My year of living biblically | A.J. Jacobs

Translator: Miha Helbl Reviewer: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

I thought I'd tell you a little about what I like to write.

Rad bi vam povedal nekaj malega o svojem pisanju.

And I like to immerse myself in my topics.

Rad se poglobim v svoje teme.

I just like to dive right in and become sort of a human guinea pig.

V temo se spustim in postanem nekakšen človeški poskusni zajček.

And I see my life as a series of experiments.

Na svoje življenje gledam kot niz poskusov.

So, I work for Esquire magazine, and a couple of years ago,

Torej, delam pri reviji Esquire in pred nekaj leti

I wrote an article called "My Outsourced Life,"

sem napisal članek "Moje življenje v najemu,"

where I hired a team of people in Bangalore, India,

za katerega sem v Bangaloru v Indiji najel skupino ljudi,

to live my life for me.

ki so živeli namesto mene.

So, they answered my emails.

Odgovarjali so na mojo e-pošto,

They answered my phone.

javljali so se na telefon,

They argued with my wife for me, and they read my son bedtime stories.

namesto mene so se pričkali z mojo ženo in sinu so brali pravljice za lahko noč.

It was the best month of my life,

Bil je najboljši mesec mojega življenja

because I just sat back and I read books and watched movies.

ker sem se lahko enostavno sprostil, bral knjige in gledal filme.

It was a wonderful experience.

To je bila res čudovita izkušnja.

More recently, I wrote an article for Esquire called --

Nedavno pa sem za Esquire tudi napisal članek

about radical honesty.

o radikalni iskrenosti.

And this is a movement where --

To je gibanje ki --

this is started by a psychologist in Virginia,

vse se je začelo s psihologom iz Virginije,

who says that you should never, ever lie,

ki pravi, da ne smemo nikoli, ampak res nikoli, lagati.

except maybe during poker and golf, his only exceptions.

Razen mogoče med igro pokra ali golfa, ki sta njegovi edini izjemi.

And, more than that, whatever is on your brain

Poleg tega naj bi ubesedili vse,

should come out of your mouth.

kar imamo v mislih.

So, I decided I would try this for a month.

Zato sem za mesec dni poskusil tudi to.

This was the worst month of my life.

To je bil najhujši mesec mojega življenja.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I do not recommend this at all.

Tega sploh ne priporočam.

To give you a sense of the experience,

Naj vam dam primer svoje izkušnje.

the article was called, "I Think You're Fat."

Članek je imel naslov "Debela se mi zdiš".

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So, that was hard.

Torej je bilo to kar težavno.

My most recent book -- my previous book was called "The Know-It-All,"

Moja najnovejša knjiga -- predhodna knjiga je imela naslov "Pametnjakovič".

and it was about the year I spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica

V njej je opisano eno leto, ki sem ga preživel z branjem celotne zbirke

from A to Z in my quest to learn everything in the world,

Enciklopedije Britanike z namenom, da se naučim vse kar je na svetu za vedeti.

or more precisely from Aak, which is a type of East Asian music,

Ali bolj natančno, vse od "aak", ki je vrsta vzhodnoazijske glasbe,

all the way to Zwyiec, which is -- well, I don't want to ruin the ending.

vse do "Zwyiec", ki je -- no, nočem pokvariti konca.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

It's a very exciting twist ending, like an O. Henry novel, so I won't ruin it.

Ima zelo razburljiv konec z zapletom, kot O. Henryjeva novela, zato ga ne bom pokvaril.

But I love that one,

Ta poskus mi je bil všeč,

because that was an experiment about how much information

ker je pokazal koliko informacij so

one human brain could absorb.

človeški možgani dejansko možni sprejeti.

Although, listening to Kevin Kelly, you don't have to remember anything.

Čeprav si med poslušanjem Kevina Kellyja ne rabiš zapomniti nič.

You can just Google it.

Vse lahko enostavno poiščeš na googlu.

So, I wasted some time there.

Torej sem s tem zapravil nekaj časa.

I love those experiments,

Obožujem te poskuse,

but I think that the most profound

ampak mislim, da najbolj globokoumen

and life-changing experiment that I've done

in občuten poskus, ki sem ga opravil,

is my most recent experiment, where I spent a year

je moj najnovejši poskus, za katerega sem eno leto

trying to follow all of the rules of the Bible,

živel po napotkih pravil iz Biblije.

