Atheism 2.0 | Alain de Botton

Translator: Helena Bedalli Reviewer: Dita Bytyci

One of the most common ways of dividing the world

Nje nga menyrat me te zakonshme qe ndahet bota

is into those who believe

eshte ne ata qe besojne

and those who don't --

dhe ata qe nuk--

into the religious and the atheists.

ne besimtare dhe ateiste.

And for the last decade or so,

Dhe, gjate dhjetevjecarit te fundit

it's been quite clear

eshte bere e qarte

what being an atheist means.

cdo te thote te jesh ateist.

There have been some very vocal atheists

Kane qene disa ateiste te zhurmshem

who've pointed out,

qe kane nxjerre ne pah,

not just that religion is wrong,

jo vetem qe besimi eshte gabim,

but that it's ridiculous.

por qe eshte qesharak.

These people, many of whom have lived in North Oxford,

Keta njerez, shume prej te cileve kane jetuar ne North Oxford,

have argued --

kane argumentuar--

they've argued that believing in God

qe te besosh ne Zot

is akin to believing in fairies

eshte e ngjashme si te besosh ne zanat

and essentially that the whole thing

dhe e gjithe kjo gje, ne thelb

is a childish game.

eshte nje loder kalamajsh.

Now I think it's too easy.

Une mendoj se eshte shume e lehte.

I think it's too easy

Eshte shume e lehte

to dismiss the whole of religion that way.

ta shkarkosh te gjithe besimin ne ate menyre.

And it's as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

Dhe, eshte aq e lehte sa ti gjuash peshkut ne fuci.

And what I'd like to inaugurate today

Dhe, ajo qe dua te paraqis sot

is a new way of being an atheist --

eshte nje menyre te re per te qene ateist--

if you like, a new version of atheism

ose nje version i ri i ateizmit

we could call Atheism 2.0.

qe e quaj Ateizem 2.0.

Now what is Atheism 2.0?

Cfare eshte Ateizem 2.0

Well it starts from a very basic premise:

Fillon nga nje kusht shume bazik:

of course, there's no God.

s'ka Zot, pa dyshim.

Of course, there are no deities or supernatural spirits

S'ka shpirtra supernatyrale

or angels, etc.

apo engjej, etj.

Now let's move on; that's not the end of the story,

Te shkojme me tutje; ky s'eshte fundi i historise,

that's the very, very beginning.

eshte vetem fillimi.

I'm interested in the kind of constituency

Jam i interesuar per pjesen e njerezve

that thinks something along these lines:

qe mendon dicka te tille si,

that thinks, "I can't believe in any of this stuff.

qe mendon, "S'mund te besoj ne asgje nga keto."

I can't believe in the doctrines.

Nuk besoj doktrinat.

I don't think these doctrines are right.

Mendoj qe keto doktrina s'jane ne rregull.

But," a very important but, "I love Christmas carols.

Por, "nje por e rendesishme", me pelqejne kenget e Krishtlindjes

I really like the art of Mantegna.

Me pelqen shume arti i Mantegna-s.

I really like looking at old churches.

Me pelqen te shoh kishat e vjetra.

I really like turning the pages of the Old Testament."

Me pelqen te shfletoj Testamentin e vjeter".

Whatever it may be,

Cfaredoqofte

you know the kind of thing I'm talking about --

e kuptoni per cfare po flas--

people who are attracted to the ritualistic side,

njerez qe terhiqen nga ana ritualistike,

the moralistic, communal side of religion,

moralistike, ana e perbashket e besimit,

but can't bear the doctrine.

por nuk durojne doktrinen.

Until now, these people have faced a rather unpleasant choice.

Deri tani, keta njerez jane hasur me nje zgjidhje jo te kendshme.

It's almost as though either you accept the doctrine

Eshte gati sikur te pranosh doktrinen

and then you can have all the nice stuff,

dhe atehere ke gjithe keto te mira,

or you reject the doctrine and

apo ta refuzosh ate dhe

you're living in some kind of spiritual wasteland

te jetosh ne nje toke te abandonuar spiritualisht

under the guidance of CNN and Walmart.

nen udhezimet e CNN dhe Walmart.

So that's a sort of tough choice.

Eshte zgjedhje e veshtire.

I don't think we have to make that choice.

S'mendoj se jemi te detyruar ta bejme.

I think there is an alternative.

Mendoj qe ka nje alternative.

I think there are ways --

Mendoj qe ka menyra --

and I'm being both very respectful and completely impious --

dhe jam me te dyja, me respekt e krejt laik -

of stealing from religions.

per te vjedhur nga religjionet.

