Christianity, as a doctrinal system, falls prey to belief in a separate self. This is coupled with a belief in birth and death (rather than a broader and deeper understanding of continuous generation and extinction, an ongoing birthing-dying applying to all existing, not just humans). The doctrinal system of Christianity thus creates a problem: a separate self that is born and dies, a problem that must be solved. Salvation is required. The separate self must be saved from death, must go on to a more fruitful existence (or else be damned).
When one does not posit a separate self (something hard to do in the dominant thought system of our nation, where divide and conquer is the rule, where individual units are given social security numbers and held accountable, where a separate self is considered basic common sense, where birth certificates and death certificates are the order of the day), salvation is not required. Here is no birth and death, only birth-and-death, ongoing continuous generation and extinction, rise and fall, exile and return. The Flow and the Flowers. No problem.
When one does not posit a separate self (something hard to do in the dominant thought system of our nation, where divide and conquer is the rule, where individual units are given social security numbers and held accountable, where a separate self is considered basic common sense, where birth certificates and death certificates are the order of the day), salvation is not required. Here is no birth and death, only birth-and-death, ongoing continuous generation and extinction, rise and fall, exile and return. The Flow and the Flowers. No problem.
On the other hand, when I drop the illusions of separation and dissolve into the flow, it feels like salvation to me. :-)
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