(pretty much transcribed from an email to Mixx earlier to-day)
Amazing. Transformative for me, almost.
Last I saw the final two parts of a three-part series on PBS called "Walking the Bible," in which the host, a guy by the name of Bruce Feiler, traces the path of the Israelites during their exodus out of Egypt during the five books of Moses in the Old Testament. But that doesn't do the program, or its effect on me, justice.
Perhaps it was the peaceful, meditative atmosphere surrounding the viewing (Rose fell asleep in my lap in a darkened living room. I didn't want to risk setting her down anywhere & waking her up, so I just hung out there in the dark until I decided to flip on the tv). But - and I've mentioned this before - I sometimes am awe-inspired by the character of religious antiquity. The permanence and history of of some of the places & cultures this guy visited was pretty amazing. I found it interesting, the transformative (to use the word) journey Feiler went through in writing the book/doing the film. Some interesting stuf fif you happen to want to read an interview with him: http://www.pbs.org/walkingthebible/interview.html He sums up his experience with "The story of Walking the Bible for me is that I went inlooking for science, and came out craving meaning, in a nutshell."
I've been so utterly turned off by almost every religious instance I have observed in the world over the past few years, that I've pretty much closed myself off to even being open to an opportunity for my own religious experience. He doesn't exactly come out of the experience saying that his faith in such and such religion has been confirmed, but just that - going into this incredibly stark environment, in the midst of these powerfully moving symbols that are at the root of these religions, you are suddenly able to let go of various rational pieces of your brain and open yourself up to something higher. Don't freak out - I'm not joining a revivalist congregation of any sort any time soon. But I think this whole thing about me being turned offon religion has made me deny a certain aspect of my being, which is thatI still crave a sort of meaning that is beyond that which I can touch and see and examine in a peer-reviewed scientific study. And I found myself, at the end of the viewing, with this sort of "journey" suddenly back on the radar, where before it was not. Wow - this is the power of public media in action, huh?
In any event, a viewing of all three parts in one sitting is currently on the agenda, and the book is definitely going in the GoodReads queue.
I also hope Mixx will post his own perception-altering experience he shared in response to my original email.
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8 comments:
And here it is...with some additional thoughts.
"That all seems fairly understandable. While I haven't been to the 'Holy Land' I've seen the fruits of religious devotion in several other forms, from Hindu, to Buddhist, to Catholicism in all its extravagant glory, and I have enormous respect and possibly even awe for the people that made those places and things. And even more than that, I can appreciated the beauty and majesty of the rituals.
A good story that illustrates this:
At the beginning of our Asia trip in 1996 we arrived first in Bombay (Mumbai)late in the evening. The airport (for a city of 12M people) was less impressive than the W'loo/CFalls airport and was significantly dirtier. We took a prepaid taxi (the best way not to get screwed) the long miles from the airport to downtown where we hoped to stay (we hadn't made reservations, accommodation being fairly easy to come by if your standards are low). We drove through neighborhood after neighborhood of the most oppressive squalor (at least that I'd seen) with people living under scraps of whatever materials they could scrounge to build their houses. We arrived to the area of our intended lodging to be set upon by a smell that Faith described as 100 outhouses at the zoo on a fishing wharf. It was godawful. We got a room, took a shower and went to bed sometime after midnight. At around 6:00am I was woken by possibly the most beautiful singing I've ever heard. I went to the window to catch a glimpse of who was the source of the singing and caught a brief view of a group of people seemingly engaged in some sort of religious parade. The singing faded as the distance grew. And through it all was the smell, and the view out the window also included mangy dogs rooting through piles of garbage, and squalor (at least in western terms).
I don't know if it was transformative or not, but it certainly altered my perceptions."
There are an enormous number of people out there for whom religion (faith, etc) is a truly wonderful thing and is employed in nothing but good ways, and there have been few things in human history that have been used to bring people together towards a common lasting purpose...
But even the building of the great monuments of religion was filled with suffering for many. Untold numbers of people were forced to toil, possibly to death to build up great exaltations to god. And even still, seeing them strikes awe in one as jaded and cynical as I. Beauty and majesty are undeniable, but in the end they are very imperfect realizations of something much larger.
And often they were cheap ploys at evincing power, the ecclesiastical equivalent of a macmansion and SUV. As if god was impressed by some fancy building. The whole notion reeks of idol worship and is one tiny step removed from sacrificing animals or people to supplicate a quixotic deity.
You see lots of the same bullshit in the worst of Christianity today, with an arms race of sorts to build the biggest most elaborate places of worship. The Catholic church sits on billions of dollars of art and and priceless buildings in the Vatican (and across the globe), all of it built upon the manipulation of a public eager to show their faith through tithing and alms. Islam has built structures at Mecca that are mind-boggling, but seem meaningless is the larger sense of things.
As I know Christianity the best, i come down hardest on it, but there seem to be two lessons that stuck with me through my years of religious exposure. From the Old Testament you get the story of the Golden Calf, something that seems so metaphorically relevant throughout the history of Christianity and certainly none less so today. And from the New Testament, the notion that "wherever two or more are gathered in my name, I am there" should be liberating to anyone who takes its meaning the way that seems obvious to me.
So much in human nature is seeking acceptance whether the group we seek it in is good for us or not. The task of discerning those distinctions should become clearer as we age, but for many the need to belong seems to outweigh the ability to see the benefit.
Just to be clear:
religion (little r), faith, piety etc not inherently bad, and in fact most likely good for the practitioners.
RELIGION (big R) almost universally bad.
Whenever 1000 (or far less) or more people are gathered in his name, group dynamics and human nature can turn anything good bad.
Whatever gets YOU through the night, not whatever gets US or YOU ALL through the night.
Dan, my heart is warmed by your post.
Meth, I must read your text without interruption. I will get back to your comments in the future.
Your heart will not be warmed by my post.
Are you the Ice Witch from Narnia? :)
I will not eat your Turkish Delight!
I'm not trying to eliminate Christmas, I'm just not on board with its 'true' meaning anymore. I'm much more about celebrating the beginning of longer days, as it was in the beginning.
Christianity co-opted the December holiday to stifle 'paganism'. There's no evidence that even an historical Jesus was born on the 25th, let alone born in the year 0. The early fathers of Christianity just wanted to squeeze out competing religions.
...also not text that will warm T-Clog's heart
Luckily he generates plenty of heat on his own.
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