京都の古寺から仏像盗みまくった犯人が捕まったってニュースには笑ってしまった。昨日ちょうどACIMテキストで偶像の話を読んだばっかだったからな。犯人は信仰心から自宅に盗品の諸仏像を並べて拝んでたとか。

いい機会だからACIMテキストからメモっておこう。

Idols are but substitutes for your reality. In some way, you believe they will complete your little self, for safety in a world perceived as dangerous, with forces massed against your confidence and peace of mind. They have the power to supply your lacks, and add the value that you do not have. No one believes in idols who has not enslaved himself to littleness and loss. (ACIM T-29.VIII.2:2-5)

これはもう偶像を拝むひとの心のありようを見事に浮き彫りにしている。

Be it a body or a thing, a place, a situation or a circumstance, an object owned or wanted, or a right demanded or achieved, it is the same.

Let not their form deceive you. (ACIM T-29.VIII.1:9, 2:1)

偶像とひとくちにいっても、ヒト、モノ、カネ、場所、状況など、この世のありとあらゆる事象が偶像となりえる。たとえどんな形式(form)を取ろうと、その内容(content)は同一だとACIMでは断じている。

An idol is a wish, made tangible and given form, and thus perceived as real and seen outside the mind. Yet it is still a thought, and cannot leave the mind that is its source. Nor is its form apart from the idea it represents. (ACIM T-29.VIII.3:2-4)

これはACIMでたびたび繰り返される主題のひとつ Ideas leave not their source. の一変奏だと理解できる。