A new year
I have been listening to Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God for the past several days. There are a few themes running through the book that have resonated, but here is one for now: “belief” in god has historically not been about belief in the way we mean today, but about practice. The shift to intellectualizing (and, then, anti-intellectualizing) belief is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the context of several traditions, she discusses how practice precedes belief, rather than the other way around. Do your practice and all is coming, eh? While much of the book is on the three main monotheistic traditions, the first couple chapters have really interesting thoughts on prehistoric (think cave paintings in France 30,000 ybp) and animistic practices and on early aescetic yoga practices.
Speaking of practice, I don’t do it much when I am traveling, which makes it painful upon return. Ugh.
Feynman is hanging in there. He has responded well to his hospice care and to H’s close and kind attentions. We laid low over the holidays to hang with kitty, and he came with us to LA for a week. I hope he will still be there with some purrs when I return to CA in Feb.
Should I admit that I haven’t added an entry lately because I accidentally took the admin link off my page and couldn’t remember how to get in? Silly Wombat. Plus the Wombat has a new toy – an iPad – and is adapting to this new technology. Perhaps this new toy will ultimately result in more posts. Oooo, just started editing this on the iPad with the WordPress app. Very nice.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
My best to Feynman.
Several years ago, I read Armstrong’s biography as well as her history of the Buddha (and maybe something more general about the axial age). I can see why religious scholars critique her (she’s doing what they do, but actually has an audience! … but also some of the arguments are a bit too clean for minds that love complexity), but don’t mind at all. She’s quite wonderful! And after learning more about her background, it’s somewhat easy to love her. 🙂
Let me know if you’d like to practice in LA. There’s a *really* good new space where you would either be welcomed warmly or given all the space you’d like. I know you’d feel good for dropping in.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Thanks, Owl. I will ask you about the LA room the next I’m visiting my family there.
I can see what you mean about Armstrong. Some of her arguments are a bit too clean — she definitely has a point she is trying to make. And she makes her point well, so that it is easily swallowed by an educated by not expert reader. It helps that I am sympathetic to her perspective and, like you, to her personal narrative.
I read her History of God some time ago and found it clarifying. I read it a few years after I had left the religiousness of my youth. I think it helped put my experience in perspective and removed some of the bitter taste.
That said, I really do enjoy her work; it gives a broader context to the bits of knowledge that I do have. Perhaps it’s like most scholarly work that makes it into the mainstream: it’s fascinating, unless it’s in my area of expertise, in which case, it’s oversimplified.
January 26th, 2011 at 5:43 am
🙂