The World Still Seems Magical At Times
I had a brief flirtation with Christianity when I was in middle school and I recall even now that, for the entire month I was a Christian, life seemed magical. Jesus was coming! Anything could happen! The world became as fresh and mysterious as the first Spring morning after the grass has turned green.
Yet, as the month went by, I confronted the notion that some people were going to hell, including people I loved. So, after considering that point as carefully as I could, I decided if anyone -- especially anyone I loved -- was going to hell, I didn't want to go to heaven. Consequently I gave up on Christianity.
That was all back in the day when a religion could still keep me awake at nights. When I took that sort of thing seriously. I have somehow lost my ability to take any religion that seriously now, and yet the world still seems magical at times.
Stumble It!
3 comments:
Nor does the world stop being magical if you embrace science or atheism.
Through science, I know how a bird flies. I can explain the physics that keeps it in the air, the anatomical features that allow it to fly and the evolutionary processes that have shaped these features. And absolutely none of that changes the fact that I think birds in flight are really quite beautiful.
Richard Dawkins, for all his recent anti-religion ranting, has some wonderful stuff to say about how the world can seem that more magical when viewed with a scientific eye. Check out Unweaving the Rainbow or the Ancestor's Tale for more.
Beauty lies in mystery - beauty lies in what we do not know.
I'm not sure why people seem to think it has to be one or the other.
Some of the most spiritual people have been scientists, and if you ask me, the disciplines complement one another.
To reject either is evidence that you're neither true scientist or true spiritualist.
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