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.
Mislio sam da vam malo govorim o tome šta ja volim da pišem. I volim da se zadubim u temu. Jednostavno, volim da utonem u to i postanem neka vrsta ljudskog zamorčeta. Posmatram svoj život kao niz eksperimenata.
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.
Tako, radio sam za "Eksquire" časopis i prije nekoliko godina, napisao sam članak pod nazivom "Moj spoljni život", i unajmio tim ljudi u Bangloru, u Indiji, da žive moj život umjesto mene. Tako da su oni, odgovarali na moje email-ove. Javljali se na moj telefon. Raspravljali se sa mojom ženom umjesto mene, i čitali mom sinu priče za spavanje. To je bio najbolji mjesec u mom životu, zato što sam se samo odmarao, čitao knjige i gledao filmove. To je bilo predivno 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.
Skorije, sam napisao članak za "Esquire" pod nazivom -- o radikalnoj iskrenosti. I to je pokret u kom -- osnovao ga je psiholog u Virdžiniji, u kom se kaže da nikad, baš nikada ne smijete slagati, osim možda tokom pokera ili golfa, to su samo izuzeci. I više od toga, šta god vam je u mislima treba da kažete. Tako da sam pokušao ovo mjesec dana To je bio najgori mjesec u mom životu. (Smijeh) Ne preporučujem ovo uopšte. Da vam malo približim ovo iskustvo, članak se zove "Mislim da si debela". (Smijeh) To je bilo teško.
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 najskorija knjiga -- prethodna se zvala "Znam sve", i ona je o godini koju sam proveo čitajući enciklopediju "Britanika" od A do Z sa namjerom da naučim sve na svijetu, ili tačnije od Aak, to je vrsta istočno azijske muzike, pa sve do Zwyieka, što je -- pa, ne želim da kvarim kraj. (Smijeh) Kraj ima uzbudljiv zaplet, kao u romanu O. Henrija, tako da ne želim da ga pokvarim. Ali taj volim, jer je to eksperiment o tome koliko informacija ljudski mozak može da primi. Mada, ako slušamo Kevina Kelija, ne moramo da pamtimo ništa. Sve možemo naći na Guglu. Tako da sam potrošio vrijeme na tome.
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 najtemeljniji i najsudbonosniji eksperiment koji sam uradio moj najskoriji eksperiment, u kom sam proveo godinu dana pokušavajući da pratim pravila Biblije, "Godina života po Bibliji". I uradio sam ovo iz dva razloga. Prvi je jer sam odrastao bez ikakve religije. Kao što sam rekao u svojoj knjizi, ja sam Jevrej koliko je Oliv Garden, Italijan. (Smijeh) Znači, nisam baš. Ali sve sam se više interesovao za religiju. Mislim da je ona jedno od bitnih pitanja našeg vremena, ili bar jedno od glavnih. I imam sina. Želim da znam šta da ga naučim. Tako sam odlučio da zaronim u to, i pokušam da živim 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 kog sam uradio ovo je zato što sam zabrinut zbog rasta fundamentalizma, religioznog fundamentalizma, i ljudi koji kažu da bukvalno shvataju Bibliju, kojih je, prema nekim anketama veliki broj, 45 do 50 procenata Amerikanaca. Pa sam odlučio, šta ako stvarno shvatite Bibliju bukvalno? Odlučio sam, i došao do logičkog zaključka da prihvatim sve u Bibliji bukvalno, a da ne biram.
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."
Prva stvar koju sam uradio je da sam nabavio gomilu Biblija. Imao sam hrišćanske Biblije. Imao sam jevrejske Biblije. Moj prijatelj mi je poslao nešto što se zove Hip-Hop Biblija, u kojoj je 23. Psalm glasio, "Gospod je sve to", suprotno od onoga što sam ja znao da "Gospod je moj pastir"
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.
Onda sam uzeo i pročitao nekoliko verzija, i napisao svako pravilo koje sam mogao da nađem. I to je bila prilično dugačka lista -- više od 700 pravila. I rangirane su od najpoznatijih za koje sam čuo -- Deset Zapovijesti, volite vašeg komšiju, budite vjerni i množite se. I želio sam da slijedim ta. I ustvari, shvatio sam svoj projekat veoma ozbiljno, zato što sam dobio blizance tokom te godine, tako da sam definitivno shvatio projekat 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.