"The Year of Living Biblically."

"Leto bibličnega življenja".

And I undertook this for two reasons.

Tega sem se lotil iz dveh razlogov.

The first was that I grew up with no religion at all.

Prvi je bil ta, da sem odraščal brez verskega vpliva.

As I say in my book, I'm Jewish in the same way

Kot sem opisal v knjigi, Žid sem v tolikšni meri,

the Olive Garden is Italian.

kot je veriga restavracij "Olive Garden" italijanska.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So, not very.

Torej, ne zelo.

But I've become increasingly interested in religion.

Toda vera me je zanimala vedno bolj.

I do think it's the defining issue of our time,

Sem mnenja, da je ena izmed bolj pomembnih sodobnih tem,

or one of the main ones.

če ne celo ena najbolj pomembnih.

And I have a son. I want to know what to teach him.

Imam tudi sina in hočem vedeti kaj ga učim.

So, I decided to dive in head first, and try to live the Bible.

Zato sem se zadeve lotil z glavo naprej in poskusil živeti Biblijo.

The second reason I undertook this is because

Drugi razlog za podvig pa je bila moja

I'm concerned about the rise of fundamentalism,

zaskrbljenost zaradi povečevanja moči fundamentalizma,

religious fundamentalism, and people who say

verskega fundamentalizma in ljudi,

they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls,

ki pravijo, da jemljejo Biblijo dobesedno, kar je po anketah sodeč

as high as 45 or 50 percent of America.

kar 45 ali 50 odstotkov ljudi v Ameriki.

So I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally?

Zato sem se odločil Biblijo zares vzeti dobesedno.

I decided to take it to its logical conclusion

Želel sem priti do logičnega zaključka

and take everything in the Bible literally,

in vse v Bibliji vzeti dobesedno,

without picking and choosing.

brez prebiranja.

The first thing I did was I got a stack of bibles.

Prvo sem zbral kup Biblij.

I had Christian bibles.

Imel sem krščanske Biblije,

I had Jewish bibles.

in židovske Biblije.

A friend of mine sent me something called a hip-hop bible,

Kolega mi je poslal tako imenovano hip-hop Biblijo,

where the twenty-third Psalm is rendered as, "The Lord is all that,"

v kateri se 23 psalm začne z "Gospod je glavn',"

as opposed to what I knew it as, "The Lord is my shepherd."

kar sem jaz poznal v obliki "Gospod je moj pastir."

Then I went down and I read several versions,

Potem sem prebral več različic

and I wrote down every single law that I could find.

in si zapisal vsako pravilo, ki sem ga našel.

And this was a very long list -- over 700 rules.

Seznam je bil zelo dolg -- več kot 700 pravil.

And they range from the famous ones that I had heard of --

Med njimi so bila tista najbolj znana, za katera sem že slišal.

The Ten Commandments, love your neighbor, be fruitful and multiply.

Deset božjih zapovedi, ljubi svojega bližnjega, bodi rodoviten in se množi.

So I wanted to follow those.

Zato sem se želel ravnati po teh.

And actually, I take my projects very seriously,

In svoje projekte vzamem resno,

because I had twins during my year,

saj sem v tistem letu dobil dvojčka.

so I definitely take my projects seriously.

Torej, svoje projekte jemljem zelo resno.

But I also wanted to follow the hundreds

Želel pa sem se tudi ravnati po vseh stotih

of arcane and obscure laws that are in the Bible.

manj razvidnih in nepoznanih pravilih, ki jih najdemo v Bibliji.

There is the law in Leviticus,

V Levitiku je pravilo

"You cannot shave the corners of your beard."

"Ne krajšaj konca svoje brade!"

I didn't know where my corners were,

Ker nisem vedel, kje se moja brada konča,

so I decided to let the whole thing grow,

sem se odločil, da jo bom kar pustil rasti.

and this is what I looked like by the end.

In na koncu sem izgledal tako.

As you can imagine, I spent a lot of time at airport security.

Kot si lahko predstavljate, da sem na letališčih veliko časa preživel med varnostniki.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

My wife wouldn't kiss me for the last two months.

Žena me zadnja dva meseca ni želela poljubiti.

So, certainly the challenge was there.

Torej je bil tudi precejšen izziv.

