MrTamborineMan

Has anybody else been exposed to this book, or anything by Annie Dillard for that matter? It is one of those things where, depending on how your views fall, you will either view it as a deeply religious experience that greatly alters your perception of God, His creation, and the world around you, or you will have found the book to be a tremendous load of bull-hockey by a young psychotic woman who was trying to show off.

Unfortunately, I must place myself with the latter crowd. For those who are unaware of the premise of the book, it is essentially that everything in nature, beautiful or cruel, is part of God's intricate design. For example, she finds beauty in the song of a mockingbird. On the other hand, she cites the water-bug; a creature that kills frogs by devouring their insides so that the frog can feel every second of the pain until the frog's heart is eaten, as the prime example of God's cruelty. Essentially, since God obviously approves of the water-bug (as the creature has not been smited), this says something about God, and raises the question about what exactly God's character is.

While I understand the message that Dillard is trying to convey, and find her observations interesting to say the least, I stongly disagree with what she is trying to say. She believes that the beauty and cruelty are all part of an intricate web, that has a purpose.Try as I might, I did not agree with Dillard once throughout the proceedings in this book. I cannot accept the fact that this world, which seems to me to be completely random and self-serving, has a purpose. I am of the far more pessimistic belief that we are just dropped onto this planet, with no real reason. Any reasons that we have for living comes from within ourselves.

Anybody agree/disagree, have something to say?