Falkayn assures Morruchan that it is safe for Adzel to wander around Ardaig because he is a Buddhist, a lover of peace and big enough to be tolerant.
When Reverend Wilfrid, who visits our meditation group, travels by train, he conceals his shaven head under a hat and his monastic garb under an overcoat because he believes that a drunken football fan whose team has just lost a match has a right not to be confronted by the fact of organized religion if he doesn't want to be! That is pretty tolerant.
A teacher in a Catholic school said, "Nowadays, tolerance is the great virtue. What about truth?"
A guy that I had been friendly with at school once angrily demanded, "What does tolerance mean? Does it mean that you don't care what people think?" Tolerance means caring but not getting furious with anyone for disagreeing with you! (Some former friends are best left in the past.)
I started out to post about Rev Wilf but not about the other two guys. Hopefully we all learn something as we go through life.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't understand that Buddhist monk's point. Why should a drunken football be even coherent enough to think of any kind of organized religion?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Being confronted on a train with a man in monastic robes who has a shaven head? Sure, the drunk is not thinking about organized religion but the sight of the monk can make him all too uncomfortably aware of it - of a way of life and point of view that he just does not want to think about or even be made aware of.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That clarifies matters even if it looks like the monk was speculatively expecting a lot more of an intoxicated football fan than I would expect.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
He was speaking having experienced aggression from a football fan who was hostile to religious garb.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Got it, that first drunk might have been just as hostile to an Anglican minister or a Catholic priest.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Might have although its possible that the drunk might have been used to Christian clergy but have found monastic garb and shaved head particularly outrageous - from his point of view.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That too is possible. And there are Christian monks as well.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment