Subject: 'I believe, Lord. Help thou my unbeleif....'
From: Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Date: Wed Apr 25 2001 - 03:51:06 GMT
Have you no problem, Cecilia, with the way highly
sensitive, highly intelligent people can hold totally
contradictory beliefs with an equally intense conviction?
I know some terribly impressive characters who regard
the taking of Holy Communion as a transfiguring
experience & others, just as formidable, who see it as
a risible, even repellant practice. And the same kind
of contradiction can exist in the same brain within hours.
The uplifting warmth & union I used to feel for mankind
when drunk was no more ‘valid’ than the appalling vision
of horror unveiled by the DTs shortly afterwards.
As the intoxicating agents cleared, so did they - just like
the 40 foot anaconda hanging from the ceiling, once
the LSD wore off.
And don’t tell me the things of the mind have their own,
final validity. We have no difficulty in choosing between
the girl in the erotic dream (no matter how sweet the image)
& the real thing. In the same way, there’s nothing phoney
about our relief at catching sight of the morning light
behind the curtain after the nightmare.
The Archbishop & the Swami pray for recovery. They also
send for the best surgeon.
It always seemed to me the more disadvantaged, the greater
the need to believe. It doesn't seem to matter greatly
WHAT one believes so long as it's SOMETHING.
Or rather, as Chesterton pointed out, ANYTHING.
Anything at all.
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Thu May 17 2001 - 17:47:53 GMT