Atheist Book Club

Three Versions of Judas

"Three Versions of Judas" is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges. I found it in a collection of his works called Labyrinths. This is not a theological work, but some of the short stories do have interesting things to say about religion, Christianity in particular. I found "Three Versions of Judas" especially compelling.

]]> At this point in the story, theologians refute Runeberg's theory for various reasons, and he comes up with another. The new theory says that God spending only one afternoon on the cross as a sacrifice is "blasphemous." Also, Judas was chosen by Jesus himself to be a disciple, which entailed many moral qualities. Borges' Runeberg has Judas as the ultimate ascetic, who scorns his own happiness for that of the Lord's. "Judas sought Hell, because the happiness of the Lord was enough for him. He thought that happiness, like morality, is a divine attribute and should not be usurped by humans."

In addition, Runeberg reasons that it would not be possible for God to become a human without being able to sin - "the attributes of impeccabilitas and of humanitas are not compatible." The final conclusion that Runeberg reached is that God did not become Jesus - God became Judas.

I'm not sure I did a very good job laying out the logic involved with Runeberg's conclusion. I'm not sure the logic is even sound, but as I read it straight through it was convincing. Overall, this story is an interesting one, despite its brevity (Six pages). I recommend Borges to anyone who likes bits of philosophy in their stories. This collection contains many of Borges' short stories, as well as some undeveloped thoughts, many of which play out like the thought experiments philosophers often use.

Germinal

Emile Zola's portrayal of French mine workers, beaten down by poverty and lead by an outsider to rebel in a Marxian vein.
The protagonist of this novel, Etienne, has an ancestry fraught with madness and murderous tendencies. He manages this hereditary trait to some extent, but Zola presents him as being in a constant struggle against his genetic predispositions. In Germinal, the question of heredity, while still important, is veiled under an overriding theme of bourgoisie v. proletariat, where Etienne is the instigator of a mining strike.

As Etienne is encouraging his mates in "Village Two Hundred and Forty" to strike, the topic of the church comes up, with the mother (Maheude) of Etienne's adopted family maintaining that they must live as the priests tell them, and they shall be rich in the next life. Etienne responds:

There's a lot of silly ideas for you. Why do you need a God and a paradise to be happy? Can't you make your own happiness in this world?

And can't you? Why always look to the afterlife? This is what frustrates me about a lot of the religious doctrines. There are so many little tricks they use to get around it, but what it comes down to is: this life sucks, the next life is better, but you're stuck here til (the gracious and loving) God lets you out of this pathetic existence.

Make your own happiness in this world, friends.]]>

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Well I finally started reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig last night.

There seems to be 4 main characters. The first is the "main guy" (I don't think his name was said yet), the main guy's 11 year old son Chris, the main guy's good friend John, and John's wife Sylvia. The four are going on a road trip on of course, their motorcycles. So far, it has been hard for me to pay attention to the book, so I have only read the first chapter. The main conclusion of the first chapter seemed to be that the main guy thought that John and Sylvia were extremely scared of technological advances, and he compares this with "beatnick's" and "hippies". There is also a hint of information on Buddhism towards the end of the first chapter, but it seems kind of vague to me.

On to Chapter 2!

Siddhartha Part 3

In the last section, Siddhartha had just left his lover Kamala. He returns to the ferryboat captain who he had befriended years ago. The captain allows Siddhartha to stay with him and help raise crops and drive the ferry. Siddhartha learns that there is much to learn from the river, a fact which the ferryman confirms. Siddhartha takes care of his new son, though he finds it difficult. The son is used to his old life, and doesn't listen to his father. The wise old ferryman convinces Siddhartha that he must let his son find his own way, similar to the way that Siddhartha did. At one point the son disappears. Siddhartha attempts to track him down, but eventually relents, and allows his son to find his own way. Thus the circle of life is completed.

Conclusions
Okay, I'm done with this book now. Its quick reading, and engaging. Its so short, though, that it amounts more to a short story than a novel. I found it interesting that when Siddhartha was an uppity young man, rebelling against his father, as a reader I saw his point of view. But when he was the father, with a son who was similarly rebellious, I still sided with him. This is no doubt the intended reaction, but it seems somewhat forced. The portrayals of Siddhartha's father and son seem so one-sided that there really is no room for ambiguous feelings. Meanwhile, Siddhartha is shown having conflicted feelings, which is a much easier situation to understand.]]>

Siddhartha Part 2

Okay, so maybe this book isn't big enough to be divided into this many entries, but its logically divided into certain parts, so this makes some sense. Siddhartha passes through a village and sees a beautiful woman being carried by several servants. He makes it his goal to have this woman, Kamala, become his friend and teacher. She requires him to acquire clothes, shoes, and money to be good enough for her. Eventually Siddhartha does all these things, and wins her affection. He works as a businessman until he is in his forties, as a friend to Kamala. He starts to feel empty, though, and realizes he has been caught up in the material world, and desires change.

Siddhartha believes that it was necessary for him to reach the depths that he did in order to reach great heights. He leaves the village and Kamala, though not before impregnating her on his last visit.