The Bible says you cannot wear clothes made of mixed fibers,

Biblija tudi pravi, da ne smeš nositi oblek iz mešanih tkanin.

so I thought, "Sounds strange, but I'll try it."

Mislil sem si: "Sliši se čudno, ampak bom poskusil."

You only know if you try it.

Samo ko nekaj poskusiš, vidiš kako je.

I got rid of all my poly-cotton T-shirts.

Znebil sem se vseh kratkih majic mešanih iz poliestra in bombaža.

The Bible says that if two men are in a fight,

Biblija pravi, če se dva moška stepeta

and the wife of one of those men grabs the testicles of the other man,

in žena enega zagrabi moda drugega moškega,

then her hand shall be cut off.

se ji odreže roko.

So, I wanted to follow that rule.

Zato sem se želel ravnati tudi po tem pravilu.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

That one I followed by default,

Po njem sem se ravnal samodejno

by not getting in a fight with a man whose wife was standing nearby,

in se nisem stepel z moškim z ženo ob sebi, ki je dajala vtis,

looking like she had a strong grip.

da ima močan prijem.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So -- oh, there's another shot of my beard.

Tu je še ena fotografija moje brade.

I will say it was an amazing year

Bilo je res neverjetno leto,

because it really was life changing, and incredibly challenging.

ker mi je res spremenilo življenje in je bilo zelo velik izziv.

And there were two types of laws that were particularly challenging.

Dve vrsti pravil sta bili še posebej zahtevni.

The first was avoiding the little sins that we all commit every day.

Prva je bilo izogibanje manjšim grehom, ki jih delamo iz dneva v dan.

You know, I could spend a year not killing,

Ni bilo težko preživeti eno leto brez ubijanja,

but spending a year not gossiping, not coveting, not lying --

ampak eno leto brez obrekovanja, poželenja, laganja --

you know, I live in New York, and I work as a journalist,

veste, živim v New Yorku in sem novinar.

so this was 75, 80 percent of my day I had to do it.

Vse to je sestavljalo 75, 80 odstotkov mojega vsakdana.

But it was really interesting, because I was able to make some progress,

Toda, bilo jo zelo zanimivo, ker sem lahko nekoliko napredoval

because I couldn't believe how much

in ker nisem mogel verjeti koliko

my behavior changed my thoughts.

je moje obnašanje spremenilo moje mišljenje.

This was one of the huge lessons of the year,

To je bil eden izmed največjih naukov tistega leta.

is that I almost pretended to be a better person,

Poskusil sem se pretvarjati biti boljša oseba

and I became a little bit of a better person.

in sem tako postal malo boljša oseba.

So I had always thought, you know, "You change your mind,

Vedno sem govoril: "Svoje obnašanje spremeniš, ko

and you change your behavior," but it's often the other way around.

spremeniš način mišljenja," ampak pogosto je ravno obratno.

You change your behavior, and you change your mind.

Prvo spremeniš svoje obnašanje, potem šele način mišljenja.

So, you know, if you want to become more compassionate,

Če želite postati bolj sočutni, morate torej

you visit sick people in the hospital,

obiskati obolele v bolnišnici

and you will become more compassionate.

in postali boste bolj sočutni.

You donate money to a cause,

Ko darujete denar za dober namen,

and you become emotionally involved in that cause.

se mu s tem tudi približate čustveno.

So, it really was cognitive psychology --

Res sem izkusil kognitivno psihologijo,

you know, cognitive dissonance -- that I was experiencing.

veste -- kognitivno disonanco.

The Bible actually talks about cognitive psychology,

Biblija v bistvu tudi govori o kognitivni psihologiji,

very primitive cognitive psychology.

zelo prvobitni obliki kognitivne psihologije.

In the Proverbs, it says that if you smile, you will become happier,

V Pregovorih pravi, ko se boš nasmejal, boš postal srečnejši.

which, as we know, is actually true.

Kar je, kot vsi vemo, res.

The second type of rule that was difficult to obey

Druga vrsta pravil, ki jo je bilo prav tako težko ubogati,

was the rules that will get you into a little trouble

so bila pravila, ki te bodo v Ameriki 21. stoletja

in twenty-first-century America.

spravila v težave.

And perhaps the clearest example of this is stoning adulterers.

