All my life, I have watched for the oddness. The maple seed spinner that had a bump, the double yolk, the bread slice with the air hole, the M&N candy. I saw the Tooth Fairy, once. My mother loved tales of Seafaring disasters, Flying Dutchmen, as well as saintly miracles. Proof of the unique and inexplicable delights me.
If I have a faith today, it is that life is stranger than we can know. I think scientific method is the best human process, but that it is incomplete. The strangeness will not sit still for a good double blind study, which does not make it invalid. I know scientists themselves are prone to all that human ego is err to, from fudging the numbers to willful blindness for whatever does not fit their comfortable frame of reference, greed and lack of imagination. Which doesn't make them bad, it simply makes them Not Gods. There are Skeptics who worship them. There are Atheists who worship the idea of No God with the passion of the Orthodox. Such Atheists and Skeptics (the one note Believers in Anti-Belief, not the thoughtful well-let's sees) are just as rigid in their assumptions as the credulous believers, closing their minds and jumping to the conclusion they most want.
D got a copy of the Fortean Times, many years ago. It took me a while, but once I started reading it, I converted. Found my true faith. Douglas Adams was a prophet A mobile point, always watching, never accepting any explanation as eternal writ. For what is there to write upon? Stone erodes, cracks, melts, what words would survive even there? People will believe anything, much of it just screwy, our own ability to conceive of the way life works woefully inadequate to encompass the infinite variety.
When I came to write a novel, how could I do other than dig into this rich source? Putting the story here could be an issue, since I do dream of publishing, one day. But the ideas that inspire me? Ah ha! That I can write about. I will reveal to you my secrets, all the Forteana that drives and populates my meagre attempt at fiction.
I change again, from long convoluted essays, to my explorations of Boston, to daily struggles and worries, and now, the far edges that have always fired my mind. Let's see where this one goes...
7 comments:
As an atheist and a sceptic, I don't think you quite understand what those terms mean. Asimov described the position nicely when he wrote:
"I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be."
This is exactly the opposite of claiming to know what does and does not exist. Instead, it's a good measure of determining when to accept that something is real. If anything, sceptics are more likely to accept the (as yet) unexplained. It's (as yet) unsupported explanations of the unexplained (ghosts, gods, et al.) they take issue with.
Pacian,
I'm not referring to the terms, but the people who so label themselves and write screeds. I also considered myself both, until I read some of what the hardcore atheists and skeptics wrote. The atheists who are simply Anti-Church, the skeptics who worship every word that comes from a scientist's mouth without question. Perhaps I should capitalize those terms to indicate not the thoughtful thinkers, but the thoughtless haranguers.
My apologies, you are quite right, my aim was poor.
But the question is whether most people who describe themselves as atheists see it that way. Probably about as many as Christians who are quick-to-forgive pacifists, Muslims who reject all idols, or Buddhists who regularly meditate. In any case, I think "freethinker" is probably a better word for what Zhoen is trying to describe than either atheist or sceptic. (And sign me up, by the way! Or, uh, I can just sign myself up, can't I? Oh wait, there's nothing to sign...)
(Oh, sorry to be redundant - Zhoen's comment wasn't up when I started mine.)
Dave and Pacian,
I have re written this for clarity. I hope this helps. These are proving to be difficult concept to be clear about. Please keep me on my toes. I do respect all thoughtful points of view. It's only the thoughtless ones that I object to.
'life is stranger than we know' - and there's plenty we don't get to understand - even know about - ever - and that is ok
If I have a faith today, it is that life is stranger than we can know.
yes, oh yes. And I am now very curious about your novel, and delighted to infer that you are writing again. Good.
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