A snippet from a review of a new book I am delving into on a French philosopher:
"Reading Andrew S. Curran's 'Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely' will, among other things , make you you feel very lazy. On a typical day, Curran points out, Diderot might 'write on ancient Chinese and Greek music first thing in the morning, study the mechanics of a cotton mill until noon, help purchase some paintings for Catherine the Great in the after noon, then return home and compose a play and a 20 page letter to his mistress in the evening."
I'm sure some working parents would say, " Well, that's nothing," and there would be some truth to their words. :)
But, Diderot edited the Encyclopedie for which he wrote 7,000 articles. He was also an art critic, a novelist, a political writer and a satirist. He wrote dozens of manuscripts discovered long after his death and apparently intended to be found that way.
Diderot was also considered the foremost atheist of his generation and known among his contemporaries as "the" philosopher and not "a" philosopher.
So, why raise this banner? I think of accomplished people every time I hear someone looking for the famous "answers" that religion has taught us to obsess over. Diderot didn't obsess. He explored. He took big bites out of life and tasted. Examined. Drew his own conclusions. Let his mind piece together all that his senses harvested.
When I was a young Mormon I too was obsessed with the famous Mormon questions that only the Mormons supposedly had the answer to:
"Where did I come from?" "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?" Remember that movie at the visitors center? It carved its own niche in my brain like some kind of Mormon lobotomy.
What I found out later is that if you have time to worry about those questions, you may be skipping your own real life. I was.
I looked for the answers in primary, seminary, sacrament meeting and Sunday School. Mission. BYU. Temple.
All the wasted time. I could have been writing Chinese and Greek music in the morning, studying a cotton mill during lunch and then choosing art for Catherine the Great the afternoon. Haha But I wasn't.
I did sneak novels home that I wasn't supposed to read and devour non-religious life in any magazine I could get my hands on. I did my best in my tied up state to explore. I loved the non-secular parts of school. I wish I had started earlier. I wish I knew "the questions" were bogus and would derail. I wish I had known they were the enemy.
So I wonder if my heroes in life ever ponder the three Mormon questions. RBG? Did she? Jane Goodall or Helen Thomas? Did they? I doubt it. Seems more like they just got on with it.
My one important question: "Well, that was hard/fun/enlightening. What's next?"
Generally, I eschew "instructions" and just find my own way. Which is the example these people set. Is that a contradiction? If it is, I can live with it :)
Did Andrew Curran say what time Diderot got up in the morning?
This is a very inspiring post, D&D. Especially for people whose accomplishments are miniscule by comparison, yet still must skillfully deflect that old question, “Can’t you slow down?”
Love this!! Thank you for sharing this with us! :)
Thank you for this interesting post. I had not heard of Diderot so I looked him up courtesy of Wikipedia; it amazed me that he was only appreciated and supported by Catherine the Great, none of his own countrymen, and was regularly imprisoned for his writings.
>...its own niche in my brain like some kind of Mormon lobotomy...
Hahahah!
> All the wasted time. I could have been writing > Chinese and Greek music in the morning...
Yes. I regret the time I wasted dressing up and going to that church and trying to make friends (it was called achieving 'social conversion' by my sunday school teacher). I regret the time and effort wasted even more than the money I gave them.
> I did sneak novels home
Good for you!
> I wish I had known they were the enemy.
My theory is, if you hadn't experienced it, you wouldn't know now.
It is so good to be free. We might not appreciate it as much as we do, had we not always been so.
Very nice post that made me laugh and reminisce a bit. A friend found a new religion quickly after leaving Mormonism - a religion which she gives her whole heart, time and money to. One day I found myself pondering my relationship with her, pretty unhappy that she was usually busy with her new church when I hoped we could spend time together.
I tried something new, asking her what she was reading with the hope that we might connect. No hope there. Her reading was all connected to her religion.
This realization gelled a new thought in me. A great thought that I was out of the boat that she was caught in, not that I was in this boat for a terribly long time, but I was captive of it for a while. And, captive I was. I was grateful for the reminder that I had the world at my fingertips and I was free to explore and think and do.
Will this friend ever be on the same page as myself? I don't have a crystal ball so I cannot answer this dilemma. I hope so. But, I love that I found this space and am grateful for all who helped me get here.
It was said that he would "write on ancient Chinese and Greek music first thing in the morning, study the mechanics of a cotton mill until noon, help purchase some paintings for Catherine the Great in the after noon, then return home and compose a play and a 20 page letter to his mistress in the evening."
Not to boast, but I've had several days like that just this week.
Just two days ago, I spent an hour studying Greek inscriptions on an ancient tablet, then I studied the principles of indoor plumbing and worked on perfecting 2-dimensional renderings of animals. Although I do not know Catherine the Great, I did help purchase some fine foodstuffs for Lori the Magnificent, after which I wrote a screenplay for a major motion picture. In the evening I spent some time studying the habits of wild animals, often coming into dangerously close proximity, without any weapons or other means of protecting myself should any of them choose to attack me.
It's all true. Of course it wouldn't be quite so impressive if I describe it as follows: In the morning I watched a youtube video on ancient greek artifacts, then I tried to fix a leaky faucet in the bathroom. I also spent some time doodling and trying to draw pictures of Snoopy and Mickey Mouse. At lunchtime, I treated a colleague name Lori to a really good sandwich. Later, I thought about a story that I would like to see made into a movie. (It was all in my head, but that counts, right?) Then I went out and gave food to about a dozen street cats who are living in an abandoned part of town.
was the fact that Mormonism never really provided any meaningful answers to those questions.
It claimed that it had the answers. But their versions of "answers" were so vague and commonplace that they couldn't really satisfy any honest inquirer.
Where did we come from? Answer: The pre-existence. In other words, we came from the place we were at before we came here.
Wow! Thanks for that amazing answer!
Why are we here? Answer: To get bodies, be tested, have oil rubbed on our heads in conjunction with the uttering of incantations by guys who say they have the priesthood and to be pushed underwater for a few seconds while some other guys utter some incantations.
Why do we need bodies? Answer: Uhh, that's not entirely clear. But it may have something to do with having sex and learning how to fart in a way that makes it possible to blame someone else in the room for the stench.
Where are we going after we die? Answer: To the place we will be at after we die.
Can you provide more details? Answer: There are many different types of places. Some are better than others. If you pay a lot of your money to some guys who live in Salt Lake City and cheerfully obey them, you will probably go to one of the better places.
Yeah, great answers. What would we do without the answers provided by the LSD Church?
Well when you put it like that, the noble and inspired "Man's Search for Happiness" sounds kind of half baked.
As to why we need bodies . . . Have you ever tried to rub olive oil on the head of a spirit? Duh. Gotta have a body. Because olive oil is apparently the key to everything forever in the Celestial Cosmos. That's why god likes everything extra-virgin.
It can all be summed up by the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai: "Wherever you go, there you are."
It is an answer that obviates the need for questions; except for, perhaps, "What's for dinner?", "Who farted?", "Does this butt make my pants look fat?"