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The Poet

The Poet knows that the world is lost.

The poet gives up on the world.

The poet creates poetry to escape the world.

The poet escapes the world to rethink the world.

Poetry recreates the world as a new thought.

The poet recreates the world.

False Idol Worship vs. Worshipping False Idols

See... this is the thing I don't get. It seems that idolatry was HELLA popular in the ancient world. It's like, they couldn't get ENOUGH of that shit. I think they made up gods to worship just for the hell of it. In one of Plato's dialogues (I think the Republic) they even talk about this entire FESTIVAL of "new gods" that Athens celebrates. It's like... idolatry was totally the thing to do. But here's the thing... who the hell didn't know it was totally fake? I mean, you're worshipping this wooden statue, or golden calf, or whatever the fuck it was, and it's not exactly doing anything. I mean, if I spent a week, let alone my freaking lifetime, worshipping a copper lamb (or whatever the hell it was), I think at some point I'd be like, "You know... that's just a freaking copper lamb that some dude made. It's not a god at all. In fact, with a certain amount of time and discipline, I could make one too. I mean, here I am praying for a new Wii, and it ain't giving it to me."

But that's what I don't get.

In the modern world, a LOT of people think religion's fake PRECISELY because prayers go unanswered... there's no empirical evidence of God's powers (in the sense of prayer-answering). I can pray to God for a Wii, and he's not going to give one to me... just like those goddam idols.

So, if praying to Idols results in the same freaking thing as praying to God (in terms of material possessions), why the fuck was worshipping idols so goddam popular?

... the orgies?

If it _was_ the orgies, and not a TRUE belief in the idols themselves... i.e. people were going to these religious festivals just for the sex and alcohol and just posing as "true idol worshippers," that just raises a whole other bag of theological questions. I mean, think about it... if pretty much all of the idolatry going on in the ancient world was just, you know, fake worship for the sake of sexual pleasure (or whatever), then what does that mean? I know God condemns worshipping false idols, but he doesn't condemn false idol worship. Quite the contrary. In the New Testament, one of Paul's letters actually suggests that in certain circumstances it's okay to pretend to participate in idol worship in order to make your host feel comfortable (I'm drinking right now, so I'll double check that reference later). If THAT'S the case, then what the FUCK were the Christians so pissed off about in the 1st Century? A bunch of false idol worshipping? So what? They were probably doing the same freaking thing.