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.
本书内容2星,另加1星感情分,不枉我追他十年。 德波顿是我最喜欢的作家之一,但是,即便如此,我也得说自己很不喜欢这本书。但凡喜欢只需一个理由,不喜欢却有无数个理由。这里,只简略提一些。 “我们绝不缺乏可用来取代宗教圣典的文化材料,只是我们在用错误的方法对待这份...
評分看到书评里基本上都是四星、五星,也全都是夸这本书的,我实在是诧异。可能大概观点不同吧,不过还好看到有短评中写出这本书的败笔之处的。 首先声明我是德波顿的脑残粉,打心底里喜欢他写的东西,他的每一本书(翻译过来的)我都读过,抛开各种翻译的问题不讲,即使存在翻译上...
評分最近,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...
評分1 《写给无神论者》已是阿兰•德波顿的第十一本书。而此前我第一次也是唯一读过的只是他的《哲学的慰藉》。那大概是六七年前读初二时候一个苦寒江南冬日的下午。因为是农历的大年初几,母亲在下午行将结束时在厨房准备着较之平常富有过年气息的晚饭。几乎是一口气把...
評分近几年特别想寻找一个宗教皈依,给自己的心灵找一个依靠,不知道这样的目的对不对。把宗萨钦哲仁波切的几本书反复看了几遍,觉得这样发愿并不好,应该是以追求证悟的目的。可心这不系之舟,总是易风雨飘摇,难以安稳,以前我总是用读书来获取心灵的踏实。总听人讲,信仰的力量...
這是我的男神,就算現在謝頂瞭也是男神!
评分:無
评分隨筆作者討論社會問題,優雅地囉嗦(每種亞文化都像是德波頓所說的無神論2.0(這本的中譯也是水準之作
评分隨筆寫作其實就是文字設計+思想闡述,他是一把掃把都有個人觀點的人,中譯本梅俊傑翻譯的很工整文秀,原麯精緻狡黠詼諧妙趣雋永風流蘊藉。
评分與我諸多睏惑不謀而閤
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