I thought I'd tell you a little about what I like to write. And I like to immerse myself in my topics. I just like to dive right in and become sort of a human guinea pig. And I see my life as a series of experiments.
Trebao bih vam reći nešto o stvarima o kojima volim pisati. Volim se udubiti u svoje priče. Jednostavno volim uroniti u to i postati neka vrsta ljudskog zamorca Svoj život vidim kao niz pokusa.
So, I work for Esquire magazine, and a couple of years ago, I wrote an article called "My Outsourced Life," where I hired a team of people in Bangalore, India, to live my life for me. So, they answered my emails. They answered my phone. They argued with my wife for me, and they read my son bedtime stories. It was the best month of my life, because I just sat back and I read books and watched movies. It was a wonderful experience.
Pišem za časopis Esquire i prije nekoliko godina napisao sam članak pod nazivom "My Outsourced Life" o tome kako sam unajmio skupinu ljudi u Bangaloreu, Indiji da žive moj život umjesto mene. Odgovarali su na moje mailove. Odgovarali su na moje telefonske pozive. U moje ime svađali su se sa mojom ženom, a zatim čitali priče za laku noć mojem sinu. To je bio najboljih mjesec dana u mom životu jer ja sam za to vrijeme sjedio, čitao knjige i gledao filmove. Bilo je to prekrasno iskustvo.
More recently, I wrote an article for Esquire called -- about radical honesty. And this is a movement where -- this is started by a psychologist in Virginia, who says that you should never, ever lie, except maybe during poker and golf, his only exceptions. And, more than that, whatever is on your brain should come out of your mouth. So, I decided I would try this for a month. This was the worst month of my life. (Laughter) I do not recommend this at all. To give you a sense of the experience, the article was called, "I Think You're Fat." (Laughter) So, that was hard.
Nedavno sam napisao članak za Esquire pod nazivom - o temeljnoj iskrenosti. To je u stvari pokret koji je pokrenuo jedan psiholog iz Virginije a koji tvrdi da ama baš nikad ne bismo trebali lagati osim možda u pokeru i golfu, njegove jedine iznimke. A povrh toga, što god vam je u mislima trebalo bi odmah izreći. Odlučio sam isprobati to na mjesec dana. Najgorih mjesec dana u mom životu. (Smijeh) Ne bih vam preporučio. Da vam bolje dočaram moje iskustvo članak se zvao "Mislim da si debeo" (Smijeh) Nije mi bilo lako.
My most recent book -- my previous book was called "The Know-It-All," and it was about the year I spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z in my quest to learn everything in the world, or more precisely from Aak, which is a type of East Asian music, all the way to Zwyiec, which is -- well, I don't want to ruin the ending. (Laughter) It's a very exciting twist ending, like an O. Henry novel, so I won't ruin it. But I love that one, because that was an experiment about how much information one human brain could absorb. Although, listening to Kevin Kelly, you don't have to remember anything. You can just Google it. So, I wasted some time there.
Moja najnovija knjiga - knjiga prije te zvala se "Sveznalica" i u njoj sam opisao godinu dana koju sam proveo čitajući Enciklopediju Britannicu od A do Z, u svom pothvatu da naučim sve na svijetu ili, preciznije, od A-ak, što je vrsta istočno-azijske muzike sve do Zwyiec- što je ..ma, ne bih htio pokvariti kraj. (Smijeh) Ima jako uzbudljiv i nepredvidljiv kraj, kao roman O. Henryja, ne želim vam to upropastiti. Ali volim tu knjigu jer to je bio eksperiment o tome koliko informacija jedan ljudski mozak može upiti, iako, ako slušate Kevina Kelleya, ne morate zapamtiti ništa. Samo ga potražite na Googleu. Tako sam izgubio malo vremena.
I love those experiments, but I think that the most profound and life-changing experiment that I've done is my most recent experiment, where I spent a year trying to follow all of the rules of the Bible, "The Year of Living Biblically." And I undertook this for two reasons. The first was that I grew up with no religion at all. As I say in my book, I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian. (Laughter) So, not very. But I've become increasingly interested in religion. I do think it's the defining issue of our time, or one of the main ones. And I have a son. I want to know what to teach him. So, I decided to dive in head first, and try to live the Bible.
