Entry tags:
30 Days of Books - Day 8
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
This is a hard question for me to answer. No two people have exactly the same experiences in their lives, so how can I say that everyone 'should' read a certain book.
I can make a generalized exception in the case of religious texts. I'm not talking the Left Behind series, either. I'm talking about the Christian Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Satanic Bible (if you want to know about LaVeyan Satanism, anyway), etc. If you want to know what people honestly believe, if you want to know what your pastor is talking about in his sermons, if you want to know why people are knocking on your door at the buttcrack of dawn on a Saturday to tell you 'the good news', pick up one of the books. Read it. Read a few different versions of it, different translations. Don't fall into the habit of letting other people interpret these things for you - pick up the books, read them and make your own decisions about them. Decide what the words mean for you in your own life. Decide for yourself if it's valid or bullshit.
I don't know if it's because I'm Pagan, and Pagans seem to be interested in these things, but it seems like ever since a fateful day in 2001, religion is becoming more of a turning point in politics and global communication. It can either be a schism to tear the world apart, or we can start looking for the common ground and become united, if not in direct beliefs, but in experiences. You don't have to be Christian to be a decent, ethical person. You don't have to be an atheist to believe in the scientific method. You don't have to be Pagan to respect the planet you live on, and you don't have to be Mormon to understand the importance of community. Until people are willing to expand themselves beyond what they have had other people teaching them, no one will ever realize that.
( The rest of the questions )
This is a hard question for me to answer. No two people have exactly the same experiences in their lives, so how can I say that everyone 'should' read a certain book.
I can make a generalized exception in the case of religious texts. I'm not talking the Left Behind series, either. I'm talking about the Christian Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Satanic Bible (if you want to know about LaVeyan Satanism, anyway), etc. If you want to know what people honestly believe, if you want to know what your pastor is talking about in his sermons, if you want to know why people are knocking on your door at the buttcrack of dawn on a Saturday to tell you 'the good news', pick up one of the books. Read it. Read a few different versions of it, different translations. Don't fall into the habit of letting other people interpret these things for you - pick up the books, read them and make your own decisions about them. Decide what the words mean for you in your own life. Decide for yourself if it's valid or bullshit.
I don't know if it's because I'm Pagan, and Pagans seem to be interested in these things, but it seems like ever since a fateful day in 2001, religion is becoming more of a turning point in politics and global communication. It can either be a schism to tear the world apart, or we can start looking for the common ground and become united, if not in direct beliefs, but in experiences. You don't have to be Christian to be a decent, ethical person. You don't have to be an atheist to believe in the scientific method. You don't have to be Pagan to respect the planet you live on, and you don't have to be Mormon to understand the importance of community. Until people are willing to expand themselves beyond what they have had other people teaching them, no one will ever realize that.
( The rest of the questions )