Agnostic: A
Spirited Manifesto (2016) by Lesley
Hazleton
Lesley Hazleton is a very interesting author whose work focuses on the intersection of religion and
politics. Two of her most recent books that are selling at Popular & MPH
bookstores all over Malaysia are The
First Muslim (on the life of Muhammad) and After the Prophet (about what happened to the teachings of Islam
and after Muhammad died). Very interesting books indeed. So when I read Agnostic, I was surprised to know that
Lesley is not a Muslim but an agnostic Jew, which simply means, according to Google
dictionary, “a person who believes that
nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God” [refer the diagram below to know the different].
In the first chapter Beyond Either/Or after she explains her
religious background and journeys, she writes, “And there’s the problem - right there in that phrase ‘one way or the
other.’ It sees the world in binary terms: yes or no, this side or that. It
insists that I can be either agnostic or Jewish but not both, even though both
are integral parts of this multi-faceted life that is mine.” I agree.
“To be agnostic is to love this kind of
paradox,” she continues. “Not to
skirt it, nor merely to tolerate it, but to actively revel in it. The agnostic
stance defies artificial straight lines such as that drawn between belief and
unbelief, and shakes off the insistence that it comes down on one side or the
other.” I agree.
“I stand tall in my agnosticism because the essence of it is not merely
not-knowing, but something far more challenging and infinitely more intriguing:
the magnificent oxymoron inherent in the concept of unknowability. This is the
acknowledgment that not everything may be knowable, and that not all questions
have definitive answers - certainly not ones as crudely put as the existence or
non-existence of God.” Although I’m not an agnostic - theist, if we want
to use a term here - I agree with this statement so far. “At its best, however, agnosticism goes
further: it takes a spirited delight in not knowing... it’s a recognition that
we need room for mystery, for imagination, for things sensed but not proven,
intuited but not defined - room in which to explore and entertain possibilities
instead of heading straight for a safe seat at one end or the other of a
falsely created spectrum.” Very persuasive statement and I like what I
read.
I agree with Lesley’s one
of good points in the book: doubt is essential to faith. If I
believe in something without having questions about it, this becomes dogma [and
so this book is very helpful to challenge my beliefs], but asking questions,
good to great questions will shed more and more light on the subject until it
becomes a clear truth for me [so contrary to Lesley’s idea, I do believe that
there are absolute truths and its knowable but most may remain mystery]. And that’s why I still believe
in the living Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
Watch a wonderful TED Talk by Lesley HERE:
Watch a wonderful TED Talk by Lesley HERE:
FB Page: https://web.facebook.com/LEGASI.tv/
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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