Volim te eksperimente, ali mislim da je najopširniji pokus koji sam napravio, pokus kojim se potpuno promijeni život, je moj zadnji pokus, kada sam proveo godinu dana pokušavajući pratiti sva Biblijska pravila "Godina biblijskog života" Pokus sam započeo iz dva razloga. Prvi je zato jer sam odrastao apsolutno bez religije. Kao što kažem u knjizi, ja sam Židov koliko je Olive Garden italijanski. (Smijeh) Dakle, ne baš. Ali moje zanimanje za religiju se jako povećalo. Smatram da je religija definirajuće obilježje našeg vremena, ili bar jedno od glavnih. Imam sina. Žalim znati čemu ga naučiti. Pa sam odlučio uskočiti u to, i pokušati živjeti Bibliju.
The second reason I undertook this is because I'm concerned about the rise of fundamentalism, religious fundamentalism, and people who say they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls, as high as 45 or 50 percent of America. So I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally? I decided to take it to its logical conclusion and take everything in the Bible literally, without picking and choosing.
Drugi razlog zbog čega sam započeo ovaj poduhvat je što sam zabrinut zbog rasta fundamentalizma. religijskog fundamentalizma, i ljudi koji tvrde da dosovno shavaćaju Bibliju, a to je, po nekim istraživanjima, 45 ili 50 posto Amerike. Tako sam odlučio, što ako zbilja Bibliju shvatite doslovno? Odlučio sam to logički sprovesti i shvatiti sve u Bibliji doslovno bez izabiranja.
The first thing I did was I got a stack of bibles. I had Christian bibles. I had Jewish bibles. A friend of mine sent me something called a hip-hop bible, where the twenty-third Psalm is rendered as, "The Lord is all that," as opposed to what I knew it as, "The Lord is my shepherd."
Prvo sam uzeo hrpu Biblija. U njoj sam imao kršćanske Biblije.♫ Židovske Biblije. Prijatelj mi je poslao knjigu koja se zove hip-hop Biblija, u kojoj se 23 Psalam recitira kao "Bog je sve to," kao suprotno onome što sam ja znao "Bog je pastir moj,"
Then I went down and I read several versions, and I wrote down every single law that I could find. And this was a very long list -- over 700 rules. And they range from the famous ones that I had heard of -- The Ten Commandments, love your neighbor, be fruitful and multiply. So I wanted to follow those. And actually, I take my projects very seriously, because I had twins during my year, so I definitely take my projects seriously.
Tada sam pročirao nekoliko primjera, i zapisao sam svaki zakon na koji sam naišao. Liista je bila vrlo dugačka - preko 700 pravila. Koja su se kretala od onih poznatih za koje sam čuo - Deset zapovijedi, voli svog bližnjeg, budi plodan i množi se. I želio sam ih provoditi. Svojim projektima pristupam ozbiljno, dobio sam blizance u toj godini dana, tako da sigurno pristupam ozbiljno.
But I also wanted to follow the hundreds of arcane and obscure laws that are in the Bible. There is the law in Leviticus, "You cannot shave the corners of your beard." I didn't know where my corners were, so I decided to let the whole thing grow, and this is what I looked like by the end. As you can imagine, I spent a lot of time at airport security. (Laughter) My wife wouldn't kiss me for the last two months. So, certainly the challenge was there.
Također sam želio pratiti stotine zastarjelih i nejasnih zakona Biblije. Postoji zakon u Levitu (jednoj od 5 knjiga Tore) "Ne možete obrijati kuteve brade." Nisam znao gdje su mi kutevi, pa sam odlučio pustiti sve da raste, i ovako sam izgledao na kraju. Kao što možete i zamisliti, proveo sam dosta vremena na osiguranju u zračnim lukama. (Smijeh) Moja žena me nije htjela poljubiti zadnja dva mjeseca. Dakle, sigurno je postojao izazov.
