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does not mean a person. Yes, it has been used in that way, but what does that have to do with the poor word 'god'? The word cannot prevent people from wrongly using it. It has been used as if there is an old man, very ancient, sitting in heaven, dominating, controlling -- a great engineer who has created the world. The word itself does not have any meaning of that kind. It simply means the whole, the total.
And the whole IS; nobody can deny it, not even the atheist. The atheist can deny God as a person, but there is no God as a person so the atheist is fighting with a shadow -- just like the theist who is worshipping a shadow. The theist is stupid, so is the atheist. They are in the same boat. One is worshipping something which is not, the other is criticizing, fighting with something which is not. Both are engaged in an exercise in futility. God means the whole, the total, the all.
It will be good if you can free the word 'god' from the so-called religious people. The word in itself is beautiful and has to be saved. Hence I go on using it, knowing that it has been associated with the wrong people. But it is not the fault of the word 'god'; it is helpless. You can use any word wrongly, and almost all beautiful words have been used wrongly. Only beautiful ones can be wrongly used, remember, because they can become a camouflage. Hiding behind them, you can do wrong things more easily. 'God' becomes the screen and behind it you can be as violent as possible -- hiding behind a beautiful word: 'love' can serve, 'humanity' can serve...
If this is the way, Charles, and you become antagonistic towards words, then not a single beautiful word will be left for you; all have been used wrongly. And even if we invent new words, they will be used wrongly because the people, the great crowd on the earth, are the same. Its mind is the same.
Now in Russia nobody believes in God, but they believe in communism. They will do the same in the name of communism as Christians have done in the name of God. What is the difference? In Russia nobody believes in the Bible, but they will sacrifice as many people at the altar of DAS KAPITAL as have been sacrificed in
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