Friday, December 21, 2007

Splash du Jour: Friday

…I am atheist in a very religious mould. I'm always asking myself the big questions. Where did we come from? Is there a meaning to all of this? I read the King James Bible, as all English writers should. And when I find myself in church, I edit the hymns as I sing them, like President Clinton giving evidence to Kenneth Starr about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, just to make sure I'm not technically lying - 'All things bright and beautiful, the hmmm hmmm made them all.' Religion provides believers with two contradictory things. It gives them answers. And it celebrates mystery. It reminds them that they are a vanishingly small part of a vast cosmos. And it shows them how they are intimately connected to every part of it. Science and literature do this for me. They give me answers. And they ask me questions I will never be able to answer. This is the nearest I come to what other people might call a religious experience. First, when I'm trying to get my head round string theory or the evolution of the human eye. Second, when I open a book and find myself sliding effortlessly into the mind of someone who lived on the far side of the world and died long before I was born.
-- Mark Haddon –


Have a great Friday!
My holidays begin today. Hence, the extremely late Splash du jour posting.
I am on the first day of my Radical Sleeping-In© stint!
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sleep all the sleep you have missed so far.
Joyeux Noël!
C.

Anonymous said...

Happiest of Holidays and may you sleep, read and rest to your heart's content.

Cipriano said...

Having a great time thus far!
Reading The Golden Compass and generally being a lazy bum!