The philosopher Martin Hägglund believes that atheism is a path to a more meaningful life, as well as political and economic transformation.
” , in which his alter ego is possessed, from childhood, of “a love of bodies” that exalted him when he was able “just to enter into their radiance, to lean his shoulder against his friend’s with a great sensation of confidence and letting go, and almost to faint when a woman’s hand lingered a moment on his in the crowd of the trolley—the longing, yes, to live, to live still more, to immerse himself in the greatest warmth this earth could give him.
His notion of religion seems to be northern-European Christian first and foremost; he is quiet about Judaism, whose practices are sensibly grounded in the here and now, and which lacks the intense emphasis on the afterlife characteristic of Islam and Christianity.
Once we seriously consider the consequences of existence without end, the prospect is not only horrifying but meaningless . An eternity based on what Louise Glück calls “absence of change” would be not a rescue from anything but an end of everything meaningful. Hägglund puts forth his eloquent case: “Rather than making our dreams come true, it would obliterate who we are. To be invulnerable to grief is not to be consummated; it is to be deprived of the capacity to care.
Hägglund admires this honesty, and is therefore baffled by Lewis’s account of Davidman’s deathbed words. “She said not to me but to the chaplain, ‘I am at peace with God,’ ” Lewis writes. “She smiled, but not at me..” The last line is from Dante’s Paradiso: “Then she turned toward the eternal fountain.” It is the moment at which Beatrice turns away from Dante, whom she loves, toward the everlasting light of God. Eternal beatitude has supplanted human connection.
It’s strange that Hägglund, in a book that moves so easily between Hegel and Marx, doesn’t mention the German philosopher who bridges those two thinkers, and who wrote more lucidly than either about religion: Ludwig Feuerbach. In “” , Feuerbach proposed that when human beings worship God they are simply worshipping what they themselves value, and are projecting those values onto the figment of objectivity they choose to call God.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Boater Dies on Lake Martin - Alabama NewsAlabama News Network was on the scene of a fatal boating accident on Lake Martin where a man died after going overboard. alnews lakemartin boatingaccident alabamanewsnetwork
Read more »
How chasing Ferrari improved Aston Martin, with help from Mercedes-BenzBy 2025, Aston Martin aims to sell 10,000 cars annually, nearly 40% more than in 2021. That's close to Ferrari's production numbers.
Read more »
Boater dies after going overboard on Lake MartinA man is dead after he went overboard a boat on Lake Martin Saturday afternoon, according to Alabama Law Enforcement Agency officials.
Read more »
With lift from 'big brother,' Aston Martin chases after FerrariAfter decades of ups and downs, British carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda is charting a more efficient and profitable way forward, leaning on technology from shareholder Mercedes-Benz to make the costly leap to electric vehicles (EVs).
Read more »
Aston Martin Is Chasing Ferrari By Making Its Cars More Bespoke And Building More Of Them | CarscoopsAston Martin will seek to emulate Ferrari as it looks forward to an electrified future made possible by shareholder Mercedes
Read more »
We must remember my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King's wisdom about race amid all the noisy debatesIn America today, so many people are sensitive about ethnic and cultural identification, and we tend to equate skin color with race all too often.
Read more »