Hi Gaynor,

Thanks for your welcome to the list!

I like the point you make here about abstract thought, because this is
something which I seem to have no problem with in some situations, but
is responsible for my being totally unable to handle other situations.

I can't imagine what God would be like, either. Yet, somehow, this does
not matter to me. Perhaps this is because I have been a Christian all my
life, and was brought up as such as a child. And yet I am also
interested in ancient Greek philosophy (because of what I studied with
the Open University), and have no difficulty at all with abstract
philosophical ideas.

The difficulties I experience with everyday life, however, are almost
all due to the fact that I take everything too literally - almost as a
computer would behave. And yet a computer would not be able to deal with
philosophical ideas...

And so I ask myself why. The difference seems to be that, if my thoughts
are focused on my body, and on everyday existence, my abstract thought
fails. If my thoughts do not have anything to do with my own body, then
I have no problem.

I remember how, when I was 10, my mother gave me a book to read about
growing up, and the physical changes which happen. She did this because
I hardly ever spoke as a child, but constantly read books. She said I
could ask her any questions I had, if I didn't understand. I read the
book, and told her I had understood everything. The only problem was
that I did not understand that the book was about me... So, when I
started experiencing the physical changes associated with a child
growing up, I went crazy and said I could not understand what was
happening. My mother was at a loss, since I had told her I understood
everything which was in the book she gave me.

I think it's about the ability to relate things. I can understand that
you cannot relate God to your father, and so it's like telling you to do
the impossible. God is often related to a father, because Jesus was his
son on earth. (That's a simple way of saying it). You say you like Jesus
and his ideas. Those ideas come from God, and, in a sense, represent
God. No one can describe God, because humans cannot describe something
which goes beyond our human existence. For Christians, Jesus is God. He
lived as a human being for some time, and so, through what he did, and
the way he died on a cross, though he was innocent, he showed us how we
can think (in our limited human way) about God.

All best wishes,
Angela




gaynor barrett wrote:
> I have been interested in your discussion (and I hope you are welcome
to the
> list Angela). I have a good friend who is a Christian and she has
always
> been kind and helped me, also she is very nice to do things for
charities.
> I am not religious myself because I find it very difficult to
imagine, what
> God would be like. I like Jesus and his ideas a lot but I just can't
get
> the idea of what God means. I think this is because I have trouble
with
> abstract ideas. My friend said, God is like your father, but I don't
know
> my father because he is divorced from my mother.
>
> I am hoping you have good improvements in your situation and for all
people
> with Asperger.