The Bible says you cannot wear clothes made of mixed fibers, so I thought, "Sounds strange, but I'll try it." You only know if you try it. I got rid of all my poly-cotton T-shirts. The Bible says that if two men are in a fight, and the wife of one of those men grabs the testicles of the other man, then her hand shall be cut off. So, I wanted to follow that rule. (Laughter) That one I followed by default, by not getting in a fight with a man whose wife was standing nearby, looking like she had a strong grip. (Laughter) So -- oh, there's another shot of my beard.
Biblija kaže da ne možete nositi odjeću od miješanih vlakana, pomislio sam. "Zvuči čudno, ali probat ću" Saznat će te jedino ako probate. Riješio sam se svih majica od poli-pamuka. Biblija kaže da ako se dva muškarca bore, a žena jednog od njih zgrabi testise drugoga, odsjeći će joj se ruka. Tako da sam želio provoditi to pravilo. (Smijeh) To sam pravilo automatski slijedio, tako da nisam ulazio u tuču sa muškarcem čija je žena bila blizu, i izgledala kao da ima čvrst stisak. (Smijeh) Ah, evo još jednog snimka moje brade.
I will say it was an amazing year because it really was life changing, and incredibly challenging. And there were two types of laws that were particularly challenging. The first was avoiding the little sins that we all commit every day. You know, I could spend a year not killing, but spending a year not gossiping, not coveting, not lying -- you know, I live in New York, and I work as a journalist, so this was 75, 80 percent of my day I had to do it.
Reći ću da je to bila nevjerojatna godina jer mi je zbilja promijenila život i bila puna izazova. Dvije vrste zakona bile su poseban izazov. Prvi je bio izbjegavanje sitnih svakodnevnih grjehova. Mislim, mogao sam provesti godinu dana bez ubijanja, ali godina dana bez tračanja, priželjkivanja tuđeg, bez laganja - znate, živim u New Yorku i radim kao novinar, tako da je to bilo 75, 80 posto mog dana.
But it was really interesting, because I was able to make some progress, because I couldn't believe how much my behavior changed my thoughts. This was one of the huge lessons of the year, is that I almost pretended to be a better person, and I became a little bit of a better person. So I had always thought, you know, "You change your mind, and you change your behavior," but it's often the other way around. You change your behavior, and you change your mind. So, you know, if you want to become more compassionate, you visit sick people in the hospital, and you will become more compassionate. You donate money to a cause, and you become emotionally involved in that cause. So, it really was cognitive psychology -- you know, cognitive dissonance -- that I was experiencing. The Bible actually talks about cognitive psychology, very primitive cognitive psychology. In the Proverbs, it says that if you smile, you will become happier, which, as we know, is actually true.
Ali ono što je zbilja bilo zanimljivo je da sam uspio napredovati jer nisam mogao vjerovati u kojoj mjeri je moje ponašanje promijenilo moje misli. To je bila jedna od velikih lekcija te godine, da sam se skoro pretvarao da sam bolja osoba, a postao sam malo bolja osoba. Uvijek sam mislio "Promijeni misli, i promijenit ćeš ponašanje," ali često su stvari obrnute. Promijeniš ponašanje i promijeniš misli. Dakle, ako želite postatni više sućutni, posjetite bolesne ljude u bolnici, i zbilja će te osjećati više sućuti. Donirajte novac u neku svrhu, i postajete emocionalno vezani za tu svrhu. Tako da je to u stvari bila kognitivna psihologija - kognitivna disonanca, ono što sam iskusio. U stvari, Biblija i govori o kognitivnoj psihologiji, vrlo primitivnoj kognitivnoj psihologiji. u Poslovicama, rečeno je da ako se smijete, bit će te sretniji, a kako znamo, to je istina.
