Pullman has stated that it doesn't matter to him whether people believe in God or not. He is a champion of kindness over cruelty, democracy over tyranny, open-minded inquiry over the shutting of freedom of thought and expression. He is right when he says: "To read a great story is not to absorb a doctrine but to begin an imaginative collaboration. It is that freedom that the boy cotters find so frightening. Thou shalt not', is soon forgotten. Once upon a time lasts forever'."
While I may come to different conclusions about the story than Mr. Pullman, I gladly join him in the imaginative collaboration. In my opinion, a big problem with any religion, philosophy, political movement, or what-have-you is that they all tend to move from discovery and freedom to dogma and self-preservation. When you build a big organization, you have to keep it going, protect your interests, pay the bills, and control your followers. It's all too easy for these things to take the place of whatever the organization was for in the first place! I think those who remind us of the values in the quote above are doing us all a service by their challenge.
2 Comments:
I just lost my whole, well constructed comment due to some stupid key stroke. I don't have time to construct it again, so let me say that I enjoyed your blogination.
Thanks, Tom. As I sit back and picture your perished profundity, let me just say that I am quite impressed and deeply moved by what I imagine you to have written. :-)
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