If you don't believe in a religion,

Nese nuk beson ne nje fe,

there's nothing wrong with picking and mixing,

s'eshte gabim te zgjedhesh dhe t'i perziesh

with taking out the best sides of religion.

duke marre nga kjo pjesen me te mire te besimit.

And for me, atheism 2.0

Dhe, per mua, ateizmi 2.0

is about both, as I say,

eshte per te dyja, sic them,

a respectful and an impious way

nje menyre e respektueshme

of going through religions and saying, "What here could we use?"

te analizosh nje religjion e te thuash,"Cfare mund te perdor?"

The secular world is full of holes.

Bota laike eshte plot me boshlleqe.

We have secularized badly, I would argue.

Kemi laikizuar keq, do te thoja.

And a thorough study of religion

Nje studim i thelle i religjionit

could give us all sorts of insights

mund te na jape shume mendime

into areas of life that are not going too well.

ne fushat e jetes qe nuk shkojne mire.

And I'd like to run through a few of these today.

Do te doja te pershkruaja disa prej tyre.

I'd like to kick off by looking at education.

Po filloj me edukimin.

Now education is a field

Edukimi eshte nje fushe

the secular world really believes in.

ne te cilen bota laike beson mjaft.

When we think about how we're going to make the world a better place,

Kur mendojme si mund te bejme boten nje vend me te mire,

we think education; that's where we put a lot of money.

themi edukimi; dhe aty investojme shume.

Education is going to give us, not only commercial skills, industrial skills,

Edukimi do te na jape, jo vetem aftesi komerciale, industriale,

it's also going to make us better people.

po dhe do te na beje njerez me te mire.

You know the kind of thing a commencement address is, and graduation ceremonies,

I dini fjalimin e hapjes ne ceremonite e marrjes se diplomave,

those lyrical claims

ato deklarata lirike

that education, the process of education -- particularly higher education --

qe edukimi, procesi i edukimit -vecanerisht ai i larte--

will make us into nobler and better human beings.

do te na beje njerez me fisnike e me te mire.

That's a lovely idea.

Kjo eshte ide e bukur.

Interesting where it came from.

Interesant te shohesh nga vjen.

In the early 19th century,

Ne fillim te shekullit te 19te,

church attendance in Western Europe

frekuetimi i kishes ne Europen Perendimore

started sliding down very, very sharply, and people panicked.

pati renie dramatike dhe njerezit ishin ne panik.

They asked themselves the following question.

Ata i bene pyetjen vetes.

They said, where are people going to find the morality,

Ku do te gjejne njerezit moralitetin,

where are they going to find guidance,

ku do gjejne udhezim,

and where are they going to find sources of consolation?

ku do gjejne ngushellim?

And influential voices came up with one answer.

Dhe zera me influence gjeten nje pergjigje.

They said culture.

Ata thane kultura.

It's to culture that we should look

Duhet te shohim kulturen

for guidance, for consolation, for morality.

si guide, si ngushellim, si moral.

Let's look to the plays of Shakespeare,

Le te shohim dramat e Shekspirit,

the dialogues of Plato, the novels of Jane Austen.

dialoget e Platonit, novelat e Jane Austen.

In there, we'll find a lot of the truths

Aty, gjejme shume te verteta

that we might previously have found in the Gospel of Saint John.

qe mund ti kemi gjetur me pare ne Ungjillin e Shenjte.

Now I think that's a very beautiful idea and a very true idea.

Mendoj qe eshte nje ide shume e bukur dhe e vertete.

They wanted to replace scripture with culture.

Ata donin te zevendesonin shkrimin me kulturen.

And that's a very plausible idea.

Dhe kjo eshte ide shume e besueshme.

It's also an idea that we have forgotten.

Po ashtu nje ide qe e kemi harruar.

If you went to a top university --

Nese shkoni ne nje universitet te mire--

let's say you went to Harvard or Oxford or Cambridge --

le te themi, Harvard apo Oxford ose Cambridge--

and you said, "I've come here

dhe thoni, "Kam ardhur ketu

because I'm in search of morality, guidance and consolation;

se po kerkoj te moralitet, udhezim dhe ngushellim;

I want to know how to live,"

Dua te di se si te jetoj,"

they would show you the way to the insane asylum.

ato do t'ju tregojne rrugen per te cmendina.

This is simply not what our grandest and best institutes of higher learning

Thjesht nuk eshte ky qellimi i

are in the business of.

i univeriteteve me te medha e me te mira.

Why? They don't think we need it.

