What pleases me most about the response to this story is that I've gotten perspectives from both people of faith and people without, both of whom have been complimentary. I struggle with these things myself.
I grew up without a familial religion, but I was constantly finding myself involved in friends' services, and exposed to so many points of view, whether Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Mormon, or New Age. I've found elements of all of them to be comforting.
Where do I fall in the spectrum of Jacob on one end and the Doctor on the other? Somewhere with Rose, who is attracted to faith, doesn't necessarily believe in it, but feels there is something out there greater than the universe. At the same time, I see so much done in the name of religion that makes me tremendously impatient, whether it's war, intolerance, or even the cookie-cutter suburban church with no soul. The most spiritual experiences of my life have come from nature or from music, and I tried to bring that here with Rose's reaction to the song here.
I spent a year on an independent study project on existentialist literature, and it has always struck me as an unforgiving, but somehow oddly optimistic, perspective and one that makes sense for the Doctor in so many ways. It's ultimately about holding yourself responsible, as he has done here. At what point then does forgiveness enter, when an action can result in no good outcome?
Next chapter will be from Jacob's POV, which is a nice change for me, as I have to think like he does, rather from the POV of the rather neutral bystander in Rose.
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Date: 2007-02-10 07:34 pm (UTC)I grew up without a familial religion, but I was constantly finding myself involved in friends' services, and exposed to so many points of view, whether Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Mormon, or New Age. I've found elements of all of them to be comforting.
Where do I fall in the spectrum of Jacob on one end and the Doctor on the other? Somewhere with Rose, who is attracted to faith, doesn't necessarily believe in it, but feels there is something out there greater than the universe. At the same time, I see so much done in the name of religion that makes me tremendously impatient, whether it's war, intolerance, or even the cookie-cutter suburban church with no soul. The most spiritual experiences of my life have come from nature or from music, and I tried to bring that here with Rose's reaction to the song here.
I spent a year on an independent study project on existentialist literature, and it has always struck me as an unforgiving, but somehow oddly optimistic, perspective and one that makes sense for the Doctor in so many ways. It's ultimately about holding yourself responsible, as he has done here. At what point then does forgiveness enter, when an action can result in no good outcome?
Next chapter will be from Jacob's POV, which is a nice change for me, as I have to think like he does, rather from the POV of the rather neutral bystander in Rose.
Anyway, that was long. :)