911 and 77 (21)
The Magic Potato is an analogy for the bible and other books like it.
If a potato - which is deemed by reputation to be magic - or a bible or any other object real or imagined is to be given status such that real examination and truth finding are defeated and a form of malignancy is evident as a result of the status of that object, magic potato, bible, whatever, then it is time for mockery, ridicule, disrespect and disregard to be encouraged.
I hope that is what I succeed in doing.
I hope no one will disrespect any other potatoes as a result of anything I write or say about the special magic ones. And likewise for books or learning. Food for the mind and food for the body needs to be clean and free from poison. Potatoes are fine for eating or admiring for their magickness but if it's going to have any kind of filling then just be more careful in case you are poisoned.
If you think about the bible in objective terms which is always a wise way to look at things when the normal terms are emotional which is what religiousness is. Religiousness is not necessarily bad or wrong but it is usually emotionality based and that too is not necessarily bad or wrong but emotion is never a good judge of rightness and objectivity is always a better one.
Comparing the bible to a magic potato is useful because it takes away the stuff that glitters and glistens that people always tend to associate with gold and if you pull off the glitter and de-glisten the image too then you can look at the bible in somewhat of a similar way to the way you would look at a magic potato.
Most potatoes are not magic. I won't set about proving that to you in case I lose the argument but supposing someone tried to persuade that they actually did have a magic potato and set about building up a fabric of stories about the potato to get your attention and convince you of the potatoe's extra-specialness.
Of course you wouldn't fall for it, or would you. I bet given a hour of your time and a controlled environment like a theatre setting I could actually have you begin to believe that I do indeed possess a magic potato.
Believing absurdities is something that comes with the package we call being human. Humans are apt to believe absurdities. They are also apt, as it happens, to reject truth too.
Objectivity is the key.
Now and again choose to practice it.
In the case of the bible, to make it a more objectively observable object it is necessary to strip it of as much of the package that it comes wrapped in.
When you strip it down to it's essence then you can look at it for what it is.
You can also look at each little device that is attached to it to make it seem, rightly or wrongly, that it is extra-special. By that I mean all the accoutrement affects that go along with the bible, all the associations, all the magickness.
Take "holy water" and "blessing" and all these little add-ons that go along with the bible. Examine each one in isolation and what do you find? Bunch them up in a bundled package and people will fall for it hook, line and sinker.
Which is the more right-minded approach to the bible, to show respect in the form or not criticising, not demanding truthful and searching answers about it, every part of it, and everything to do with it, or to do just that exactly?
The stories in the bible may or may not inspire you just as the stories of any man may or may not inspire you but to package them up and bundle them like a leather-bound box containing a gold painted magic potato is not merited by any such inspiring.
Let inspiring works stand or fall on their own merit. Likewise let any book stand or fall on the basis of real value in terms of it's power to inspire. I have never known of the bible to inspire anyone but on the contrary it acts to delude them by self induced auto suggestion that they are special and god's chosen and with a special and exclusive purpose and it is always loud, aggressive, oppressive and so on.
Is it sanity not to see this? Is it sanity to adopt a reverential attitude to the bible and bible people? I think the opposite, I think it is not clear thinking, not right mindedness and when it passes a certain and not infrequently passed point then it does become insane.
So I think it is a healthy, good and valuable lesson to compare the bible with a magic potato and if you are not convinced then I have to tell you a little secret that only you and I know and that is that I can let you have my magic potato for just $9,999.99 postage and packing included. (That's a joke by the way in case I actually have got a reader who is not up to grasping this very simple idea that I am trying to share with you).
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