Thursday, June 26, 2008

Terry Pratchett on religion

Terry Pratchett had a mystical experience, article.
Very good article. I think the headline is a bit off, though, it makes it sound like Mr. Pratchett has suddenly "gotten religion", which clearly is not the case. The "now I think [God] might exist" line is contrary to what he is actually saying. Newspaper editors should really be more careful about the truthfulness of their articles and especially their headlines. They clearly see the truth as an acceptable casualty in the war for the public's interest.

Interesting how it's newsworthy that Terry had a small mystical experience. I have them all the time, but I don't often report them, because they are usually either private or hard to explain. Interestingly I've had a few very much like Terry's over the years.

Update: disrelated, here is a fun interview with Pratchett, performed by Neil Gaiman, with whom he wrote the wonderful "Good Omens". (I think it's fun that they've been friends since they were both unknown, and now they are both huge names. That can't happen very often.)

2 comments:

  1. Interesting article. I haven't actually read any of his books. Too bad about the Alzheimer's. It's strange how it can happen to anyone. The writer and Oxford philosophy professor Iris Murdoch died of that. I'm not sure they should be calling experiences like he described mystical because there's always an explanation even if we don't know it yet.

    Brian H.

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  2. I recommend his books. I've spent a fortune getting everything of his both on paper and as audiobooks (which are hideously overpriced).

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