9.07.2003
And on p. 248 comes one of the most compelling exchanges in this part of Speaker for the Dead:
"...We've always tried to play along with it, and act as if we believed it."
"How condescending of you," said Ender.
"It's standard anthroplogical practice," said Miro.
"You're so busy pretending to believe them, there isn't a chance in the world you could learn anything from them."
For a moment they lagged behind, so that he actually entered the forest alone. Then they ran to catch up with him. "We've devoted our lives to learning about them!" Miro said.
Ender stopped. "Not from them." They were just inside the trees; the spotty light through the leaves made their faces unreadable. But he knew what their faces would tell him. Annoyance, resentment, contept - how dare this unqualified stanger question their professional attitude? This is how: "You're cultural supremacists to the core. You'll perform your Questionable Activities (legally proscribed transfers of human culture to the indigenous planetary natives) to help out the poor little piggies, but there isn't a chance in the world you'll notice when they have something to teach you."
I am ambivalent about the concept that in order to truly learn something, one must first believe in it. I don't think this is an either/or so much as a self-reinforcing dynamic. The more I believe, the more I learn which allows me to stretch my belief even more and so on. By the same token, how do I know I believe enough to learn?
I see myriad applications for this:
Jesus didn't tell us to understand him, he told us to believe him. And not just believe propostions about him but to believe Him personally. We can't really know Jesus unless we believe Him.
The other side of the coin is to feel so sanctimonious that we relegate the beliefs of others which may seem naive to our "enlightened" viewpoint to superstitious affectation. This prevents us from learning from them. Perhaps (and probably more likely) the naive faith of an elderly saint in the power of prayer does have a basis in experience and we would do well to listen to what she has to say. We don't experience the same power in prayer as she does becuase we are so busy analyzing the experience, we aren't even having it.
Or those who naively believe the Bible means what it says. And they experience a consolation from the Word that we can only long for.
Or those who naively have a quiet confidence in their acceptance of Jesus that frees them from the doubts and anguish that higher theologians torture themselves over.
Are we such Christian cultural supremacists that we dismiss those of "lesser" faith and as a result, fail to learn what we most need to know?
"...We've always tried to play along with it, and act as if we believed it."
"How condescending of you," said Ender.
"It's standard anthroplogical practice," said Miro.
"You're so busy pretending to believe them, there isn't a chance in the world you could learn anything from them."
For a moment they lagged behind, so that he actually entered the forest alone. Then they ran to catch up with him. "We've devoted our lives to learning about them!" Miro said.
Ender stopped. "Not from them." They were just inside the trees; the spotty light through the leaves made their faces unreadable. But he knew what their faces would tell him. Annoyance, resentment, contept - how dare this unqualified stanger question their professional attitude? This is how: "You're cultural supremacists to the core. You'll perform your Questionable Activities (legally proscribed transfers of human culture to the indigenous planetary natives) to help out the poor little piggies, but there isn't a chance in the world you'll notice when they have something to teach you."
I am ambivalent about the concept that in order to truly learn something, one must first believe in it. I don't think this is an either/or so much as a self-reinforcing dynamic. The more I believe, the more I learn which allows me to stretch my belief even more and so on. By the same token, how do I know I believe enough to learn?
I see myriad applications for this:
Jesus didn't tell us to understand him, he told us to believe him. And not just believe propostions about him but to believe Him personally. We can't really know Jesus unless we believe Him.
The other side of the coin is to feel so sanctimonious that we relegate the beliefs of others which may seem naive to our "enlightened" viewpoint to superstitious affectation. This prevents us from learning from them. Perhaps (and probably more likely) the naive faith of an elderly saint in the power of prayer does have a basis in experience and we would do well to listen to what she has to say. We don't experience the same power in prayer as she does becuase we are so busy analyzing the experience, we aren't even having it.
Or those who naively believe the Bible means what it says. And they experience a consolation from the Word that we can only long for.
Or those who naively have a quiet confidence in their acceptance of Jesus that frees them from the doubts and anguish that higher theologians torture themselves over.
Are we such Christian cultural supremacists that we dismiss those of "lesser" faith and as a result, fail to learn what we most need to know?
