I've been reading "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, a gift from a friend of mine. I absolutely adore JR Tolkien and CS Lewis, the combination of humbleness and talent simply soothes me. If there's any book about Christianity I'm willing to start reading, one of theirs is the way to go. So for the past week or so, during my daily commuting trips, amid the often painful or angry, desperate turmoil of my thought streams about the past and future, I began to read this book bit by bit. It seems that the author was trying to reach the point of setting the religious ground by logic deduction, although frankly many of his arguments are not compelling to me. I do understand his perspective however, in fact very much so, especially considering the historic background with which the content of this book was broadcasted in Britain to people who suffered greatly from the hateful war. More than 60 years later, these words are still comforting to a lost soul such as mine.
For those interested, here is a text version of the book
Mere Christianity
I have not yet finished the book, but have developed this thirst to revisit some essay by a world leading neuroscientist William Newsome. I do not know him directly, but I know quite a few people who knows him well. Of course, his work in Science is simply beautiful. I came to know that he was a Christian apart from a brain scientist many years ago, which was quite puzzling to me. Having been trained in this field for 10 years, most of my friends and colleagues are atheists. So I remembered that I dug out an essay that he wrote about Science and Faith and started reading it. But I suppose I didn't really put my heart in it or did not have the motivation to think from a different perspective, and just left things there. Now out of respect to CS Lewis, as well as my own desperate needs to search meaning and support, it's time to see what a big fellow working to understand the brain says about his thoughts on science and religion. The two points he clearly made as reconcilable tension between the two domains strike me this time, one being different methods deployed, the other being the difficult position of understanding free will from a deterministic point of view. More of the former for me, perhaps.
For those interested, here is a video clip of Bill's talk
William Newsome - Science and Faith, A Personal View (English)
Two essays
Science and Faith, A Personal View
Life of Science, Life of Faith (this one is more like the script of the talk)
Another relevant talk by Francis Collins, Head of the Human Genome Project. I went to his talk with a friend on Jan 21st in fact, which was also the occasion where I got the book "Mere Christianity". I like the way Newsome delivered the points, but I think essentially they are making similar arguments. As I have been thinking since a long time ago, ultimately it is a choice we have to make ourselves. To me the current situation I'm through is so hurtful that I'm thinking how to make that choice again, or, even more seriously.
I should get back to the beloved CS Lewis. One line from his "Mere Christianity" is this: "Because free will though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having." I couldn't have agreed more. Love may be irrational, but the love I've felt out of my own choice, which is 99% of the case, have given me the greatest joy or shall I say, ecstasy in the whole world. However, due to my personal pathological condition of the incapability to control emotions in a healthy, normal way, I have deliberately banned myself from any strong feelings. I hate myself for the sorrow and rage that I constantly feel. At the same time I am afraid that if I let myself pursue the peak of a mood swing, I would only fall lower and harder in the next trough. I've been noticing that repeatedly in the past. But this state of numbness is not stable either, for I'm generally unhappy, and the slightest disturbance tends to throw me off balance, maybe not to the bottom of the abyss, but pretty awful still. I know I am sick, but to straighten myself avoiding the good things along with the bad may not be the real effective way. Perhaps it's time to allow my heart be gentle again, by starting to plainly enjoy the moments of love in life. I'm hoping some day, I will be able to love and forgive unconditionally.
I found these very cute comments about love by kids from 4-8 years old. You might be surprised to see that in the most naive and pure minds, love can be so simple yet so deep. But then when you think of it, it's not so surprising after all.
And here we go (followings are all direct quotes from the web) -
Actual Children answers to the question “What is Love”. Love according to Kids.
