 2008

The World's Largest Equestrian Statue
Sculptor: John Houser
Location: El Paso, Texas International Airport

In the picture is the sculptor, John Houser with his son Ethan.

The massive statue, which stands nearly 12m tall, is made up of 400 pieces. It consumed nearly 10 tonnes of bronze and requires more than 4.5 tonnes of supporting steel.

The art work, called The Equestrian, portrays Mexican conquistador Don Juan de Onate riding a rearing Andalusian stallion.

[Lightning Rod]

"I AM THAT I AM"

what a fuckin' magnificent sculpture!
leonardo would smile a big smile

[mousey1]

Oh, God. And always depending upon inflection. Spouted so often in fear and reflection.

Oh, God. I thank God for God. 'Cause otherwise I'd be saying 'fuck' a whole lot more often!!!

Thanks for the stream, always flowin' past realities scene...and giving us an eye full. Yay, mt. We be searchers of shore, ever casting hopeful eyes toward shelter.

[Arcadia]

it´s so big that the horse needs the cola as a fifth pata!!!! (and I read first Orate instead of Onate!!!!!). I´ll google him, I only know Hernán Cortés from that lands.

yes, here expressions: "gracias a Dios" and "si Dios quiere" (if God wants it) are very common. I don´t use it in my daily speech. But I use "gracias" and "ojalá". And the last one is an spanish expression with arab origin that means "if Alá wants it" or something like that! so, it´s funny!!!

thanks for the stream, Cecil!!!!!!!

saludos,

Verónica

[judih]

religious jews are forbidden to use the word, so they say: "Oh G_d".
And as in Spanish, in Hebrew as well, religious and sometimes those who claim to be secular give the answer to how are you: "Baruch ha shem" (blessed be the name) or, 'still alive, with thanks to g_d's will)

As for me? I'm glad that OMyGod has become a comic strip response and OMG even better. That allows the epithet to be spewed without heavy religious connotations, but still - society allows for the popular religious salute as a bubble gum meme.

It's all the same.
Gotta say something, blame something, ask for anonymous help?
The 3 letter word offers an air of mystery where the other choices - fuck and shit are going to keep you within the realms of physical.

that statue is some fine big shit. i guess the sculptor trusts it won't keel over any time soon.

[Artguy]

"What God wants God gets God help us all....."
Roger Waters
My grandfather had an interesting curse Jesus America...have no idea where he came up with it....

[SmileGRL]

...in the end it's just a word...bubble gum-ized (thanks judih for that description) and cecil, i LOVE the trinity connection. oh hell, i love it all...err..wait where does "hell" fit into this picture again??? haha

[Dave The Dov]

I don't believe in this so called God. They put up a statue to a guy who chopped off the foots of Native Americans to keep them in line. I'd rather see the world's largest bronze statue of a chopped off foot instead because there's the legacy of his past.
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[mtmynd]

Thanks to all that replied... I'm very surprised by that. The world-wide use of 'god' or it's language equivalent says something about the human being... there is something more precious than matter to man than meets the eye!

Dtd: you've been doing your google-work! I can hear you say, "O god! look at what Onate did!" Yes, that was the argument against this statue - the representation of Don Juan de Onate, the man who was responsible for cruelty to the original peoples. So why build this huge reminder to the man that conquered the Indians? Rather than call it what the sculptor had in mind when he created it, just change the name!

Actually I think it's a petty argument - the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Toltecs... all the original peoples of the Americas, North, Central and South, were not unlike any other cultures in as much as somewhere in all these histories are stories of human atrocities against fellow humans. Collectively, it's in our genes. As is the way of duality, there is always one side balancing the opposing side.

[Dave The Dov]

Why not have a statue to them instead of him!!!! This is what I find to be so obvious of those who built them. It just to satisfy their stupid little egos!!!! You should watch the movie "Lone Star"!!!! There's a wonderful scene that so sums up what I'm getting at here!!!! Oh I would never say what you said. I would say instead "Why"????
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[mtmynd]

DtD : "Why not have a statue to them instead of him"

By 'them' do you mean the original inhabitants? the world's largest indigenous people's statue? how about an Aztec priest pulling out the heart of one of his people? that would be good material, don't you think? just need an interested sculptor with the time and patience to whip one out.

maybe someday, Dave, it may come to pass. times and taste change.

[stilltrucking]

How do you pronounce G_d?

Interesting picture, that tail seems extremely long, is that the way an Andalusian stallion's tail really looks or is that to counterbalance the horse being up on two legs?

A very satisfying Sunday Stream Cecil.

Thank you.

[Dave The Dov]

That one would incorporate all of "them"!!!!
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[mtmynd]

Truck, whenever I see you write that, G_d, I wonder the same thing - how's that pronounced? Maybe Judih can shed some pronunciation on this problematic oddness..?

The Andalusia's tail - not being a student of this breed, I must assume that is pretty close to how the typical tail looks... or it's an artistic indulgence to balance the mass. The Andalusion horse was brought to the new world by the Spaniards for transportation. There were no horses here prior to the import of various breeds throughout the years.

[stilltrucking]

I should have used a winkie with the comment about pronnciation.

Yes I googled images and the tail does look that big. Also found a bunch of stuff about how many legs the horse has in the air, one leg up the rider wounded, two killed, none in the air the rider survived. But it seems to be an urban legend.

Passed through El Paso a hundred times or more never saw that statue.

This is one of my favorite streams Cecil. And I have never read not even one that I did not like.