The second type of rule that was difficult to obey was the rules that will get you into a little trouble in twenty-first-century America. And perhaps the clearest example of this is stoning adulterers. (Laughter) But it's a big part of the Bible, so I figured I had to address it. So, I was able to stone one adulterer. It happened -- I was in the park, and I was dressed in my biblical clothing, so sandals and sort of a white robe, you know, because again, the outer affects the inner. I wanted to see how dressing biblically affected my mind. And this man came up to me and he said, "Why are you dressed like that?" And I explained my project, and he said, "Well, I am an adulterer, are you going to stone me?" And I said, "Well, that would be great!" (Laughter) And I actually took out a handful of stones from my pocket that I had been carrying around for weeks, hoping for just this interaction -- and, you know, they were pebbles -- but he grabbed them out of my hand. He was actually an elderly man, mid-70s, just so you know. But he's still an adulterer, and still quite angry. He grabbed them out of my hand and threw them at my face, and I felt that I could -- eye for an eye -- I could retaliate, and throw one back at him.
Drugi tip pravila koje je bilo teško poštovati su bila pravila koja bi vas mogla dovesti u nepriliku u 21 stoljeću u Americi. Možda najbolji primjer tog pravila je kamenovanje preljubnika. (Smijeh) Ali zauzima veliki dio Biblije, pa sam se morao pozabaviti time. I bio sam u prilici da kamenujem jednog preljubnika. Desilo se kad sam bio u parku, obučen u moju biblijsku odjeću - sandale i bijelu halju - jer ipak, vanjsko utječe na unutarnje. Želio sam vidjeti kako će se biblijsko odijevanje odraziti na moje misli. Tad mi je prišao čovjek i rekao, "Zašto si tako obučen?" Objasnio sam mu na čemu radim, a on je rekao:"Dobro, ja sam preljubnik, hoćeš li me kamenovati?" A ja sam rekao:"Pa to bi bilo sjajno!" (Smijeh) Izvadio sam šaku kamenja iz džepa koje sam nosio sa sobom tjednima, priželjkujući ovakav susret- bili su to samo kamenčići- ali mi ih je on zgrabio iz ruke. Samo da znate, bio je to stariji gospodin, u sedamdesetima. Ali bio je preljubnik i k tome prilično ljut. Zgrabio mi ih je iz ruke i bacio mi u lice, osjećao sam da bih mogao - oko za oko, da bih mu mogao vratiti, pa sam bacio jedan natrag.
So that was my experience stoning, and it did allow me to talk about, in a more serious way, these big issues. How can the Bible be so barbaric in some places, and yet so incredibly wise in others? How should we view the Bible? Should we view it, you know, as original intent, like a sort of a Scalia version of the Bible? How was the Bible written? And actually, since this is a tech crowd, I talk in the book about how the Bible actually reminds me of the Wikipedia, because it has all of these authors and editors over hundreds of years. And it's sort of evolved. It's not a book that was written and came down from on high.
Bilo je to moje iskustvo kamenovanja i dopustilo mi je da ozbiljnije govorim o ovim važnim stvarima. Kako je moguće da Biblija bude tako barbarska na nekim mjestima, a opet tako nevjerojatno mudra na drugima? Kako bismo trebali promatrati Bibliju? Možda kao,znate, originalni plan, kao Scalijinu verziju Biblije? Kao je Biblija napisana? Ustvari, kako je tu više tehnološka ekipa, u knjizi govorim kako me Biblija podsjeća na Wikipediju jer ima sve te autore i urednike preko stotinu godina. I nekako je evoluirala. Nije to knjiga koja je napisana i sišla sa visina.
So I thought I would end by telling you just a couple of the take-aways, the bigger lessons that I learned from my year. The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally. This became very, very clear, early on. Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person, and stoning adulterers, or -- here's another example. Well, that's another. I did spend some time shepherding. (Laughter) It's a very relaxing vocation. I recommend it.
Mislio sam da bi bilo dobro završiti sa par naputaka, većih lekcija koje sam naučio u mojih godinu dana. Prva je - Ne uzmi Bibliju doslovno. To je rano postalo vrlo, vrlo jasno. Jer ako je shavtite doslovno, ponašat će te se kao luda osoba, i kamenovati preljubnike, ili- evo još jednog primjera- interesantnog - neko vrijeme sam proveo kao pastir. (Smijeh) Vrlo opuštajući poziv, preporučio bih ga.
