faith and weather
first off, it's snowing again. 4 or 5 inches already, and about that much more expected tonight. i may take some personal time tomorrow morning and get some runs in. roberto, i hope you enjoy the "frozen granular" on your upcoming trip to sugar mountain. poor bastard.
secondly - tomorrow night is my book talk on krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven. i've finished reading it for a second time, and am overflowing with questions of faith:
are all prophets and gurus inherent narcissists?
what differentiates the prayers of a common person from the delusional missives from god that a schizophrenic receives?
doesn't every set of beliefs - secular or spiritual - start off outside of the mainstream?
as joseph campbell argues, all religions have stories that borrow from mythological archetypes that have existed since time immemorial - does this fact discredit religious dogma?
et cetera, et cetera. i hope to focus on the role of faith in our modern world; the fascinating cast of religious characters in history (joseph smith in particular); and, ultimately, what faith, prophets and gurus can inspire people to do - both inspring and horrific.
there could be 5 people attending or 50. my challenge is to mediate, and to help people - faithful and questioning alike - approach religion (and mormonism particularly) in a new way.
yikes.
i'll let you know how it goes.
link o' the day:
if i were a mechanical man (which i'm definitely not), i'd convert my subaru into a greasecar in a heartbeat.
posted by david @ 1:25 PM
1 Comments:
Dave,
Craig just asked me to read your blog. Wanted to make a few comments and open up the dialoge. I haven't read the book, but I'd like to respond from my own knowledge base:
#1 I think genuine prophets are not narcissistic, but reluctant. The Bible is full of examples of this, ie Moses. Modern examples abound, such as Mother Theresa.
God, however, reserves the right to choose whom he will.
#2 Traditionally, in Christianity, there is a 3 point test on any message one claims is from the divine. One test is whether it is consistent with scripture. Another has to do with passing it by someone who is in authority, such as a pastor.
Still another test has to do with decency, compassion and doing no harm.
I really appreciate Joseph Campbell. However, I look on the basic "mythological archetypes" as
examples of the collective unconscious that we all share. So, they reinforce faith. We all sense that there is meaning in them.
Wish I could be there--discussing books is one of my favorite things.
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