Pse? Nuk besojne se kemi nevoje.

They don't think we are in an urgent need of assistance.

S'mendojne se kemi nevoje urgjente per ndihme.

They see us as adults, rational adults.

Ata na shohin si te rritur, racionale.

What we need is information.

Na duhet informacion.

We need data, we don't need help.

Na duhen te dhena, jo ndihme.

Now religions start from a very different place indeed.

Besimet fillojne nga nje pike tjeter.

All religions, all major religions,

Gjithe besimet kryesore,

at various points call us children.

ne pika te ndryshme na quajne femije.

And like children,

Dhe, si femije,

they believe that we are in severe need of assistance.

besojne qe ne kemi nevoje te madhe per asistence.

We're only just holding it together.

Ne vetem se e mbajme veten.

Perhaps this is just me, maybe you.

Ndoshta jam vetem une, ndoshta ju.

But anyway, we're only just holding it together.

Sidoqofte ne vetem se e mbajme veten.

And we need help. Of course, we need help.

Dhe, na duhet ndihme. Pa dyshim ndihme.

And so we need guidance and we need didactic learning.

Pra na duhet udhezim dhe te mesuar didaktik.

You know, in the 18th century in the U.K.,

Ne shek e 18 te ne Angli,

the greatest preacher, greatest religious preacher, was a man called John Wesley,

predikuesi me i famshem ishte John Wesley,

who went up and down this country delivering sermons,

qe i binte vendit kryq e terthor duke mbajtur predikime,

advising people how they could live.

e u jepte keshilla njerezve si te jetonin.

He delivered sermons on the duties of parents to their children

Ai dha predikime mbi detyren e prindit ndaj femijeve

and children to their parents,

dhe femijeve ndaj prinderve,

the duties of the rich to the poor and the poor to the rich.

detyren e te pasurit ndaj te varfrit dhe te varfer ndaj te pasur.

He was trying to tell people how they should live

A perpiqej tu thoshte njerezve si te jetojne

through the medium of sermons,

nepermjet medias se predikimit,

the classic medium of delivery of religions.

medias klasike te dhenies se predikimit.

Now we've given up with the idea of sermons.

Tashme e kemi abandonuar idene e predikimit.

If you said to a modern liberal individualist,

Nese i thoni nje idividualisti liberal modern,

"Hey, how about a sermon?"

C'mendon per nje predikim?"

they'd go, "No, no. I don't need one of those.

te pergjigjet, "Jo, jo. S'kam nevoje.

I'm an independent, individual person."

Jam indipendent, person individual".

What's the difference between a sermon

Cila eshte diferenca, midis predikimit

and our modern, secular mode of delivery, the lecture?

dhe mjetit tone modern laik te transmetimit, leksionit?

Well a sermon wants to change your life

Predikimet duan te te ndryshojne jeten

and a lecture wants to give you a bit of information.

dhe leksioni do te te jape informacion.

And I think we need to get back to that sermon tradition.

Mendoj qe kemi nevoje te kthehemi te tradita e predikimit.

The tradition of sermonizing is hugely valuable,

Tradita e predikimit ka nje vlere te madhe,

because we are in need of guidance,

sepse kemi nevoje per udhezim,

morality and consolation --

moralitet dhe ngushellim-

and religions know that.

dhe fete e dine kete.

Another point about education:

Nje pike tjeter mbi edukimin:

we tend to believe in the modern secular world

jemi te prirur te mendojme ne boten moderne laike

that if you tell someone something once, they'll remember it.

qe, nese i thua dicka dikujt nje here, do ta mbajne mend.

Sit them in a classroom, tell them about Plato

Uli ata ne klase, foli per Platonin

at the age of 20, send them out for a career in management consultancy for 40 years,

ne moshen 20 vjec, dergoji te bejne kariere ne konsulence menaxheriale per 40 vjet,

and that lesson will stick with them.

dhe ky mesim do ti ngulitet pergjithmone.

Religions go, "Nonsense.

Fete thone, "Absurde.

You need to keep repeating the lesson 10 times a day.

Duhet ta perseritesh mesimin 10 here ne dite.

So get on your knees and repeat it."

Pra, bjere ne gjunje dhe perserite ate."

That's what all religions tell us:

Kjo eshte ajo qe na thone fete:

"Get on you knees and repeat it 10 or 20 or 15 times a day."

"Bjere ne gjunje dhe perserite 10 ose 20 ose 15 here ne dite."

Otherwise our minds are like sieves.

Perndryshe mendjet jane si sita.

So religions are cultures of repetition.

Pra fete jane kultura te perseritjes.