But this one is -- the Bible says that you cannot touch women during certain times of the month, and more than that, you cannot sit on a seat where a menstruating woman has sat. And my wife thought this was very offensive, so she sat in every seat in our apartment, and I had to spend much of the year standing until I bought my own seat and carried it around.
Biblija kaže da ne možete dodirnuti žene tijekom određenih dana u mjesecu, i uz to, ne možete sjesti tamo gdje je sjedila žena sa mjesečnicom. Moja žena se jako uvrijedila na to, pa je sjela na svako mjesto za sjedenje u našem stanu, a ja sam morao provesti veći dio godine stojeći dok nisam kupio svoje sjedalo i nosio ga sa sobom okolo.
So, you know, I met with creationists. I went to the creationists' museum. And these are the ultimate literalists. And it was fascinating, because they were not stupid people at all. I would wager that their IQ is exactly the same as the average evolutionist. It's just that their faith is so strong in this literal interpretation of the Bible that they distort all the data to fit their model. And they go through these amazing mental gymnastics to accomplish this.
I tako, susreo sam se i sa kreacionistima. Bio sam u njihovom muzeju. Oni su zaista doslovni. Bilo je fascinantno, je uopće nisu glupi ljudi. Kladio bih se da je njihov IQ jednak prosječnom evolucionistu. Samo je stvar u tome što je njihova vjera toliko jaka da u tom doslovnom tumačenju Biblije da izokrenu sve podatke da se uklope u njihov model. Pri tome se stvarno izuzetno mentalno naprežu.
And I will say, though, the museum is gorgeous. They really did a fantastic job. If you're ever in Kentucky, there's, you can see a movie of the flood, and they have sprinklers in the ceiling that will sprinkle on you during the flood scenes. So, whatever you think of creationism -- and I think it's crazy -- they did a great job. (Laughter)
Moram reći, muzej je predivan. Odlično su to napravili. Ako ikad odete u Kentucky, - možete vidjeti film o poplavi, a imaju prskalice na stropu koje će vas poprskati za vrijeme scena poplave. Pa tako, što god mislili o kreacionizmu, a ja mislim da je to ludost, napravili su odličan posao. (Smijeh)
Another lesson is that thou shalt give thanks. And this one was a big lesson because I was praying, giving these prayers of thanksgiving, which was odd for an agnostic. But I was saying thanks all the time, every day, and I started to change my perspective. And I started to realize the hundreds of little things that go right every day, that I didn't even notice, that I took for granted, as opposed to focusing on the three or four that went wrong. So, this is actually a key to happiness for me, is to just remember when I came over here, the car didn't flip over, and I didn't trip coming up the stairs. It's a remarkable thing.
Još jedna pouka je da budete zahvalni. A to je bila velika lekcija jer sam molio, izgovarao te molitve zahvalnosti, što je čudno za agnostika. Ali govorio sam zahvale cijelo vrijeme, svaki dan, i počeo sam mijenjati svoju perspektivu, i počeo sam uviđati stotine malih stvari koje idu dobrim tokom svaki dan, a koje nisam ni primjećivao, a koje sam uzimao zdravo za gotovo - u suprotnosti sa fokusiranjem na tri od četiri stvari koje nisu dobro završile. Tako je to u stvari moj ključ za sreću, da se prisjetim kad sam došao ovdje, auto se nije prevrnuo, a ja se nisam spotaknuo po stepenicama. To je izvanredna stvar.
Third, that thou shall have reverence. This one was unexpected because I started the year as an agnostic, and by the end of the year, I became what a friend of mine calls a reverent agnostic, which I love. And I'm trying to start it as a movement. So, if anyone wants to join, the basic idea is, whether or not there is a God, there's something important and beautiful about the idea of sacredness, and that our rituals can be sacred. The Sabbath can be sacred. This was one of the great things about my year, doing the Sabbath, because I am a workaholic, so having this one day where you cannot work, it really, that changed my life. So, this idea of sacredness, whether or not there is a God.
