Day 21: The Living Flowers

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. Karl Marx

Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. Karl Marx

Just as Feuerbach helped us to see that God is a reflection of ourselves, so Marx argued that we must do the same with those in power. In other words, we must see through their claim that they reflect some ahistorical truth about reality, and realize that they simply reflect the current ideological system. A system that generates contradictions, and that must eventually give way to something better. Pete Rollins

I took a photo today that says more than I can say with words today.  Let me talk about flowers and graves.  

Graves collect two kind of flowers... real and artificial.  There are reasons for both.  The real are natural and have life in them, but once picked for the grave they will wither and dry up.  The artificial retain their beauty but they are plastic and have never had life in them.  

I don't know when real flowers die.  Do they die when they wither or do they die when they are cut?  Good question.  

What is the story of artificial flowers?  Are they a suitable replacement for real flowers?  What is their purpose?  Do they mock humanity by trying to convince us that the artificial is just as beautiful if not more than the real?  

My sister-in-law and I had this conversation already.  She does not put artificial flowers on graves and she does not want artificial flowers on her grave when she has one.  

The photo has real flowers, long since dried up and one artificial sunflower that is as radiantly yellow as the day it was manufactured.  How can I judge either?  

Maybe Marx saw Christians as the artificial sunflower on the grave of life.  He understood that plucking the living flower would still mean its death, but at least it would be real.  

There is a season to real flowers and there is procreation: Seeds die and give life.  What artificial flowers deny us as a human race is the seasons.  They deny us death. 

I agree with Marx and my sister... Let's cut the living flowers and put the manufacturers of the artificial replicas on a new mission.  Maybe they can make money with plastic bags, plates or cutlery.  Just leave the flowers to the Creator.