They circle the great truths again and again and again.

Ato qarkullojne te verteten e madhe perseri e perseri e perseri.

We associate repetition with boredom.

Ne shoqerizojme perseritjen me merzitje.

"Give us the new," we're always saying.

"Na jep te rene," themi gjithmone.

"The new is better than the old."

"E reja eshte me e mire se e vjetra."

If I said to you, "Okay, we're not going to have new TED.

Nese ju them, Okej, nuk do te kemi nje TED te re.

We're just going to run through all the old ones

Do te shfaqim keto te vjetrat

and watch them five times because they're so true.

e do ti shikojme 5 here sepse jane shume te verteta.

We're going to watch Elizabeth Gilbert five times

Do te shohim Elizabeth Gilbert 5 here

because what she says is so clever," you'd feel cheated.

sepse ajo thote dicka shume te zgjuar," do tju duket se po ua hedh.

Not so if you're adopting a religious mindset.

Por jo, nuk te duket ashtu, nese adopton mentalitetin fetar.

The other things that religions do

Gjeja tjeter qe bejne besimet

is to arrange time.

eshte organizimi i kohes.

All the major religions give us calendars.

Te gjitha fete kryesore na japin kalendare.

What is a calendar?

C'eshte kalendari?

A calendar is a way of making sure that across the year

Kalendari eshte nje menyre qe siguron qe gjate vitit

you will bump into certain very important ideas.

do te ndeshesh me disa ide shume te rendesishme.

In the Catholic chronology, Catholic calendar,

Ne kronologjine Katolike, kalendari Katolik,

at the end of March you will think about St. Jerome

ne fund te marsit do mendosh per St. Jerome

and his qualities of humility and goodness

dhe peruljen dhe miresine e tij

and his generosity to the poor.

dhe bujarine e tij ndaj te varferve.

You won't do that by accident; you will do that because you are guided to do that.

Nuk do jete rastesisht, por sepse je i udhezuar ta besh ate.

Now we don't think that way.

Ne nuk mendojme ne kete menyre.

In the secular world we think, "If an idea is important, I'll bump into it.

Ne boten laike, ne themi, "Nese nje ide eshte e rendesishme, do te ndeshem me te.

I'll just come across it."

Do t'a has ate."

Nonsense, says the religious world view.

Pakuptim, thote pikpamja fetare.

Religious view says we need calendars, we need to structure time,

Pikpamja fetare thote na duhen kalendaret, duhet te strukturojme kohen,

we need to synchronize encounters.

duhet te sinkronizojme takimet.

This comes across also

Kjo ndodh edhe

in the way in which religions set up rituals

ne menyren sesi fete i krijojne ritualet

around important feelings.

rreth mendimeve te rendesishme.

Take the Moon. It's really important to look at the Moon.

Merrni Henen. Eshte e rendsishme te shohesh Henen.

You know, when you look at the Moon,

Kur shihni Henen,

you think, "I'm really small. What are my problems?"

ju mendoni, "Jam shume i vogel. Cilat jane problemet e mia?"

It sets things into perspective, etc., etc.

E ve cdo gje ne perspektive, etj...

We should all look at the Moon a bit more often. We don't.

Duhet te shohim Henen pak me shpesh. Nuk e bejme.

Why don't we? Well there's nothing to tell us, "Look at the Moon."

Pse? Asgje s'na thote, "Shih Henen."

But if you're a Zen Buddhist in the middle of September,

Por nese je nje Zen Budist ne mes te shtatorit,

you will be ordered out of your home, made to stand on a canonical platform

ju thone te dilni nga shtepia, te hipni mbi nje platforme te shenjte

and made to celebrate the festival of Tsukimi,

e duhet te celebroni festivalin e Henes Tsukimi,

where you will be given poems to read

ju jepen per te lexuar poema

in honor of the Moon and the passage of time

per nder te Henes dhe kalimit te kohes

and the frailty of life that it should remind us of.

qe duhet te te kujtoje sa e thyeshme eshte jeta.

You'll be handed rice cakes.

Do t'ju japin kek orizi.

And the Moon and the reflection on the Moon

Dhe Hena dhe reflektimi mbi Henen

will have a secure place in your heart.

do te kete nje vend te sigurt ne zemren tende.

That's very good.

Eshte shume e bukur.

The other thing that religions are really aware of

Gjeja tjeter per te cilen jane te vetedijshme besimet

is: speak well --

eshte: te flasesh mire --

I'm not doing a very good job of this here --

S'po e bej kaq mire kete pune ketu --

but oratory, oratory is absolutely key to religions.

por oratoria per besimet eshte celesi absolut.