Treće, imajte poštovanja. To je bilo neočekivano jer sam godinu započeo kao agnostik, a na kraju godine postao sam ono što moj prijatelj zove agnostik s poštovanjem, a to mi se sviđa. Pokušavam od toga napraviti pokret. Pa ukoliko se itko želi pridružiti, osnovna ideja je, bez obzira postoji li Bog ili ne, ima nešto važno i predivno u ideji svetosti, i o našim ritualima koji mogu biti sveti. Sabat može biti svet. Još jedna od divnih stvari u mojoj godini, radio sam Sabat inače sam radoholičar, pa taj jedan dan u kojem ne možeš raditi - to mi je zbilja promijenilo život. Dakle ta ideja o svetosti, sa Bogom ili bez njega.
Thou shall not stereotype. This one happened because I spent a lot of time with various religious communities throughout America because I wanted it to be more than about my journey. I wanted it to be about religion in America. So, I spent time with evangelical Christians, and Hasidic Jews, and the Amish. I'm very proud because I think I'm the only person in America to out Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness. (Laughter) After three and a half hours, he looked at his watch, he's like, "I gotta go." (Laughter) Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. Bless you, bless you.
Ne stavljaj ljude u stereotipe. Ta lekcija se dogodila jer sam provodio mnogo vremena u različitim vjerskim zajednicama u Americi jer sam želio pisati i o drugim stvarima osim mog putovanja. Želio sam pisati o religiji u Americi. Vrijeme sam tako provodio sa evangelističkim kršćanima, Hasidskim Židovima i Amišima. Jako sam ponosan na sebe jer mislim da sam jedina osoba u Americi koja može više pričati o Bibliji od jehovinog svjedoka. (Smijeh) Nakon tri i pol sata, pogledao je na sat i rekao "Moram ići." (Smijeh) Hvala vam. Hvala vam. Bog vas blagoslovio.
But it was interesting because I had some very preconceived notions about, for instance, evangelical Christianity, and I found that it's such a wide and varied movement that it is difficult to make generalizations about it. There's a group I met with called the Red Letter Christians, and they focus on the red words in the Bible, which are the ones that Jesus spoke. That's how they printed them in the old Bibles. And their argument is that Jesus never talked about homosexuality. They have a pamphlet that says, "Here's what Jesus said about homosexuality," and you open it up, and there's nothing in it. So, they say Jesus did talk a lot about helping the outcasts, helping poor people. So, this was very inspiring to me. I recommend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo. They're very inspiring leaders, even though I disagree with much of what they say.
Bilo je zanimljivo jer sam imao neke početne ideje o, primjerice, kršćanskom evanđelju, a shvatio sam da je to toliko širok i šarolik pokret da ga je teško generalizirati. Sastao sam se sa grupom koja se zove Kršćani crvenog slova, oni se fokusiraju na crvene riječi u Bibliji, a to su one koje je govorio Isus - tako su se tiskale u starijim Biblijama. Oni tvrde da Isus nikad nije govorio o homoseksualnosti. Izdaju pamflet na kojem piše, "Evo što je Isus rekao o homoseksualnosti" i kad ga otvorite, unutra nema ničega. Slažu se da je Isus govorio o pomaganju prezrenima, pomaganju siromašnima. Bilo je vrlo inspirativno. Preporučam vam JIma Wallacea i Tonya Campola. Oni su vrlo inspirativni vođe, makar se ne slažem sa njima u mnogim stvarima.
Also, thou shalt not disregard the irrational. This one was very unexpected because, you know, I grew up with the scientific worldview, and I was shocked learning how much of my life is governed by irrational forces. And the thing is, if they're not harmful, they're not to be completely dismissed. Because I learned that -- I was thinking, I was doing all these rituals, these biblical rituals, separating my wool and linen, and I would ask these religious people "Why would the Bible possibly tell us to do this? Why would God care?" And they said, "We don't know, but it's just rituals that give us meaning." And I would say, "But that's crazy." And they would say, "Well, what about you? You blow out candles on top of a birthday cake. If a guy from Mars came down and saw, here's one guy blowing out the fire on top of a cake versus another guy not wearing clothes of mixed fabrics, would the Martians say, 'Well, that guy, he makes sense, but that guy's crazy?'" So no, I think that rituals are, by nature, irrational. So the key is to choose the right rituals, the ones that are not harmful -- but rituals by themselves are not to be dismissed.