My thoughts
If becoming rich and successful and learning of love from a beautiful aristocrat is a necessary decline one must experience to find oneself, where do I sign up? This part of the story doesn't really work for me. If it was just a sexual relationship, I can understand feeling empty. However, the book seems to treat the relationship between Siddhartha and Samala as something much more than that. Its not really clear what Siddhartha needs in his life to attain nirvana. Maybe he just needs solitude, simplicity of life. But if every person had a profession like monk or beggar or ferryboat captain, the society Siddhartha lives in probably could not have existed, much less the society we live in.]]>

Life of Pi

Though I would've wished it so, this book is not about math. The picture of a tiger on the cover should've keyed me in to this fact, but, electing not to judge a book by its cover, I instead read the back jacket snippet and bits of the novel itself. This informed me that Yann Martel's book is about the son of a zookeeper, named Picine Molitor Patel AKA Pi, who is enamoured not only of his native Hindu, but also Christianity and Islam. The tiger on the cover is representative of Pi's journey in a liferaft with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a tiger after the boat on which he and his family were emigrating to North America sinks.

]]>
Pi compares Christ's story to an imaginary scenario wherein his own father asks him to sacrifice himself to the lions to atone for the lions's sins of eating a zebra, a camel, storks and herons. In this Christ-like scenario, Pi answers: Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up.

Initially confused by this sentiment, Pi nevertheless asks Father Martin to make him a Christian. Jenny

Siddhartha

Summary
Siddhartha is the story of the "spiritual journey" of a boy named Siddhartha. So far I've gotten through section 1, which culminates in the awakening of Siddhartha. ]]> Brahmin. He then leaves his family to join the Samanas, taking his best friend Govinda. After spending time with them, he is convinced there is nothing else they can teach him, and he leaves.

Siddhartha and Govinda decide to go see Gotoma, AKA the Buddha, as he is known by many as the greatest teacher. While Siddhartha believes Gotoma's teachings are veridical, he feels that bec oming a student again will not help him attain nirvana. Meanwhile, Govinda has become enamored with the teachings of the Buddha and has decided to become a student. This leads to a poignant moment when Siddhartha and Govinda go their separate ways.

Siddhartha realizes what he thinks are some errors in his previous thinking. For one, to become self-actualized, one cannot eschew the self, but must embrace it and explore it. Second, one must be ones own spiritual guide. In other words, the teachings of others cannot explain oneself.

Analysis
So far this story makes an interesting novel. From what I've made it through, Siddhartha has found a method he thinks will help achieve nirvana, but has not applied that method yet. It sounds like he is preparing to go into "the wilderness" by himself to try to look deeply into himself.

I can't help be a little cynical about this. I'm not an expert on the conditions of someone like Siddhartha in his country in his time. It seems to me there is a parallel with upper class adolescents in the U.S. who take extended vacations to "find themselves" because their more basic needs are so easily met. Why is it that poor people never have trouble finding themselves? They just go to work everyday, or in some cases beg everyday. Its hard to commit yourself to working everyday if your economic status does not demand it, but it seems to me that that's how one finds oneself. I think Siddhartha just needs a challenging and fulfilling occupation. Maybe that kind of occupation did not exist in his time, in which case he should invent the television so he'll have something to do to kill time.

Galileo's Daughter

"A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love" by Dava Sobel

In the third of my own personal series, this is a book I initially wanted to read (yay! science!) but was utterly disappointed upon being informed that it's an attempt to make the great science-man into a regular "down-to-earth" nobody through his daughter's letters. Right. So, why am I reading it? My sister had it on her bookshelf, and asking nicely if I could read it was much cheaper than doing the usual routine at Barnes & Noble.

]]>
The Biblical evidence cited by one church-goer, Madama Christina: O Lord my God, Though are great indeed... Thou fixed the Earth upon its foundations, not to be moved forever. [103:1, 5] (pg 62 of GD; unfortunately, I don't know if this comes from Joshua or Pslams. THey don't say, and I haven't the urge to investigate. You get the point.)

Suffice it to say, we all know the church's attack on heliocentrism is just getting started, and that's not too surprising. The thing that interests me about figures like Galileo is that, while they are using their rational capacities to a great extent, investigating the universe and coming to conclusions about the nature of things, they still believe in God.

Like what seems to be so many examples of the "heretical scientist" Galileo himself was a devout Catholic. He didn't see any conflict between his theories of moving Heavens and the the church, but was at a loss-- how could he defend his theories, which he knew to be right, against the omniscient church rallying against him?

In Galileo's words: ... Holy Scripture cannot err and the decrees therein contained are absolutely true and inviolable. I should only have added that, though Scripture cannot err, its expounders and interpreters are liable to err in many ways...

What made him believe in God? Maybe the rest of the book will elucidate this question. Jenny

First Post

Hello, readers (if you exist). The purpose of this "blog" is to encourage reading and discussion of books that hold special interest for atheists and anyone who is interested in comparative religion. This is not just atheist tracts and philosophy, however. Here are some possibilities:

Compilations from atheist and agnostic writers

Philosophy of atheism/agnosticism/humanism

Spiritual books from various religions

Scientific books (e.g. books on evolution)

Pro-religion books

Critical analyses of holy texts

Fiction with religious themes or subthemes

... and so on. If you can think of a way to relate it, it belongs.

So, this would not be very interesting if it were just me, since I can only read so many books (and sometimes I don't). I am hoping that this blog will be able to take advantage of the feature allowing multiple authors, so that if you are reading something and want to start a discussion, you can e-mail me your U Internet ID, and I can add you to the list of authors.