Ali isto tako sam želio da slijedim stotine neshvatljivih i nejasnih pravila koja postoje u Bibliji. Postoji pravilo u knjizi Levitske, "Ne smiješ da briješ uglove brade svoje". Nijesam znao gdje su moji uglovi, pa sam odlučio da pustim sve da raste, i ovako sam izgledao na kraju. Kao što možete da pretpostavite, proveo sam dosta vremena sa obezbjeđenjem na aerodromu. (Smijeh) Moja žena nije htjela da me poljubi posljednja dva mjeseca. Pa, definitivno je postojao izazov u tome.
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 smiješ da nosiš odjeću od mješovitih vlakana, pomislio sam "Zvuči čudno, ali probaću". Znate samo ako pokušate. Otarasio sam se svojih polu-pamučnih majica. Biblija kaže da, ako se dva muškarca tuku, a žena od jednog uhvati testise ovog drugog, onda se njena ruka treba odsjeći. Pa sam želio da ispoštujem i to pravilo. (Smijeh) To sam ispoštovao, podrazumijeva se, tako što nijesam započinjao tuču sa muškarcima čija je žena stajala u blizini, i izgledala kao da ima jak stisak. (Smijeh) Tako da -- o, postoji još jedan snimak 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.
Moram reći da je to bila nevjerovatna godina zato što mi se život mijenjao i bio nevjerovatno pun izazova. A postojale su dvije vrste pravila koje su bile posebno izazovne. Prvo je bilo izbjegavanje malih grijehova koje činimo svaki dan. Znate, mogao bih da provedem godine da nikog ne ubijem, ali da provedem godinu da ne tračarim, žudim, ne lažem -- znate, živim u Njujorku, i radim kao novinar, tako da ja to 75, 80 posto dana moram da radim.
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 bio sam mnogo zainteresovan, zato što sam bio u stanju da napredujem, jer nijesam vjerovao koliko je moje ponašanje promijenilo moje misli. Ovo je bila jedna od ogromnih lekcija godine, jer sam se pretvarao da sam bolja osoba, i postao sam malo bolja osoba. A uvijek sam mislio, znate "Promijeni svoje mišljenje, i promijenićeš svoje ponašanje", ali je obično obrnuto. Promijeniš ponašanje, promijeniš mišljenje. Tako da, znate, ako želite da postanete osjećajniji, posjetite bolesne ljude u bolnici, i postaćete osjećajniji. Donirajte novac za neki cilj, i postaćete emotivno vezani za taj cilj. Tako, to je stvarno kognitivna psihologija -- znate, kognitivni nesklad -- to je ono što sam ja iskusio. Biblija ustvari govori o kognitivnoj psihologiji, vrlo primitivnoj kognitivnoj psihologiji. U Poslovicama se kaže da, ako se smijete, postaćete srećniji, što je, kako i znamo, ustvari tačno.
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.
Sljedeće vrste pravila koje je bilo teško ispoštovati bila su pravila koja će vas uvaliti u male probleme u 21. vijeku u Americi. I možda najjasniji primjer za ovo je kamenovanje preljubnika. (Smijeh) Ali to čini veliki dio Biblije, pa sam mislio da moram da se bavim tim. Pa, bio sam u stanju da kamenujem preljubnika. Desilo se -- bio sam u parku, obučen u svoju biblijsku garderobu, znači sandale i neka vrsta bijele odore, znate, zato što, spoljašnje utiče na unutrašnje. Želio sam da vidim kako to, što se oblačim biblijski utiče na moj um. I jedan čovjek mi je prišao i rekao: "Zašto si obučen tako?" I objasnio mu svoj projekat, a on je rekao: "Pa, ja sam preljubnik, hoćeš li me kamenovati?" Ja sam rekao: "Pa, to bi bilo sjajno!" (Smijeh) I zaista sam izvukao šaku kamenja iz džepa koje sam nosio sa sobom nedjeljama, nadajući se upravo ovome -- i, znate, to je bio šljunak -- ali on ih je oteo iz mojih ruku. On je ustvari bio stariji čovjek, srednjih 70ih, samo da znate. Ali ipak je bio preljubnik, i to prilično ljut. Oteo ih je iz mojih ruku i bacio ih meni u lice, i osjetio sam da bih trebao -- oko za oko -- mogao bih se osvetiti, i baciti jedan na njega.
