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Elif Shafak delves into faith in her book, Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within. From her book, I think she would call herself a “Sufi” personally. But she makes a thoughtful distinction between atheism and agnosticism. She noted that she lacked the arrogance to outright reject the notion of God, as in atheism, but implied that she found herself agnostic at times. She described an agnostic as “befitting of people who were perpetually bewildered about things, including religion.” She described an atheist as “sure of his convictions, and speaks in sentences that end with a full stop. An agnostic puts only a comma at the end of his remarks…he will keep pondering, wondering, doubting.”
Shafak might describe me as an “agnostic.” Hmmm. But, I appear to have the gift of faith which perseveres through the tribulation of doubt. Though to reiterate on old refrain of mine, “I’ll take an agnostic ( or an atheist ) over the notion of blindly regurgitating what one has been indoctrinated with.”
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Thanks for checking in!
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Thanks for checking in again. And, once again, I viewed your blog and you girls are just so beautiful. And I know that your beauty is internal as well as external. And an old man and have a paternal investment in watching young persons like you take your place in the world. You will make the world a better place.
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Hi there, I wanted to ask how you would define Elif Safak’s faith. It appears that she’s agnostic. But, I think many agnostics tend to lean towards one side or the other. In other words, an agnostic would be an agnostic but feel more drawn towards theism. Likewise, an agnostic would be an agnostic but lean more towards atheism. Do you think Elif Safak leans more towards one side or the other?
I’m sorry if this is a very silly question, but I’m genuinely fascinated.
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Oh, not a silly question at all and I appreciate it very much! “Faith” is just a word and thus it is a human quality that is very hard to put into words. I think the best way I can answer this is with a quote of W.H. Auden, “We are moved by powers we only pretend to understand.” Faith is realizing this wisdom and humbly accepting it. Thanks so much for the question.
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