In najbolj nazoren primer bi bilo kamenjanje prešuštnikov.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But it's a big part of the Bible,

Ampak je velik del Biblije,

so I figured I had to address it.

zato sem se lotil tudi tega.

So, I was able to stone one adulterer.

Uspelo mi je vreči kamen v enega prešuštnika.

It happened -- I was in the park, and I was dressed in my biblical clothing,

To se mi je zgodilo -- bil sem v parku, oblečen v biblična oblačila.

so sandals and sort of a white robe,

Torej sem imel sandale in nekakšno belo haljo,

you know, because again, the outer affects the inner.

ker, saj veste, zunanjost vpliva na vzdušje.

I wanted to see how dressing biblically affected my mind.

Zanimalo me je, kakšen vpliv imajo biblična oblačila na moje mišljenje.

And this man came up to me and he said,

In do mene stopi ta moški in me vpraša:

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"Zakaj si tako oblečen?"

And I explained my project,

Zato mu razložim svoj projekt.

and he said, "Well, I am an adulterer, are you going to stone me?"

Reče mi: "No, jaz sem prešuštnik, misliš okamenjati mene?"

And I said, "Well, that would be great!"

In mu odgvorim: "To bi bilo super!"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And I actually took out a handful of stones from my pocket

In dejansko sem iz žepa vzel pest kamenja,

that I had been carrying around for weeks,

ki sem ga imel pri sebi več tednov,

hoping for just this interaction -- and, you know, they were pebbles --

in sem čakal na takšno priložnost. Bili so majhni kamenčki.

but he grabbed them out of my hand.

Vzel mi jih je iz roke.

He was actually an elderly man, mid-70s, just so you know.

Bil je starejši moški v srednjih sedemdesetih letih, samo da veste.

But he's still an adulterer, and still quite angry.

Vseeno pa je bil prešuštnik in tudi precej jezen.

He grabbed them out of my hand

Vzel mi jih je iz roke

and threw them at my face, and I felt that I could --

in mi jih vrgel v obraz. Zato sem si mislil

eye for an eye -- I could retaliate, and throw one back at him.

"oko za oko" in sem mu lahko vrnil, zato sem vrgel en kamen nazaj v njega.

So that was my experience stoning, and it did allow me

No, to je bila moja izkušnja kamenjanja, kar mi je pomagalo

to talk about, in a more serious way, these big issues.

spregovoriti o teh zadevah tudi na malo bolj resen način.

How can the Bible be so barbaric in some places,

Kako je Biblija lahko na nekaterih mestih tako barbarska

and yet so incredibly wise in others?

in kljub temu na drugih tako poučna?

How should we view the Bible?

Kako moramo gledati na Biblijo?

Should we view it, you know, as original intent,

Jo moramo interpretirati po principu izvornega namena,

like a sort of a Scalia version of the Bible?

kot na njo gleda Antonin Scalia?

How was the Bible written?

Kako je bila Biblija napisana?

And actually, since this is a tech crowd,

In ker je občinstvo bolj tehnično,

I talk in the book about how the Bible actually reminds me

govorim v knjigi tudi o tem, kako me Biblija spominja

of the Wikipedia, because it has all of these authors and editors

na Wikipedijo, ker je čez več stoletij

over hundreds of years.

imela toliko avtorjev in urednikov.

And it's sort of evolved.

S tem se je nekako razvijala.

It's not a book that was written and came down from on high.

To ni knjiga, ki je bila enostavno napisana in je padla z neba.

So I thought I would end by telling you

Zaključiti bi želel z nekaterimi

just a couple of the take-aways, the bigger lessons

pomembnejšimi lekcijami, ki sem jih odnesel

that I learned from my year.

od izkušnje v tistem letu.

The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally.

Prva je, ne jemlji Biblije dobesedno.

This became very, very clear, early on.

To mi je postalo zelo jasno zelo zgodaj.

Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person,

Če boš to dejansko storil, se boš na koncu obnašal kot norec

and stoning adulterers, or -- here's another example.

in kamenjal prešuštnike ali pa -- imam še en primer.

Well, that's another. I did spend some time shepherding.

No, to je nek drugi. Dejansko sem nekaj časa pasel ovce.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

It's a very relaxing vocation. I recommend it.

Je zelo sproščujoče opravilo in ga toplo priporočam.

