The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Tao te Ching
———————-
Thank God. God Bless you. Jesus Christ. Jumpin’ Jehovah. Goddamn it! Christ on a cracker!
Elements of western religion are spattered like sprays of mud throughout our daily language. As Christianity and his brother religions take on a different (and not always pleasant) role in our culture, it’s interesting how many of these anachronistic colloquialisms still stay with us.
As a woman who has profoundly rejected Christianity, and who calls the Abrahamic religions “the evil triumvirate,” it disturbs me to find myself constantly calling upon those names. A sneeze in my presence? “God bless you.” I rescue a falling dish before it crashes to the ground? “Thank God.” I stub my toe? “Jesus H. Christ!” Someone cuts me off in traffic? “Burn in hell, you scum-sucking scab-encrusted spawn of satan!” (my hyperbole is omnipresent).
Yeah, so those phrases aren’t exactly reverential. Maybe even a little blasphemous. But other than verbal habit, I find no good reason to keep them in my vocabulary. All press is good press, and some things are best left to fall into obscurity.
Don’t think I don’t notice my own religious bitterness. And I’m fully aware that despite my denials, I keep a place in my consciousness for him – the western god – a special throne that I can’t quite bring myself to tear down.
Why do I keep him around, this callous clock-winder, this plague-bringer, this sacrificer of sons, this raper of virgins? Recently it occurred to me that I let him stay so that I have a target for the anger and resentment about life in general that still mars my bourgeoning Taoist soul. The god of Moses is the big bad voodoo daddy that I can blame for life’s inevitable bumps and bruises. My psychic punching bag.
Mother of God! What kind of mind keeps a fictional deity in the closet simply to abuse? I might as well kick Santa Claus in the mall. I’m sure there’s a whole lot of fodder for therapy there. As my favorite mentor says: “Another fucking opportunity for growth.”
So, since that’s a tangle of neuroses we probably can’t unravel today, try not to be distracted by that giant elephant in the room, ok? We’re talking philology here, not religious psychology. Please stay on topic. Thankyouverymuch.
Let’s back out of the scary dark places in my mind and return to the easier, light-hearted discussion of linguistics.
My new game is to try to find random religious icons and references with which to replace my verbal tics and gaffs. Some of the ones I have recently utilized:
“By the twisted beard of Zeus!”
“Great Thor’s hammer!”
“Thank Buddha!”
“Creepin’ Krishna!”
To date, though, none of them have the punch of the Christian epithets. Whether that’s by reason of emotional connection or simply my lack of creativity, I’m not sure. Perhaps that elephant in the room has the explanation.
Yours in Odin,
UTTS
Up the Tao Staircase 
Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t harbor prejudice against the Abrahamic religions. No form of evil is inspired uniquely by those particular religions. Centuries before Christianity, a polytheistic society denied Socrates his freedom of speech and freedom of religion by putting him to death. All over the world, people reach the same ethical peaks and valleys. I chalk it up to human nature.
Besides that, my studies of A Course in Miracles have shown me that the kind of transcendence you seek in Taoism can easily come wrapped in a Christian package. I’ve blogged about my experiences with ACIM here and here.
I’m glad you included your blog links. They are among my absolute favorites. Your humor and insight is very enjoyable, and your comments on ACIM are excellent.
On a side note, my issues with christianity clearly defy logic. Someday I’ll open up that murky, cobweb-lined box and air it all out.
interesting. I read an article once about how we swear about what is taboo in our society. In english speaking Canada we are all a bit shy about sex so the normal swear words are mostly to do with sex and the anatomy of sex. Our french speaking neighbours in Quebec are mostly a very religious bunch – the church is sacred so their swearing mostly concerns religion, the sacre.
I wonder if this holds true for other societies.