measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- exerpts from my current casual reading... Every day on the T, I usually read. It gives me a good hour of relaxing time with a book, and I tend to go through a paperback per week. Right now, I'm a huge Forgotten Realms kick, based on the fact that most of my weekend gaming is centered in the world created by these books. Anyway... it was amusing that during the day while I was writing my monthly collaborative for Pagan Speak (see July 11th entry), I also came to a point in my current novel that seems to fit along the same lines. These paragraphs are from the interlude right before Chapter 6 of Siege of Darkness by R. A. Salvatore (TSR/Wizards of the Coast, first published 1994), as written by the main character, a renegade elf named Drizzt. I've edited some of the stuff that would make no sense to a non-reader of the FR novels... but the more generic stuff remains: I have heard many tales from fanatical priests of their encounters with their particular avatars, frienzied stories from men and women who claim to have looked upon their deities. So many others came to convert to a religion during this troubled time, likewise claiming they had seen the light and the truth, however convoluted it might be. I do not disagree with the claims, and would not openly attack the premise of their encounters. I am glad for hose who have found enrichment amidst the chaos; I am glad whenever another person finds the contentment of spiritual guidance. But what of faith? What of fidelity and loyalty? Complete trust? Faith is not granted by tangible proof. It comes from the heart and the soul. If a person needs proof of a god's existence, then the very notion of spirituality is diminished into sensuality and we have reduced what is holy into what is logical.... ...No, I'll not argue openly against one who has claimed to have seen an avatar, because that person will not understand that the mere presence of such a being undermines the very purpose of, and value of, faith. Because if the true gods were so tangible and so accessible, then we would no longer be independent creatures set on a journey to find the truth, but merely a herd of sheep needing the guidance of a shepherd and his dogs, unthinking and without the essence of faith. The guidance is there, I know. Not in such a tangible form, but in what we know to be good and just. It is our own reactions to the acts of others that show us the value of our own actions, and if we have fallen so far as to need an avatar, an undeniable manifestation of a god, to show us our way, then we are pitiful creatures indeed.... ... If we looked more closely at the pantheon of the Realms, we would realize that the precept of the "goodly" gods are not so different; it is the worldly interpretations of those precepts that vary from faith to faith... ... So tell me not of avatars. Show me not your proof that yours is the true god. I grant you your beliefs without question and without judgment, but if you grant me what is in my heart, then such tangible evidence is irrelevant. --Drizzt Do'Urden 2:01 p.m. - 12 July 2001 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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