But this one is -- the Bible says that you cannot touch women

Toda ta -- Biblija pravi, da se med določenimi meseci ne

during certain times of the month, and more than that,

smeš dotikati žensk. Ne samo to,

you cannot sit on a seat where a menstruating woman has sat.

prav tako ne smeš sedeti, kjer je sedela ženska z menstruacijo.

And my wife thought this was very offensive,

Moja žena je menila, da je to zelo žaljivo,

so she sat in every seat in our apartment,

in se je usedla na vsak sedež v stanovanju.

and I had to spend much of the year standing

Zato sem velik del leta preživel stoje,

until I bought my own seat and carried it around.

dokler si nisem kupil lastnega stola, ki sem ga nosil s seboj.

So, you know, I met with creationists.

Dobil sem se tudi s kreacionisti.

I went to the creationists' museum.

Obiskal sem v kreacionistični muzej.

And these are the ultimate literalists.

Nihče ne jemlje stvari bolj dobesedno kot oni.

And it was fascinating, because they were not stupid people at all.

Bilo je zelo fascinantno, ker sploh niso neumni.

I would wager that their IQ is exactly the same as the average evolutionist.

Stavim, da je njihov IQ na isti ravni z IQ-jem povprečnega evolucionista.

It's just that their faith is so strong

Toda, njihovo prepričanje v

in this literal interpretation of the Bible

dobesedno interpretacijo Biblije je tako močno,

that they distort all the data to fit their model.

da vse podatke spremenijo do te mere da ustreza njihovemu vzorcu.

And they go through these amazing mental gymnastics to accomplish this.

To pa poskusijo doseči s pomočjo teh neverjetnih miselnih akrobacij.

And I will say, though, the museum is gorgeous.

In moram omeniti, da je muzej čudovit.

They really did a fantastic job.

Zelo so se potrudili.

If you're ever in Kentucky,

Če boste kdajkoli v Kentuckyju,

there's, you can see a movie of the flood,

si lahko ogledate film o vesoljnem potopu,

and they have sprinklers in the ceiling

kjer imajo na stropu nameščene škropilnike,

that will sprinkle on you during the flood scenes.

ki te med prizori povodni poškropijo.

So, whatever you think of creationism -- and I think it's crazy --

Vseeno kakšno mnenje imate o kreacionizmu -- jaz menim, da je traparija --

they did a great job.

Dobro so se odrezali.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Another lesson is that thou shalt give thanks.

Druga lekcija je bila, hvali dan.

And this one was a big lesson because I was praying,

To je bila pomembna lekcija zato, ker sem molil

giving these prayers of thanksgiving, which was odd for an agnostic.

na zahvalni dan, kar je za agnostika zelo nenavadno.

But I was saying thanks all the time, every day,

Zahvaljeval sem se ves čas, vsak dan,

and I started to change my perspective.

kar je spremenilo moj pogled.

And I started to realize the hundreds of little things

Začel sem se zavedati vseh malenkosti,

that go right every day, that I didn't even notice,

ki se tekom dneva dobro iztečejo, in jih prej nisem opazil.

that I took for granted, as opposed to focusing

Imel sem jih za samoumevne in se osredotočal

on the three or four that went wrong.

na dve ali tri stvari, ki so mi šle narobe.

So, this is actually a key to happiness for me,

Torej, po mojem je to pot do sreče.

is to just remember when I came over here,

Ob prihodu na konferenco

the car didn't flip over, and I didn't trip coming up the stairs.

se moj avto ni prevrnil in na poti po stopnicah se nisem spotaknil.

It's a remarkable thing.

To je res nekaj neverjetnega.

Third, that thou shall have reverence.

Tretjič, boš častil.

This one was unexpected because I started the year

To je bila nepričakovana lekcija, ker sem leto začel

as an agnostic, and by the end of the year,

kot agnostik in ob koncu leta sem postal

I became what a friend of mine calls a reverent agnostic, which I love.

kar nek kolega imenuje častiteljski agnostik, kar mi je zelo všeč.

And I'm trying to start it as a movement.

Iz tega poskušam tudi ustvariti gibanje.

So, if anyone wants to join,

Torej, če se kdorkoli želi pridružiti,

the basic idea is, whether or not there is a God,

osnovna zamisel je ta, da ne glede ali obstaja Bog ali ne,

there's something important and beautiful about the idea of sacredness,

je predstava o svetosti še vedno nekaj pomembnega in lepega

and that our rituals can be sacred.

in naši rituali so lahko sveti.

