Q&A with Author Alain De Botton
Q: Is it possible to be a good person without religion?
A: The problem of the man without religion is that he forgets. We all know in theory what we should do to be good. The problem is that in practice, we forget. And we forget because the modern secular world always thinks that it is enough to tell someone something once (be good, remember the poor etc.) But all religions disagree here: they insist that if anyone is to stand a chance of remembering anything, they need reminders on a daily, perhaps even hourly basis.
Q: What do you think of the aggressive atheism we have seen in the past few years?
A: I am an atheist, but a gentle one. I don't feel the need to mock anyone who believes. I really disagree with the hard tone of some atheists who approach religion like a silly fairy tale. I am deeply respectful of religion, but I believe none of its supernatural aspects. So my position is perhaps unusual: I am at once very respectful and completely impious.
Q: Are you nostalgic for the deeply religious past?
A: Like many people, of course I feel nostalgic. How is it possible not to feel nostalgic when you look at 15th frescoes or the rituals of an ancient carnival? However, we have to ask: how should I respond to my nostalgia? My thought is that we can use it creatively, as the basis for a rebirth, for the creation of new things, for the creation of things that later generations will feel nostalgic about... So it frustrates me when people say things like, 'Well, they knew how to build in the 15th century, now it is impossible...' Why! Anything is possible. We should not sigh nostalgically over religion, we should learn from them. We should steal from them.
Q: If we were to replace religion with a secular equivalent, who would be our gurus?
A: We don't need a central structure. We are beyond the age of gurus and inspirational leaders. We are in the age of the Wiki structure. This means that it is up to all of us to look at religion and see what bits we can steal and place into the modern world. We might all contribute to the construction of new temples, not the government, but the concerned, interested individual. The salvation of the individual soul remains a serious problem--even when we dismiss the idea of God. In the 20th century, capitalism has really solved (in the rich West) the material problems of a significant portion of mankind. But the spiritual needs are still in chaos, with religion ceasing to answer the need. This is why I wrote my book, to show that there remains a new way: a way of filling the modern world with so many important lessons from religion, and yet not needing to return to any kind of occult spirituality.
Q: Don't you think that, in order to truly appreciate religious music and art, you have to be a believer--or, at least, don't you think that non-believers miss something important in the experience?
A: I am interested in the modern claim that we have now found a way to replace religion: with art. You often hear people say, 'Museums are our new churches'. It's a nice idea, but it's not true, and it's principally not true because of the way that museums are laid out and present art. They prevent anyone from having an emotional relationship with the works on display. They encourage an academic interest, but prevent a more didactic and therapeutic kind of contact. I recommend in my book that even if we don't believe, we learn to use art (even secular art) as a resource for comfort, identification, guidance and edification, very much what religions do with art.
From the author of The Consolations of Philosophy, a deeply provocative and useful argument about how we can benefit from the wisdom and power of religion—without having to “believe” in any of it.
What if religions aren’t either all true or all nonsense?
The sterile debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally advanced by Alain de Botton’s astonishing new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false—and yet religion still has some very important things to teach the secular world.
Religion for Atheists suggests that atheists shouldn’t trash religion, they should steal from it—because the world’s religions are packed with good ideas on how we should live in and arrange our societies. In a highly original and readable tone that blends deep respect with total impiety, de Botton (a non-believer himself) proposes that we should look to religions for insights on, among other topics, how to: build a sense of community, make our relationships last, dampen feelings of envy and inadequacy, escape the 24-hour media world, go traveling, get more out of art, and build new businesses geared around our emotional needs.
For too long non-believers have faced a stark choice between either swallowing lots of peculiar doctrines or doing away with a range of consoling and beautiful rituals and ideas. At last, Alain de Botton, the author of the bestselling The Consolations of Philosophy and How Proust Can Change Your Life , has produced a far more interesting and truly helpful alternative.
我猜到 这本书肯定会有强烈的争议。。。。果然,持贬低观点的都挺激烈的........大家不要这样....... 觉得作者的语言真挺厉害的,确实是那种侃侃而谈顺畅流利的,虽然是翻译成中文的,但是作者表达观点时的语言状态确实很好。而且,前面作者一再强调的,世俗社会中人们追逐名...
评分 评分http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/alain_de_botton_atheism_2_0.html One of the most common ways of dividing the world is into those who believe and those who don't -- into the religious and the atheists. And for the last decade or so, it's been quite clear w...
评分生长一个什么都不信的时代和国度,从小无意识但实际上生长在佛教儒家道德习俗里,成年后在大城市接受基督的传教但无论如何难以相信三位一体,这就是我以及身边多数人与宗教的接触。我还认真研究了一下犹太教,我爱塔木德的箴言,喜欢并愿意执行犹太人严格自律的生活规范,可实...
评分最近,我去参加了一个读书小组,在回答“你是否有信仰”这个问题的时候,其中竟然有很多高学历的同学,都表示自己是某种宗教的信徒,其中不乏名校海归和很多科研单位的博士。这还是让我有点意外的。 毕竟,我们从小都是受无神论教育长大的。提起宗教,大概很多人第一反应,就是...
宗教去掉神学和迷信的部分后就一无是处了吗?本书认真的探讨了宗教的社会意义,对于已经不怎么信教的现代人的有哪些启迪。作者爱东拉西扯,也爱旁征博引,有时略装腔作势,有时又幽默亲切。也许你不会觉得每个观点你都赞同,但至少可以促进你的思考。力荐!
评分开头和结束章比较闷,中间比如教育很好看,谈艺术那部分太短了,再展开点就好。虽然作者说一书之力绵薄,他的写作保持连贯关注人的内在世界,观点也在不断重申,是德波顿式的“宗教”
评分随笔作者讨论社会问题,优雅地啰嗦(每种亚文化都像是德波顿所说的无神论2.0(这本的中译也是水准之作
评分拋開教義和信仰真實性來分析宗教在世俗上帶來的好處,角度真新穎。只是沒有信仰的支撐,我覺得這一切都是不可行的。
评分看宗教的角度很棒啊,起码是我之前没有想到过的。不过后半部分不那么犀利。
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