Struggling

I’ve spent the last couple of hours trying to concentrate on research for an upcoming paper and am finding it very difficult. Especially since my preliminary search is on the internet. It’s just too tempting. Websites to look up, friends to read about, ahem… blogs to post. This is also my first college level paper to write and I think I’m a little nervous. I’ve been thinking a lot about topics for the last couple of weeks and haven’t really been able to narrow it down for myself. I’ve had a couple of ideas floating around but nothing definite. I would like it to be something interesting to myself as well as something that I’m not too familiar with. My first idea had to do with the broad link between all people and cultures that is religion. The idea that religion comes as part of the package deal of a civilization, some sort of explanation for things outside their physical world and their understanding of it. I also thought about focusing on the early christian church and how different it is from what we think of as the christian church today. Their struggle to find an identity as a diverging branch from Judaism, solidifying their canon and the evolution of the hierarchical system in the church now. But since my last post I’ve been thinking more and more about the subject of ethics in religion.

The Ethics of Religion

“During the Seventh Crusade, led by St. Louis, Yves le Breton reported how he once encountered an old woman who wandered down the street with a dish full of fire in her right hand and a bowl full of water in her left hand. Asked why she carried the two bowls, she answered that with the fire she would burn up Paradise until nothing remained of it, and with the water she would put out the fires of Hell until nothing remained of them: “Because I want no one to do good in order to receive the reward of Paradise, or from fear of Hell; but solely out of love for God.” Today, this properly Christian ethical stance survives mostly in atheism.” [via link]

I just read this article today making an interesting case for atheism as a haven for freedom in religion. Pointing out the hypocrisy of most fundamental sects of religion, mostly Islamic and Christian, and their supposed license to do whatever thay want, ‘in the name of God,’ meanwhile making the point that in an allowance for atheism, there is an allowance for other religions as well. Both Islam and Christianity have a core of ethical values that we tend to attrubute to their respective religions, assigning them a creed-like value. Non-violence, regard for your neighbor, giving alms, etc. But, as the article points out, shouldn’t these be everyday values of an evolved and sophisticated culture? Not so much an issue of religion but of social anthropology? As a group of people evolve these kinds of traits are naturally cultivated as a means to preserve the society. If everyone is allowed to steal from their neighbor, there is no peace. If you can murder anyone you want, there is no security and ultimately no society because everyone is dead. And so on and so forth. But then religion is a social invention is it not? Sure you can argue that humans beings have an inherent craving for a connection with something bigger and therefore ‘in control’ of their everyday lives, but the stuctures that surround that belief system are built. A human social invention.

I believe that the issue of ethics is almost wholly separate from whatever religion we invent or ascribe to. Religion speaks to our emotions, our perspectives, our passions. Not our social behavior. Perhaps as our intellect is affected by our passions we by proxy modify our behavior and in that way our religion is an influence. But, removing religion shouldn’t cause our behavior to disintegrate to lawlessness.

Parting Shot

When I see the posts of my friends I can’t help but feel that I’m falling a little(o.k., a lot) behind. And, well that inspires me a little to write. Life seems to pass me by so quickly and I have a hard time disciplining myself to stop and record some of it. If it’s not one thing-like work, it’s another- like school. Then factor in(oh yes, I’m learning the lingo in my developmental math class) boyfriend and friends and family and then somebody named Elizabeth and it’s no wonder I put things like updating my blog off. If I’m not careful it may sound like I’m bitching. Not true. I’m loving life and am excited about where it’s going.

And then as I was searching for an image for this post I found: a reminder of where I’ve been. This is an old tourist brochure for a little town in the Czech Republic called Cesky Krumlov that I visited in 2002 when I was traveling in Europe. As an exploration from Prague I had gone down there intending to return after a couple of days and ended up staying a week. It’s about a 3 hour bus ride south of Prague and when the bus arrived in the early morning I was still a little sleepy and not knowing what to expect. Certainly not what I saw. It had just snowed and had made the curves of the hills above the city all meld together and give the appearance of an empty and enchanted town from a story book. Cesky Krumlov is nestled in the valley of the Vltava River and the city center is still a great mix of buildings from the centuries, most of them medieval with red tiled roofs crowded together over cobbled stone streets. Stone bridges connect over the river and it’s a great walking city.

There’s a lot more to do than you might expect from such a small town. There’s a great museum that was housing an enormous Dali exhibit at the time I was there. And when I say enormous I mean sprawling over what seemed to be an old castle with timbered roofs and many floors and rooms that were just FILLED with his lithographs, drawings, sketch-books, diagrams, paintings, etc. I had no idea he was so damn prolific. It was an amazing display. There’s also horse-back riding in the hills and tubing in the river with a movie in the summer. We just watched the snow fall during the day, made pizza, walked to the top of the highest hill in the area(getting lost on the way- of course), heading down to the bars and drinking with locals. The one thing that I did there that I still don’t recommend to many people is absinthe. That is the most vile thing that I have ever drank. The idea of melting sugar into the glass to make it palatable is a laugh. It burns, and smells and it then becomes impossible to close your mouth so long that pools of spit form and spill out of your gaping mouth. It’s awful fun to give to your friends though.

My fondest memory of Cesky Krumlov though was from our last night there. Every hostel that you stay at will give you a sheet of recommended things to do in the area, upcoming events, etc. I felt that the one I was given was a little better in that it gave you things to do where you might actually meet someone who lived there, instead of the usual tourist-y stuff. So, there was a restaurant a little ways from the hostel that 3 of us decided to go and visit. It was about a block down the street, but since the city is built into the valley we had to go down several flights of stairs to reach what we thought might be the door to the restaurant. I say thought because it was just that, a door. No sign or window, just a light and a big, banded wooden door, and since it was the only one that had a light above it we decided to take a chance and knock. The door, seriously, opened a crack and this big czech guy with a mustache poked his head out and looked us over. Obviously he was not expecting us, but seemed happy to see us and let us in to find a seat. The restaurant was in a small basement with an arched stone roof with about 30 or so family crests painted or hanging on it. The tables and chairs were just planked but obviously well made, because they’d been there forever, dark with age and soot. The cooking fire was in the middle of the room with a stone chimmney built around it. It was dark but cheerful and we were the only ones there with the man who let us in- the cook/owner/waiter/etc. excepting the group of 3-4 guys in the corner who were just finishing their meal. So, we ordered and watched him make our food as we drank our czech beer. The food was amazing, simple, flavorful and for poor travelers- plentiful. And as we were just sitting back to talk about whatever it was we were discussing the group in the corner pulled out their instruments and treated us to some awesome folk music! It was great, we couldn’t believe how beautifully the night went. So, we ordered another beer and sat back to enjoy the music and talk.

No experience in my time travelling was ever quite like that one. It felt kind of like a gift. Perhaps because I left shortly after and came home, but it will always be special to me.