Idolizing Nature

(From: 2/9/2017) 

I've got a couple thoughts for this blog. I start here, that at the center of idolatry is the worship of oneself. Since humans are able to consider their essence in a way unique than any other creature, this idolatry essentially becomes a human problem... especially because God commanded us to not make any false idols in His place. Even though "there is no raw access to the world," we force our views, our idolatrous views, on the existing world... (interesting, I see a parallel to the existential warnings of inauthenticity etc.)
In indigenous rituals there is a debating or negotiating with nature. Some Western thinkers today may think this is considered idolatry, but in reality this could be a respecting of nature, (so on and so forth.) We cannot totalize what changes because what changes will break out of our system. This is why we must reach transcendence. But our totalizing gaze leaves no room for transcendence and no room for the sanctity of others to shine through.

[To know is to reduce otherness to the "same." In other words, the same as me.] ((from Levinas))

Hegel talks about us wanting to turn the other into a slave. 

If we think we can objectify the world then it helps us think we can control the world. 

ICON: sacrament for the Christian ... Vehicle for a personal presence, or a vehicle for a transcendent reality. It becomes holy by participation, rather than holy in itself. 

We shouldn't be concerned with representation of our emotions, rather we should be engaged in transfiguration. 

This is where we reach the "end" of idolatry. 

Our desires, or our idols clash and this causes moral confusion. The solution is to recognize a higher reality of nature. 

(See more p. 58 making trek to beautiful vistas... we expect wilderness while we're still in nature.) 

What do you think?