Dear Yuyutsu,

"Being closer to God" does not have meaning to me. How can one be closer to an entity that does not exist?

Dear David F.,

Please let me attempt my most simplistic brief reply, because a full response to your question would be long and can be pretty exhausting:

Physical distance can only be measured because there is matter in space, so one can ask, "what stands between these given two particles?".

But with God there are not two, there is nothing else to compete with God, nothing else to compare God with, nothing else from which a distance can be measured to God.

We too are God, but we don't know it, we think that we are just trifling mortal humans, we mistakenly typically imagine God as huge and almighty and ourselves as practically dust.

In Reality there is no distance between us and God, In Reality we are one and the same, but in our erroneous imagination there is a distance. In other words, that imaginary distance between us and God is made up of ignorance (though it seems to our ignorant mind to be very real)!

Now the amount of this ignorance can increase or decrease, so our perceived distance from God can change. Once we eliminate that ignorance completely, we realise our true identity as God.

The term "selfishness" does not refer to our true self (i.e. God), but to that false petty "self" (sometimes referred to as 'ego') which is made of our ignorance-caused identification with human bodies and minds - so selfishness and ignorance go hand-in-hand: eliminate the one and you have eliminated the other too.

Religion attempts to close the seeming gap between us and God by tackling both - selfishness and ignorance.

Typically, religion, or the process of closing this gap, is long and takes many years if not lifetimes, but so long as progress is made, this process can be referred to as religion.

That which is ineffective in fighting these two enemies that stand between us and God, cannot rightly be called religion, even when it superficially looks like one with all the corresponding bells and whistles.

Dear Yuyutsu,

A lot of gobbledygook, but you still did not explain how one can become closer to a non-existent entity.

Hi Yuyutsu,

The point is not that Thorburn personally believes
he can run a football club that openly welcomes people
which his church, the church he leads treats as an
abomination because he would never impose his own
views on anyone else.

The point is that he sought simultaneously to be the
public spokesperson for 2 sets of values that are
directly opposed and can't be reconciled.

He could be in a leadership position anywhere else
but he just couldn't be CEO of a football club that
thinks being LGBTQI is something to be celebrated, not
survived.

The controversy that has engulfed Essendon is a clear
sign of the changing times in which we live.

A decade or two ago, corporations and their stakeholders
may have tolerated Thorburn's association with strong
views on homosexuality and abortion. But not today.

What personal view Thorburn holds is irrelevant.

Essendon today is a valuable and highly recognizable
brand and it can't afford to be tarnished by any views
that are deemed offensive by a big chunk of its fan
base and the broader community. The club gave Thorburn
the choice of staying with his church or starting a new
career at Essendon. He made his choice and it is a
choice that should be respected.

Dear David F.,

«but you still did not explain how one can become closer to a non-existent entity»

I don't know. I have no idea.

Had we been discussing entities then I would be at a loss, but God is not an entity.
(for our Judeo-Christian readers, I have never read in the Bible any such claim that "God is an entity")

To come closer to God, one should remove the mental obstacles that stand between [what they consider to be] themselves and [what they actually are which is] God, these obstacles which obscure their true identity.

These obstacles are ignorance, its resulting selfishness and their derivatives: desire, anger, delusion, greed, arrogance and envy.

So as to the "how" question, religion generally prescribes a mix of study, contemplation, meditation, selfless service, proper actions and restraints, devotional chanting, prayers, rituals, pilgrimage, etc. The exact best mix, however, varies from one individual to another.

Note that killing homosexuals, burning witches and instilling fear in children, are not on that list.

This is why I wrote you time and again that there is nothing to stop you, an atheist, from being more religious than the Pope and his bishops, Rabbis, Sheikhs and so many other believers.

---

Dear Foxy,

«A decade or two ago, corporations and their stakeholders
may have tolerated Thorburn's association with strong
views on homosexuality and abortion. But not today...
Essendon today is a valuable and highly recognizable
brand and it can't afford to be tarnished by any views
that are deemed offensive by a big chunk of its fan
base and the broader community.»

To rephrase your words, assuming the information you brought is correct, that club is prejudiced, intolerant and has no spine.

In my view this is not a matter for the law, but is a good reason for the club's supporters and spectators to forsake that club in droves.

Hi Yuyutsu,

I don't understand your logic.