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.
I to je bilo moje iskustvo kamenovanja, i ono mi je dozvolilo da govorim, mnogo ozbiljnije, o ovom velikom problemu. Kako Biblija može biti tako varvarska na nekim mjestima, a opet tako nevjerovatno mudra na drugim? Kako bi trebalo da posmatramo Bibliju? Da li bi trebalo da je posmatramo, znate, kao originalnu namjeru, kao neku vrstu konzervativne verzije Biblije? Kako je Biblija napisana? I ustvari, pošto je ovo učena publika, u knjizi govorim kako me Biblija ustvari podsjeća na Vikipediju, zato što sadrži autore i urednike tokom stotina godina. I tako se vremenom mijenjala. I to nije knjiga koja je napisana na nebu i pala sa neba.
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.
Pa sam mislio da završim sa nekoliko "za ponijeti", najvećih lekcija koje sam naučio u svojoj godini. Prva je, ne shvataj Bibliju bukvalno. Ovo je bilo vrlo vrlo očigledno, na početku. Jer ako je shvatiš tako, završićeš tako što ćeš se ponašati kao ludak koji kamenuje preljubnike, ili -- evo još jednog primjera. Eto to je drugi. Proveo sam neko vrijeme kao pastir. (Smijeh) To je veoma opuštajuće zanimanje. Preporučujem.
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.
Ali ovo -- u Bibliji se kaže da ne smiješ taći ženu tokom trajanja određenih dana u mjesecu, i više od toga, ne smiješ sjedeti na mjestu na kom je sjedela žena koja ima menstruaciju. I moja žena je mislila kako je to veoma uvrjedljivo, pa je sjedila svuda u našem stanu, tako da sam morao da provedem većinu godine stojeći dok nijesam kupio stolicu i nosio je svuda sa sobom.
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, znate, upoznao sam se sa kreacionistima. Otišao sam u njihov muzej. I oni su krajnje bukvalni. I bio sam fasciniran, jer oni uopšte nijesu bili glupi ljudi. Kladio bih se da je njihov IQ isti kao i prosječnom evolucionisti. Ali, njihova vjera je toliko jaka u ovoj bukvalnoj interpretaciji Biblije da su iskrivili sve podatke da bi se uklopili u njihov model. I prolaze kroz teške mentalne vježbe da bi to ostvarili.
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)
I moram da kažem da je muzej sjajan. Zaista su napravili odličan posao. Ako ikada odete u Kentaki, tamo možete vidjeti film o poplavi, i imaju prskalice na plafonu koje vas prskaju tokom scene poplave. Pa, šta 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 lekcija je da se moraš zahvaliti. I ovo je jedna velika lekcija, jer sam se molio molio se na Dan zahvalnosti, što je čudno za jednog agnostika. Ali sam se zahvaljivao stalno, svakog dana, i počeo sam da mijenjam perspektivu. I shvatio sam da stotinu malih stvari koje se dešavaju svakog dana, koje nijesam ni primjećivao koje sam uzimao zdravo za gotovo, u suprotnosti sa fokusiranjem na tri od četiri stvari koje su krenule naopako. Tako da je ovo ustvari ključ za sreću za mene, a to je da se sjetim kad sam došao ovdje, auto se nije prevrnuo, nijesam se spotakao na 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, treba da imaš poštovanje. Ovo je bilo neočekivano, jer sam počeo ovu godinu kao agnostik, i do kraja godine, postao sam ono što moj prijatelj zove "agnostik pun poštovanja", što volim. I želim da napravim od toga pokret. Pa, ako želite da se pridružite, osnovna ideja je, bez obzira da li ili ne postoji Bog, postoji nešto važno i lijepo u ideji svetosti, i naši rituali mogu biti sveti. Sabat može biti svet. To je bila odlična stvar u mojoj godini, obavljajući Sabat, jer ja sam radoholičar, i prilika da imam ovaj jedan dan u kom ne smijem da radim, stvarno je promijenilo moj život. I ideja o Svetosti, postojao Bog ili ne.
