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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Here's me in the corner, searching for my religion

I was asked if I would teach Sunday school. I explained to the minister that I didn't really believe in God, but I couldn't live as though I didn't believe in him. I found life intolerable without God, so I lived as though I believed in God. I asked him, "Is that enough for you?" -- Madeleine L'Engle in an interview, re-citing a moment from her Crosswicks Journals.

I'm too tentative a creature to articulate my own religious convictions, such as they are, with ML's clarity. My fall-back position in these matters is to wave my fiction and say, "Here's my statement of faith." But lately I've been having trouble moving ahead with my fiction -- I feel somewhat stranded between fictional outposts. Perhaps a few forays into the realm of memory and impression might yield a way forward in my fictive journeys.

First stop: the church.

2 comments:

  1. "Here's my statement of faith."

    WP,
    What's wrong with that? When asked these type of questions, why are we expected to have short, prepared policy points ready to blow into people's faces? Those kind of questions demand fuller explanations; I believe your fiction serves well to provide as good of an answer as you have ready today.

    I mean, your answers, as your fiction, changes and builds on those changes. Right?

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  2. I totally agree. I doubt I can cobble together much by way of policy points (an apt term), but I do have memories and impressions that could stand a little dusting off and exposure to more light than they typically receive in my attic. I'm not getting much other writing done, so ... here goes!

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