Experiences in space and on other planets will challenge received world views. Jiddu Krishnamurti told this parable:
When two cosmonauts who had traveled further into space than anyone else had an audience with the Russian President, he asked them whether, when they had been that far away from Earth, they had seen a large, long-bearded, white-robed, male figure seated on a golden throne and when they answered, "Yes," he said, "I was afraid that you would say that but don't tell anyone." Going on an international goodwill tour, the cosmonauts had an audience with the Pope who asked them the same question and when they answered, "No," said, "I was afraid that you would say that but don't tell anyone."
This is also the point of Poul Anderson's story about the Sun standing still in the sky (title?): life will continue as before even in the face of a miracle. "The show must go on."
However, some sf characters are changed by their experiences. Christians have challenging experiences on other planets in:
a
series by Philip Jose Farmer;
A Case Of Conscience by James Blish;
Perelandra by CS Lewis;
"The Problem of Pain" by Poul Anderson.
A Case Of Conscience is Volume III of the After Such Knowledge Trilogy.
Perelandra is Volume II of the Ransom Trilogy.
"The Problem of Pain" is the third installment in the History of Technic Civilization.
As I always advise, (re-)read them all.
Whereas Blish and Anderson remained agnostic, Lewis explained his conversion from philosophical realism to philosophical idealism to theism to Christianity in Surprised By Joy. I am rereading this work in order to clarify the point at which I disagree philosophically with Lewis.
Lewis projects what Blish described as an Anglican-cum-Babylonian theology onto the Solar System whereas Anderson's "The Problem of Pain" presents a genuinely alien theology.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I really don't see any Pope, educated and brought up in and advanced system of philosophy and theology, asking such a childishly naive question about God.
You had "A Chapter of Revelation" in mind, and the point of that story was God responding, in a precise and scientifically measurable way, to a global prayer to Him. And of how SHOCKED agnostics were.
Besides "The Problem of Pain," I might have cited as well Anderson's "The Season of Forgiveness" and "The Word to Space," which also touches on matters of faith.
The IMPRESSION I got from Anderson's later works is that he was not as strongly agnostic as he had once been. I don't claim it was more than that.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Neither the Russian President nor the Pope would have asked such a question but the story is a parable about those in power controlling public access to information.
Paul.
"A Chapter of Revelation," like Asimov's "The Last Question," is one of those stories where we remember the idea but not the title.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood, this was a parable. But, if the Russian President HAD been serious about controlling that kind of information, he would not have allowed those cosmonauts to go on that international tour, at least not without "minders" keeping an eye on them. That was notoriously the Soviet practice!
I have read "The Last Question," but so long ago that I'm no longer sure of the basic plot point of that story. Because of how dissatisfied I've become with Asimov's SF.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment