Abstract
For process philosophy, the world is the body of Goddess/God. Goddess/God does not reside in heaven, nor is heaven our goal. The world is our true home. This life is meant to be enjoyed. There is no other. To enjoy life is to cherish the beauty of each living thing, to be interested in diversity and difference in the web of life. To enjoy life is to delight in the pleasures of the body. To enjoy life is to find meaning in relationships, not only with human beings but also with other individuals in the world, and with Goddess/God. To enjoy life is to influence and to be influenced by others. To enjoy life is not to have power over, nor to have it all, but to share. Process philosophy does not idealize life. The life that is to be enjoyed is not without suffering. In a world with many individuals, conflicts of interests are inevitable. In a thoroughly relational and social world, we are born into a web of pre-existing patterns and structures of justice and injustice that shape and limit the possibilities of enjoyment. We will not escape death. Still, this life is meant to be enjoyed. Goddess/God does not exist in a realm apart from joy and suffering. Our joys and our sufferings are shared, responded to, and become part of the life of Goddess/God.
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Notes
Alice Walker, The Color Purple (New York: Pocket Books, 1983), 178.
See Mary Grey, “Gender, Justice and Poverty in Rural Rajasthan—Moving beyond the Silence,” Feminist Theology 25 (September 2000), 33–45.
Lillian Lawler, The Dance in Ancient Greece (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1964).
“Introduction” by Sue Hubbell, The Edge of the Sea, xx. Also see Linda Lear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1998 [1997]).
See Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death and Dying (London and New York: Tavistock Publications, 1970 [1969]).
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© 2003 Carol P. Christ
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Christ, C.P. (2003). Life Is Meant to Be Enjoyed. In: She Who Changes. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-7679-6_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-7679-6_6
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