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.You just know that your name is safe in their mouth. Billy - age 4
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologneand they go out and smell each other.” Karl - age 5
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy - age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”Terri - age 4 “Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sipbefore giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny - age 7
“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily - age 8
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby - age 7
“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” Nikka - age 6
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” Noelle - age 7
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still> friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy - age 6
“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”Cindy - age 8
“My mommy loves me more than anybody.You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”Clare - age 6
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”Elaine-age 5
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.”Chris - age 7
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”Mary Ann - age 4
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren - age 4
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint hertoenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”Rebecca- age 8
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image)Karen - age 7
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica - age 8
And the winner was a 4 year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly man who had just lost his wife. When the child saw the man cry, the little boy went over into the man's yard and climbed on top of the man's lap and just sat there.
When the boy's mother asked him what he'd said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
中文版:“爱是什么意思?”
1. "我奶奶得了关节炎,再也不能弯下来涂脚趾甲。于是我爷爷总是给她涂,甚至当他自己的手得了关节炎也是这样。这就是爱。"
丽贝卡- 八岁
2. "当有人爱上你,他说你名字的方式是不一样的。你就知道你的名字在他嘴里说出来感觉棒极了。"
比利 - 四岁
3. "爱就是女孩抹香水男孩涂古龙水,然后他们出去,互相闻着。"
卡尔 - 五岁
4. "爱就是当你出去吃饭时,你把自己大部分薯条给某个人,而却并不在意他是不是也给你。"
克里希- 六岁
5. "爱就是在你累的时候让你笑起来的东西。"
特里- 四岁
6. "爱就是当我妈咪给爹地泡咖啡,在给他之前先尝一口,看看味道是不是还可以。"
丹尼 - 七岁
7. "爱就是你们一直接吻的时候。然后你们厌烦了接吻,但你们仍然想呆在一起,而且你们聊得更多。妈咪和爹地就是这样的。他们接吻的时候,看上去很下流。"
艾蜜俐 - 八岁
8. "爱就是圣诞节当你在房间里拆开礼物时,让你停下来去听的东西。"
鲍比 - 七岁
9. "如果你想学着爱得更好,就应该从爱你所恨的人开始。"
妮卡 - 六岁
10. "爱就是当你告诉一个男孩你喜欢他的衬衫,他就每天都穿着它。"
诺艾尔 - 七岁
11. "爱就像一个小老太婆和一个小老头儿,尽管他们彼此很了解,但却仍然是朋友。"
汤米 - 六岁
12. "在钢琴独奏会上,我在台上,很紧张。望着台下,所有人都在看我。我看到爹地冲我挥手微笑,只有他一个人这么做。我就不再感到紧张了。"
辛迪 - 八岁
13. "妈咪爱我胜过所有人。没有人像她那样在晚上吻着我入睡。"
克莱尔 - 六岁
14. "爱就是在妈咪把最好的鸡块给爹地的时候。"
伊莱恩 -五岁
15. "爱就是妈咪看到爹地一身臭汗的样子却仍然说他比劳勃·瑞福还帅。"
克莉丝 - 七岁
16. "爱就是你一整天扔下你的小狗狗不管,而它却仍然舔你的脸的时候。"
玛丽·安 - 四岁
17. "我知道我姐姐爱我,因为她把她所有的旧衣服都给了我,而她却不得不出去买新的。"
劳伦 - 四岁
18. "当你爱上某个人,你的睫毛忽上忽下的,小星星从里面出来。" (这会是什么样子)
卡伦 - 七岁
19. "爱就是当妈咪进卫生间看到爹地在里面,而她却并不觉得恶心的时候。"
马克 - 六岁
20. "你真的不能说出‘我爱你’,除非你是来真的。但是一旦你是来真的,你就应该经常说。人们总是忘记。"
杰西卡 - 八岁
21. 最后一个 -- 作家兼讲师里欧·布斯加利亚曾经谈到一次比赛,当时他被邀去当评委。那次比赛是要评出最有爱心的小孩。获胜者是一个四岁的孩子,他的邻居是一位新近丧妻的老者。这个小男孩看到那个老人哭泣,便走进他的院子,爬到他的膝上,然后就坐在那儿。后来他妈妈问他对那个邻居说了什么,小男孩说:“什么也没说,我只是帮着他哭。”
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