There doesn’t need to be a war at all:
What prompted humans to imagine that religious impulses and the
rational quest for insight are at war with each other? Once it became
clear that the sun would “return’ whether or not blessed candles were
lit, why did the idea of prayer come to seem naive? When mystical
wonder was walled off from measurable observation, science restricted
its range, and religion anathematized critical thinking – disasters
both. But the festivals this week, sparked by this morning’s dawn, call
to mind the age-old spaciousness of informed imagination. Happily, it
remains so. Knowledge is holy. Season’s greetings.
A.
—–
humbug.
Beautiful writing, even though much of it is debatable, as far as I am concerned. It is certainly true that all cultures celebrated the end of the steady decline in daylight hours, and that celebration resonates through all of us even today. I can’t imaging the terror that ancient people had, not being sure that the decline would ever end this year.