Također, ne odbacujte iracionalno. To je došlo iznenada, jer znate, odrastao sam sa znanstvenim pogledom na život, i šokiralo me u kojoj mjeri je moj život pod utjecajem iracionalnih sila. I radi se o tome da ukoliko nisu štetne, ne trebamo ih u potpunosti odbaciti. Naučio sam to dok sam provodio te biblijske rituale, odvajajući vunu i tkaninu, upitao sam vjernike "Zašto bi nam Biblija govorila da ovo radimo? Zašto bi Boga bilo briga za to?" Oni bi odgovorili, "Ne znamo, ali ti rituali nam daju značenje." Ja bih rekao, "Ali to je ludost. A oni bi rekli, "Dobro, a što sa tobom? Ti pušeš u svjećice na rođendanskoj torti. Ako bi se netko spustio sa Marsa i vidio jednog lika koji puše u vatru na kolaču i drugog koji ne nosi odjeću miješanih tkanina, da li bi taj Marsijanac rekao, "Pa, ovog mogu shvatiti, ali ovaj pored je lud?" Dakle smatram da su rituali po prirodi iracioinalna stvar. Rješenje je u tome da izaberemo prave rituale, one koji nam nisu štetni - ali rituale same po sebi ne bi trebali odbaciti.
And finally I learned that thou shall pick and choose. And this one I learned because I tried to follow everything in the Bible. And I failed miserably. Because you can't. You have to pick and choose. And anyone who follows the Bible is going to be picking and choosing. The key is to pick and choose the right parts. There's the phrase called cafeteria religion, and the fundamentalists will use it in a denigrating way, and they'll say, "Oh, it's just cafeteria religion. You're just picking and choosing." But my argument is, "What's wrong with cafeterias?" I've had some great meals at cafeterias. I've also had some meals that make me want to dry heave. So, it's about choosing the parts of the Bible about compassion, about tolerance, about loving your neighbor, as opposed to the parts about homosexuality is a sin, or intolerance, or violence, which are very much in the Bible as well. So if we are to find any meaning in this book, then we have to really engage it, and wrestle with it.
Na kraju sam naučio da treba birati. To sam naučio jer sam pokušao slijediti baš sve u Bibliji. I neslavno sam završio. Jer je to nemoguće. Mrate birati i izabirati, i svako tko živi po Bibliji će birati. Ključ je u izabiru pravih dijelova. Postoji fraza kafanska vjera, koju fundamentalisti upotrebljavaju u posprdnom obliku, i reći će:"Ah, to je samo kafanska vjera. Samo izabirete što želite." Moj argument je, "Što ne valja sa kavanama?" Koliko puta sam pojeo odličan obrok u kavani. Od nekih obroka mi nije bilo dobro. Znači radi se o odabiranju dijelova Biblije koji govore o sućuti, toleranciji, ljubavi za svog bližnjeg, kao suprotnost dijelovima u kojima je homoseksualnost grijeh, ili o netoleranciji, o nasilju, kojih također ima mnogo u Bibliji. Stoga ako želimo pronaći smisao u ovoj knjizi, moramo se s njom uhvatiti u koštac.
And I thought I'd end with just a couple more. There's me reading the Bible. That's how I hailed taxicabs. (Laughter) Seriously, and it worked. And yes, that was actually a rented sheep, so I had to return that in the morning, but it served well for a day. So, anyway, thank you so much for letting me speak.
A mislio sam završiti sa samo još nekoliko.. Tu ja čitam Bibliju. Ovako sam pozivao taksi. (Smijeh) Ozbiljno, upalilo je - i da, to jue bila unajmljena ovca, morao sam ju vratiti ujutro ali poslužila je dobro kroz dan. Uglavnom, hvala vam što ste mi dopustili da govorim.