The Sabbath can be sacred.

Gospodov dan je lahko svet.

This was one of the great things about my year, doing the Sabbath,

Gospodov dan je bila ena izmed boljših izkušenj v letu,

because I am a workaholic, so having this one day

ker sem deloholik, in je ta en dela prost dan

where you cannot work, it really, that changed my life.

zelo spremenil moje življenje.

So, this idea of sacredness, whether or not there is a God.

Torej, ta predstava o svetosti, ne glede na obstoj Boga.

Thou shall not stereotype.

Ne boš sodil po stereotipih.

This one happened because

Do te lekcije sem prišel

I spent a lot of time with various religious communities

z obiskovanjem raznih verskih skupnosti

throughout America because I wanted it to be more

po celi Ameriki, ker sem želel, da bi bila

than about my journey.

izkušnja o nečem več kot mojem potovanju.

I wanted it to be about religion in America.

Želel sem, da bi se nanašala na vero v Ameriki.

So, I spent time with evangelical Christians, and Hasidic Jews, and the Amish.

Zato sem preživel nekaj časa z evangeličani, hasidijskimi Judi in amiši.

I'm very proud because

Na to sem zelo ponosen,

I think I'm the only person in America

ker mislim, da sem edina oseba v Ameriki,

to out Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness.

ki se je o Bibliji želela pogovarjati bolj dolgo kot jehova priča.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

After three and a half hours, he looked at his watch,

Po treh urah in pol je pogledal na uro

he's like, "I gotta go."

in rekel: "Iti moram."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Oh, thank you very much.

Hvala, najlepša vam hvala.

Thank you. Bless you, bless you.

Hvala. Bog vas blagoslovi.

But it was interesting

Bilo je zelo zanimivo,

because I had some very preconceived notions about, for instance,

ker sem pred tem imel te različne predstave o na primer

evangelical Christianity, and I found that

evangeličanstvu in sem ugotovil,

it's such a wide and varied movement

da je zelo obsežno in raznoliko gibanje,

that it is difficult to make generalizations about it.

ki ga zelo težko posplošimo.

There's a group I met with called the Red Letter Christians,

Obstaja skupina, s katero sem se dobil, ki se imenuje Kristjani Rdečega Pisma

and they focus on the red words in the Bible,

in se osredotočajo na besed v Bibliji, obarvane rdeče,

which are the ones that Jesus spoke.

ki jih je izrekel Jezus.

That's how they printed them in the old Bibles.

Tako so jih tiskali v starejših Biblijah.

And their argument is that Jesus never talked about homosexuality.

Njihov argument je, da Jezus nikoli ni govoril o homoseksualnosti.

They have a pamphlet that says,

Imajo to brošuro na kateri piše:

"Here's what Jesus said about homosexuality,"

"Jezus je o homoseksualnosti rekel to,"

and you open it up, and there's nothing in it.

ko jo odpreš, ni napisano nič.

So, they say Jesus did talk a lot about helping the outcasts,

Pravijo pa, da je Jezus veliko govoril o podpiranju izobčencev

helping poor people.

in pomaganju revnim.

So, this was very inspiring to me.

To me je zelo navdihnilo.

I recommend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo.

Predlagam vam Jima Wallisa in Tonyja Campola.

They're very inspiring leaders, even though I disagree

Oba sta zelo čudovita voditelja, čeprav se z marsičem,

with much of what they say.

kar pravita, ne strinjam.

Also, thou shalt not disregard the irrational.

Prišel sem tudi do ugotovitve, upoštevaj kar je neracionalno.

This one was very unexpected because, you know,

Ta je bila zelo nepričakovana,

I grew up with the scientific worldview,

ker sem odraščal z znanstvenim pogledom na svet,

and I was shocked learning how much of my life

in sem bil presenečen nad tem, kolikšen del mojega življenja

is governed by irrational forces.

je pod nadzorom iracionalnih sil.

And the thing is, if they're not harmful,

In v bistvu, če niso škodljive,

they're not to be completely dismissed.

potem jih ne smemo popolnoma zavreči.

