In the past, people were divided into believers and atheists; they followed either their gurus or their senses and their down to earth logic. Now things are more complicated; there are degrees in almost everything. Materialists are shaken by Relativity and Quanta while, for many believers, the gurus’ faith and authority come into question.
When agnostics start to dig into the Holy Scriptures, it resembles those ancient alchemists whose research often brought unimagined results. A.J. Jakobs, a New York author, an agnostic, spent a whole year living the Bible literally, not so much to find God as some understanding. Recognizing the sacred and following the rules even though not understanding them, made the author become a “reverent agnostic” and gave him awareness of “the amazing and unlikely fact that we exist at all.” It gave him a lot of tools to become a better person. There is something universal that binds all the sacred scriptures. Different rituals must belong to different cultures. The transcendental and the specific blend into one in each believer.
Jung spoke of “mystical feelings”, “oceanic feelings”, that prove the existence of a Superior Being toward which, for our mental health and elevation, we must submit without trying to understand. Will the mass of “reverent agnostics” who, in our times, refuse to submit, fill the temples in order to experience the ambiance and the sources of archaic wisdom?
#101 September-October 2007