Saturday 21 July 2007

Post Script

I found a quote in the Guardian Family section this morning, which reads: "If this most elemental thing is a lie, then why should I believe anything?"

It is one thing to tell children mythological moral tales, but it is another thing altogether to pass these myths off as truth. We'd no more do this for ancient Greek myths, even though they contain many of the same character endorsing or condemning morals as B*blical stories. I hope to finish the tale of leaving M*rmonism some day, however, the final act of sending in my resignation will only be a postscript to the tale. The stuff that happened in-between is much, much more interesting. TBC

3 comments:

Janet Kincaid said...

I just read the piece in the Guardian. Riveting!

This quote struck me as especially appropo and builds on what you extracted:

To put it at its most simple, when the primary relationship in life is cast into doubt, then everything that rests on this relationship is also cast into doubt. When the underlying truth is suddenly proved false, then all of a sudden there is no firm ground anywhere.

I think this is what happens for so many post-/ex-mos. Their primary myth is "cast into doubt" resulting in so many other facets of life-bound-in-faith being equally cast into doubt. It's little wonder we continue to hold onto or struggle with this past element in our lives.

And this quote: my mother faced a choice in the first years of her discovery: either to devote her existence to the pursuit of the past, or to seek to continue in the happy present of her immediate circumstances - with her own children, her husband, her work. She saw that her whole life might be consumed by the search, the pain of that search, and to what end? To blame people? To confront people? To shame them? What good would it do? There was a danger that her entire personality would have become defined by this hunt for the past, rather than her experience of the present.

This one sums up what many of us try to do: move past the past and live in the present. Not always easy, but the desire nonetheless. At least, it is for me.

Thank you for this, Aitch. xo

Wendy said...

Is this article available on line? It sounds brilliant.

hm-uk said...

Wendy - try clicking on the highlighted words, 'Guardian Family' in my post and that should direct you to the article online. I thought it was a brilliant piece of writing - hope you find it worth your while, too.

JMK - isn't it amazing how fundamental fallacies can never be rectified? Peripheral ones, perhaps but the biggies are usually too huge to get over. I'm glad you liked the article - or were at least riveted by it!