I haven't read through all the essays on this website, so hope this hasn't been entirely covered. In any case, I had some thoughts this morning and wondered what anyone might have to say.
I was raised in a CS home. My parents were and are wonderful and loving people. I no longer belong to the church, nor do my parents. When people ask me what religion I am/was, I tell them about CS. There is always much curiosity concerning why CS members don't believe in going to doctors, taking medication, etc...
I've explained the philosphy as follows: CS adherents believe that what we (humankind) experience as life is a false perception of true reality. True reality is that we are God's perfect reflections. As such, we could not be anything but perfect. Since sickness (or anything bad) is not perfection, it is not real. Therefore, if we seek medical treatment, we are perpetuating a belief in a false reality.
I've always had trouble with this philosophy. And when I explain the above to others, I'm looked at like I'm from another planet. It is a philosophy of denial, and I think CS folks would agree with this and feel pride in the fact that they deny this physical reality.
I think life is fascinating; I'm especially intrigued by all the different ways people try to cope with existence and the meaning of life. I'm sure if a person were to examine MBE's life in terms of what factors shaped her beliefs
(her time and place in history, her family, her temperament, etc...), it would become clear why she developed the mindset she did.
Having said all of this, I'm still open to entertaining all sorts of possible reasons for our existence. And I'm grateful MBE lived to offer us her perspective. I'd like to believe in the "perfection" theory, although, life here would be a little boring if everything were perfect.