Because I learned that -- I was thinking, I was

Naučil sem se -- med vsemi temi

doing all these rituals, these biblical rituals,

rituali, med temi bibličnimi rituali,

separating my wool and linen, and I would ask these religious people

ločevanjem volne in lanenega platna, sem vprašal vernike:

"Why would the Bible possibly tell us to do this? Why would God care?"

"Zakaj bi Bog to zahteval od nas? Zakaj bi mu bilo mar za to?"

And they said, "We don't know,

In so mi odgovorili: "Ne vemo,

but it's just rituals that give us meaning."

toda ti rituali nam dajejo pomen."

And I would say, "But that's crazy."

In se odzovem: "Ampak, to je noro."

And they would say, "Well, what about you?

In mi odvrnejo: "Ja, kaj pa ti?"

You blow out candles on top of a birthday cake.

Ti na torti upihneš sveče.

If a guy from Mars came down and saw, here's one guy

Če bi prišel nekdo z Marsa in videl nekega moškega,

blowing out the fire on top of a cake

ki ugaša ogenj s sveč na torti

versus another guy not wearing clothes of mixed fabrics,

in nekoga, ki nosi obleke iz mešanih vlaken.

would the Martians say, 'Well, that guy, he makes sense,

Kaj ne bi Marsovec rekel: "Ta, drugi, mi deluje normalen,

but that guy's crazy?'"

prvi pa je zmešan."

So no, I think that rituals are, by nature, irrational.

Zato sem mnenja, da so rituali že v osnovi iracionalni.

So the key is to choose the right rituals,

Odločilno je torej, da izberem ustrezne rituale,

the ones that are not harmful -- but rituals by themselves

ki niso škodljivi -- toda ritualov nasploh

are not to be dismissed.

ne smemo zavračati.

And finally I learned that thou shall pick and choose.

In končno, naučil sem se tudi, da moraš biti izbirčen.

And this one I learned because

Tega sem se naučil skozi poslanstvo,

I tried to follow everything in the Bible.

da bom sledil vsem kar je zapisano v Bibliji.

And I failed miserably.

In to neuspešno.

Because you can't.

Ker je nemogoče.

You have to pick and choose. And anyone who follows the Bible

Moraš biti izbirčen. In kdorkoli, ki se ravna po Bibliji,

is going to be picking and choosing.

bo prebiral.

The key is to pick and choose the right parts.

Pomembno je, da izberemo prave dele.

There's the phrase called cafeteria religion,

Obstaja izraz samopostrežna vera,

and the fundamentalists will use it in a denigrating way,

ki ga fundamentalisti uporabljajo kot žaljivko.

and they'll say, "Oh, it's just cafeteria religion.

Tako rečejo: "Ah, to je samopostrežna vera,

You're just picking and choosing."

ker prebiraš."

But my argument is, "What's wrong with cafeterias?"

Toda, jaz pa pravim: "Kaj je narobe s samopostrežnimi restavracijami?"

I've had some great meals at cafeterias.

V nekaterih sem se že prav dobro najedel.

I've also had some meals that make me want to dry heave.

Imel sem pa tudi obroke po katerih se mi je hrana dvigala.

So, it's about choosing the parts of the Bible about compassion,

Moramo torej izbirati dele v Bibliji, ki govorijo o sočutju,

about tolerance, about loving your neighbor,

toleranci, ljubezni do soseda,

as opposed to the parts about homosexuality is a sin,

in ne delov, ki pravijo, da je homoseksualnost greh,

or intolerance, or violence,

kot tudi nestrpnost in nasilje,

which are very much in the Bible as well.

kar je tudi prisotno v Bibliji.

So if we are to find any meaning in this book,

Če želimo v tej knjigi najti pomen,

then we have to really engage it, and wrestle with it.

potem se moramo v njo zakopati in se z njo spopasti.

And I thought I'd end with just a couple more.

Zaključil bom še z nekaj fotografijami.

There's me reading the Bible.

Tukaj berem Biblijo.

That's how I hailed taxicabs.

Tako sem klical taksiste.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Seriously, and it worked. And yes,

Dejansko. In deluje!

that was actually a rented sheep,

To ovco sem najel

so I had to return that in the morning, but it served well for a day.

in sem jo zjutraj moral vrniti, toda mi je dobro služila.

So, anyway, thank you so much for letting me speak.

Kakorkoli, hvala za vašo pozornost.