Respectfully Representing Our Beliefs

In Marilynne Robinson’s article, she talks a lot about things that don’t make sense to her. She says that things like literature, science, and psychology often “did not square at all with (her) sense of things, and that the tendency of much of it was to posit or assume a human simplicity within a simple reality and to marginalize the sense of the sacred, the beautiful, everything in any way lofty.” What I think this has to do with representing belief is sometimes when we talk about religion, we talk about it extremely simplistically, with phrases such as, keep the commandments and you will inherit eternal life. Although this is definitely a true statement, it says nothing as to the complexity of the human experience. What about pain, trial, and hardship? What about love, joy, and excitement? I think that when we represent our own beliefs, we have to be careful not to marginalize the beautiful in an attempt to be logical, understandable or precise. We can end up defeating our own expressions when we put ourselves in boxes like that.

Also, I think when we represent our beliefs we should encourage discussion. Sometimes we might be afraid of how our perspective will be received, but if we run away from talking to other people about our beliefs, we are doing damage both to ourselves and to our readers/viewers. We need to be confident in where we stand, but also open to explaining our beliefs to others. I think the “Meet Your Farmer” film we watched in class did a good job of this. The man in the film told us exactly how he felt about his lifestyle, and what was important to him, and he didn’t say that any other lifestyle was bad or wrong, just that this was what he had chosen and why he appreciated it. He seemed very confident in his beliefs, but in no way discourteous to others. In this way I think we can get our message across, but in a loving, respectful way that will encourage, rather than discourage conversation and discussion.