I chuckle - perfect JoanP - more of the incongruity in keeping the flow of power in a straight line - for awhile I thought the Elephant was a symbol for the Church in Rome - large, lumbering, can move swifter than expected however, typical is slow, s-l-o-w - that Pope Leo only gives his approbation 300 years after is such a perfect example
- here is a great photo of what most of us grew up with who attended a school taught by Dominicans -
http://www.hail-mary-rosaries.com/images/HistoryStDominic.jpgWow 108 impurities - sounds like a lot for someone who is already trying to walk a holy path through life - I wonder what is on the list of impurities
Jude, you have actually seen Muslims praying - what a treat - Do you know anything about their service - There is so little made public - I finally broke down the other day and ordered a book about how Islam affected Europe - which will probably account for the politics but not the practice of the religion itself.
Finally I think I found an answer to why the northern part of Europe broke away from Rome during the Reformation where as most of Southern Europe stayed. Seems these monasteries have something to do with it.
When a monastery was built in nations like Spain, Portugal, France and the various nation states in what is now Italy, the Kings financed the building, had sumptuous housing arrangements built into the monastery and spent time living at the monasteries - where as, in the north the monasteries where built by wealthy patrons who were either being grateful for something or as a penance. Therefore, the life within the monastery in the north was not dependent on the hierarchy running the nation.
Jude have you read any of David Liss' Books - I am remembering the
Coffee Trader where he gives a rich explanation of Jewish life in the Netherlands about a 100 years after the
Elephant's Journey Seems there are flair ups between members of so many religions as one groups interpretation does not jive with the other and Liss, a historian goes into some detail as to how the Jews were accepted in the Netherlands but lived separate. What was new to me the stringent treatment in the Jewish community between the older inhabitant successful Portuguese and Spanish Jews and those who came from the Balkans and other places east of the Danube.
Then it took the US invading Iraq to learn more about the 1000-year-old interior war among the Muslims between Shiite and Sunni and further the conservative nature of the Wahabbi/Wasabi -
The Buddhists - wow, like Christians - there are more groups and sects and according to some friends the various groups disagree violently at times with each other - of the main groups are Theravada Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, Yogacara Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism. With so many differences within religious groups it makes me question the concept of peace on earth.
I must say I was a bit disappointed with Saramago's choice of issues that he alludes to during the discussion over the factuality of the cow story as the rational for questioning the Bible. The examples he uses are so old they were around back when I was a kid as to why to doubt the Bible. At this time in history with so many relevant factors that shed a questioning light on the choice of included texts in addition, the research extended to what was going on in history when the various Bibles were written that would have affected what and how the hearsay was written makes his concepts too elemental. Even just the awareness we have of some Bible stories added in the margins by monks when they copied a text could have legs.
As someone said, we may have white sugar, brown sugar, confectionery sugar, rock sugar, cane syrup etc. but we all know the taste of sweetness and so the basics are available to us for whatever view of God we want –
As to it all going puff - that may be Saramago's opinion - memory seems to stay and we have now a concept that within our DNA there is memory – therefore, an individual’s search for their God my go puff but I see the search going on for thousands of years.
I will give it that man has a need that religion met to help with whatever affected mankind that could not be explained - but there is something more that has been called the soul - another Rebel for most Popes till recently was Meister Eckhart, who does a great job of explaining the rational for the soul. I guess, like being an American - it is constant work with disagreements and knowing some of our leaders disappoint in both their private and public life and so, where I do not pack up and leave I have the same work and struggle with my faith and have chosen not to pack up and leave.
There are many who find the behavior and workings of religious groups intolerable and seem to put most of their faith in science or simply in what they believe to be the basic goodness in man - to me that is simply another form of religion and if someone cannot be comfortable in their choice without putting down other choices - hmmm. But then the Curia is sure doing its best to knock down Vatican II when the RC Church moved towards more tolerant views if not yet, embracing views.
