Originally posted by Allahs_Mathematics
river
I still dont know the differnce , why is a theology considered positive and to that answer i would like to ask why as well , at to that one after it as well . How is theology constructing and destroyuing , or are we confusing religion here ? And whats with that suffering deal ?
At least in Western culture, positive theology tends to be defined as a theology wherein the feelings of other beings are taken into account while actions are being decided. In opposition to that, negative theology tends to reffer to theologies wherein the practicing individual is the main focus.
For a concrete example, take the idea "I want to live here on this plot of land"
western defined 'positive theology' - "by living here, I will have the following negative effects of the things already here - 1).......I will also get the following positive effects 1)...."
western defined 'negative theology' - "by living here, I can do the following 1)....which is alot more than I could do by living somewhere else, so I'll stay here."
Both are logical, and both deal with the idea of "more", but one tends to focus less on the effects on it's surroundings.
An additional concrete example, my old college roomate and his best friend. Both are Druidic/Wiccan. My roomate was really burnt out, and wanted a quick fix of energy to finish out the school year. His best friend gave him a dark crystal which he had imbued with energy. His friend meant it to be a battery off which my college roomate could pull in times of serious need. Instead of doing that, my roomate performed a ceremony, crushed the crystal into dust with a hammer, and pulled all the energy that he could from the crystal all at once. With no regaurd for the long-term effects of his actions (such as, now no one else could use it if a more important need arose), he went for the maximum benefit in his eyes- getting all the energy that he could. He and his friend don't talk alot these days.
It doesn't matter you belive in the reality of imbuing crystals with energy, or in the ability to gather energy from the destruction of an object. What matters about the above story is that one person saw the world in a wide field of view, while the other's feild was much narrower. both are fully able to function int he world, but one goes for the hard and fast approach to life, and the other takes things more easy.
The above is all, of course, just from my expirience, which is notably more focus towards 'positive' type theologies, so I could be way off.