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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

grad school confidential

a new question from the FAQ desk. weirdly, three people asked me this today. so here is what i said, more or less.

Why are you going back to grad school?

if i could do anything with my time, i'd do a degree in physics or math. that, i think, is where real religion flourishes. it's the actual fulfillment of the biblical commandment to "know g*d and know g*d's work." but life is the way it is, and i need (a) constant practice writing and challenging myself, (b) connections in the literary world, and (c) willing people to read my work on a mass scale, and this program is being very generous with all of them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you think of the Dalai Lama's comments about needing to go "beyond" religion? From what I've read people say his comments are related to his interest in science.

matthue said...

I haven't heard it (I've been sort of out of the loop). What did he say?

Anonymous said...

"All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether." People speculate that this is related to his deep interest in science as a means to exploring human existence.

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