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 smiješ imati predrasude. Ovo se desilo jer sam proveo dosta vremena sa različitim vjerskim zajednicama širom Amerike jer sam želio da sve to bude nešto više od samog putovanja. Želio sam da to bude o religiji u Americi. Tako sam proveo vrijeme sa Evanđelistima, Hasidik Jevrejima i sa Amišima. Veoma sam ponosan na sebe jer mislim da sam jedina osoba u Americi koja može pričati više o Bibliji nego Jehovin svjedok. (Smijeh) Nakon tri i po sata, pogledao je na svoj sat, i rekao je kao "moram da idem". (Smijeh) O, hvala Vam puno. Hvala Vam. Budite blagosloveni, budite blagosloveni.
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.
Ali bio sam zainteresovan, jer sam imao neke predrasude, o, na primjer, evanđelizmu, i saznao sam da je to jedan širok i raznolik pokret i da ga je teško generalizovati. Postoji grupa koju sam upoznao a zovu se Hrišćani Crvenog Slova, i oni su usredsređeni na crvene riječi u Bibliji, a to su one koje je Isus govorio. Tako su ih štampali u starim Biblijama. Oni tvrde da Isus nikada nije govorio o homoseksualnosti. I imaju pamflet na kom piše: "Evo šta je Isus rekao o homoseksualnosti", i kada ga otvorite, ne piše ništa. Ali, kažu da je Isus pričao mnogo o pružanju pomoći izgnanicima, i siromašnima. Tako da je ovo bilo veoma inspirativno za mene. Preporučujem Džim Valisa i Tonija Kampola. Oni su vrlo inspirativni lideri, iako se ne slažem sa većinom stvari koje govore.
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.
Takođe, ne odbacuj iracionalno. Ovo je bilo vrlo neočekivano, jer sam, znate, odrastao sa naučnim pogledom na svijet, i bio sam šokiran koliko je moj život regulisan iracionalnim silama. Stvar je u tome, ako nijesu štetne, ne treba ih u potpunosti odbaciti. Zato što sam naučio da -- mislio sam da, obavljajući sve te rituale, biblijske rituale, odvajajući vunu i lan, i pitao bih religiozne ljude: "Zašto bi nam Biblija rekla da radimo ovo? Zašto bi Boga zanimalo ovo?" I oni su rekli: "Ne znamo, ali to su jednostavno rituali koji nam pružaju smisao." Ja sam rekao: "Ali, to je ludost." Oni bi rekli: "Pa, šta je sa tobom? Duvaš svjećice na rođendanskoj torti. Kad bi neko sa Marsa došao i vidio, evo čovjeka koji duva vatru sa vrha torte i drugog koji ne nosi odjeću pomiješanih materijala, hoće li Marsovci reći: "Pa, ovaj čovjek, to ima smisla, ali ovaj je lud?" Tako da ne, mislim da su rituali, po prirodi, iracionalni. Ključno je da se izaberu pravi rituali, oni koji nijesu štetni -- ali rituale same po sebi ne treba odbacivati.
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.
I na kraju sam naučio da treba birati. Ovo sam naučio jer sam pokušavao da se pridržavam svega u Bibliji. I osjećao sam se bijedno. Zato što tako ne možeš. Moraš birati. I svako ko se pridržava Biblije će birati i praviti izbor. Glavno je izabrati pravi dio. Postoji fraza, "kafanska vjera", i fundamentalisti će je koristiti u klevetanju, i reći će: "O, to je samo kafanska vjera, samo birate ono što želite." Moj argument je: "Šta fali kafanama?" Jeo sam odlična jela u kafanama. Takođe sam jeo jela od kojih mi je bilo loše. Tako da je sve u odabiru djelova Biblije o saosjećanju, toleranciji, o ljubavi prema bližnjem, kao suprotnost djelovima u kojima je homoseksualnost grijeh, ili netolerancija, ili nasilje, kojih takođe ima mnogo u Bibliji. Tako, ako želimo da pronađemo smisao u ovoj knjizi, onda se stvarno moramo posvetiti, i izboriti se sa tim.
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.
Mislio sam da završim sa samo još nekoliko. Evo mene kako čitam Bibliju. Ovako sam dozivao taksi. (Smijeh) Ozbiljno, i uspijevalo je. I da, to je zaista iznajmljena ovca, i morao sam da je vratim ujutro, ali je dobro poslužila za dan. Uglavnom, mnogo vam hvala što ste mi dozvolili da govorim.