“The Year of Living Biblically” just came out in paperback this week (it’s got lots of exciting bonus material! Including book club guide! And a recipe! Makes a great gift!)
As I was saying, my book came out in paperback this week, and I was out on a mini-book tour.
I spent a lot of time at airport Starbucks. I particularly recommend the Louisville outlet — very friendly staff. I also rented “Don’t Mess With the Zohan” on the hotel Pay Per View (which was, to paraphrase A.O. Scott, the best movie I’ve ever seen about an Israeli secret agent who wants to be a hairdresser). Since the movie probably lowered my IQ a half-dozen points, I tried to nourish my brain a bit in the form of a TED.com video.
I love these videos — they’re a collection of 18-minute speeches from scientists, authors, religious leaders, artists and the occasional wackjob in which they talk about their work. This past week I watched one of the best — a speech by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and his speech is about why good, well-intentioned people come to have radically different morals.
Why do some become liberal and others conservative? Why didn’t Sarah Palin buy a hybrid snowmobile and join PETA to save the moose from extinction? Haidt uses evolutionary psychology, philosophy, biology and the occasional expletive-filled cartoon to explain how we gain our ethical beliefs. (see below for wikipedia’s summary of the theory, if you don’t have time to watch the video)
Haidt talks about how humans’ fallback position is self-righteousness. The other side is inevitably either idiotic or evil or some combination of the two. But if we’re ever going to bridge this blue/red or black/white or east/west divide, we have to start by understanding the other side’s morality.
I’m a big fan of this idea. One of my main reasons for writing “The Year of Living Biblically” was to live out the maxim, “Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” Or sandals, in my case. Having grown up in a secular home and a secular city and a secular workplace, I wanted to see the world from a different perspective.
Some of my favorite emails (aside from the ones asking for tips about how to keep your beard soft and manageable) come from people who say my book helped them understand the perspective of the other side — whether that side is the secular side or the religious side. Those notes make me commit the sin of pride.
If you want some fascinating insights into the importance of shoe substitution, take 18 minutes and listen to Haidt. Here’s’s how the wikipedia summarizes it.
Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory looks at the way morality varies between cultures and identifies five fundamental moral values shared to a greater or lesser degree by different societies and individuals. These are;
1. Care for others, protecting them from harm
2. Fairness, Justice, treating others equally.
3. Loyalty to your group, family, nation
4. Respect for tradition and legitimate authority.
5. Purity, avoiding disgusting things, foods, actions.
Haidt found that Americans who identified as Conservatives valued all of these equally but those who identified as Liberals valued care and fairness much more highly than loyalty, respect and purity.
2 Comments
Dear AJ – I'm reading your book. I borrowed it from the library. That's OK isn't it? Nothing in the bible about being a borrower? No, that would be Ben Franklin that weighed in on that. I LOVE your book and your experiment and the crazy whole-hearted way you went about it. I was born into a Christian family (United Church which is sort of a Canadian Methodist or something). My dad is pretty religious now – replaced his booze with the book which is fine I guess. I'm a Buddhist and have been for twenty-five years. Not devout enough – the guilt oh the guilt! I would like to try your experiment as a Buddhist. Sure we have loads of goofy and not so goofy rules too. Not commandments maybe but hey – who knows how the translation went. I have so many things to tell you that I think I probably won't. Cuz you'll think I'm a stalker or something. Just one thing – in the Book of Kells (which I researched for a book that I wrote) there are some differences between the text and the accepted Gospels. Here is one that ROCKED MY DODGEY HIPPY WORLD – Here it is as described in Wikipedia – Matthew 10:34b should read "I came not to send peace, but a sword," but the manuscript reads gaudium ("joy") where it should read gladium ("sword") and so translates as "I came not [only] to send peace, but joy."
I'm all for that! Might have changed a few wars here and there but ah well – we'll never know.
Thanks for being first of all daring and willing and then very funny. I'm laughing but I'm also very touched. The dancing men and your moments trapped in a bathroom are my favorites so far.
After going through all the books I've accumulated I made a vow, (no too strong a word) a promise, (no still too strong) a suggestion, (yes–I can take it or leave it) to read books that were from the library–ONLY and not purchase another. I picked up The Year…and couldn't finish it without making it overdue. It was too good not to own! I want to give it for Christmas to several friends. I went to B&N and I was disappointed that it is in the "Humor" section. It should be in the Christmas book section or the philosophy section or in the nonfiction section. The humor shines through like the sun in Jerusalem. But AJ's spiritual growth outshines the humor. God must be smiling at you, AJ. You are a good press agent for His Book. Your search to make God meaningful in your busy life is my search. Like any search, we are not always as successful as we would like to be–but Mo Theresa's saying about success gives me comfort.."We are not called to be successful but to be faithful." Hope your search never ends. A new fan