In the secular world, you can come through the university system and be a lousy speaker

ne boten laike, ti del nga universiteti dhe s'je orator i zoti

and still have a great career.

dhe prape ben kariere.

But the religious world doesn't think that way.

Por bota fetare s'mendon ashtu.

What you're saying needs to be backed up

Ajo qe thoni duhet te mbeshtetet

by a really convincing way of saying it.

nga nje menyre shume bindese e te shprehurit.

So if you go to an African-American Pentecostalist church

Nese shkoni ne nje kishe Pentekostale Afroamerikane

in the American South

ne Ameriken e Jugut

and you listen to how they talk,

dhe degjoni si flasin

my goodness, they talk well.

ata flasin mire.

After every convincing point, people will go, "Amen, amen, amen."

Mbas cdo pike bindese, njerezit bejne "Amin, amin, amin".

At the end of a really rousing paragraph, they'll all stand up,

Ne fund te cdo paragrafi entuziast, ngrihen ne kembe,

and they'll go, "Thank you Jesus, thank you Christ, thank you Savior."

dhe thone, "Falemnderit Zot, flm Krisht, flm Shpetimtar."

If we were doing it like they do it --

Nese do te benim sic bejne ata--

let's not do it, but if we were to do it --

nuk do ta bejme, por sikur ta benim--

I would tell you something like, "Culture should replace scripture."

Do tju thoja p.sh., "Kultura duhet te zevendesoje shkrimin".

And you would go, "Amen, amen, amen."

Dhe ju pergjigjeni, "Amin, amin, amin".

And at the end of my talk, you would all stand up

Dhe ne fund te ligjerates sime, do te ngriheshit ne kembe

and you would go, "Thank you Plato, thank you Shakespeare, thank you Jane Austen."

dhe thoni, "Falemnderit Platon, flm Shejkspir, flm Jane Austen."

And we'd know that we had a real rhythm going.

Dhe ky do te ishte ritmi i duhur.

All right, all right. We're getting there. We're getting there.

Sigurisht. Ja po shkojme aty.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

The other thing that religions know is we're not just brains,

Tjetra qe dine besimet eshte qe ne s'jemi vetem truri

we are also bodies.

jemi dhe trupi.

And when they teach us a lesson,

E, kur te mesojne nje mesim,

they do it via the body.

e bejne nepermjet trurit.

So for example,

Per shembull

take the Jewish idea of forgiveness.

merrni idene Hebre te faljes.

Jews are very interested in forgiveness

Hebrenjte jane shume te interesuar ne faljen

and how we should start anew and start afresh.

dhe si duhet te fillojme nga fillimi e te rinisim nga zero.

They don't just deliver us sermons on this.

Ata nuk bejne predikime mbi kete.

They don't just give us books or words about this.

Nuk japin libra apo fjale per diskutim.

They tell us to have a bath.

Ata thone te besh nje banjo.

So in Orthodox Jewish communities, every Friday you go to a Mikveh.

Ne komunitetet ortodokse hebre, cdo te premte shkohet ne nje Mikveh.

You immerse yourself in the water,

Zhytesh ne uje,

and a physical action backs up a philosophical idea.

dhe ky veprim fizik mbeshtet idene filozofike.

We don't tend to do that.

Ne s'jemi te prirur ta bejme ate.

Our ideas are in one area and our behavior with our bodies is in another.

Idete tona jane ne nje ane dhe sjellja me trupin eshte ne anen tjeter.

Religions are fascinating in the way they try and combine the two.

Besimet e bejne jashtzakonisht mire kombinimin e ketyre te dyjave.

Let's look at art now.

Te shohim artin.

Now art is something that in the secular world,

Arti eshte dicka qe vleresohet ne boten laike.

we think very highly of. We think art is really, really important.

Mendojme qe arti eshte shume shume i rendesishem.

A lot of our surplus wealth goes to museums, etc.

Nje pjese e madhe e suficitit te pasurise shkon te muzeumet, etj.

We sometimes hear it said

Shpesh degjojme te thuhet

that museums are our new cathedrals, or our new churches.

qe muzeumet jane katedralet ose kishat e reja.

You've heard that saying.

E keni degjuar kete thenie.

Now I think that the potential is there,

Mendoj se potenciali eshte aty,

but we've completely let ourselves down.

por s'e kemi bere.

And the reason we've let ourselves down

Dhe, arsyeja eshte

is that we're not properly studying

qe nuk po studiojme si duhet

how religions handle art.

sesi besimet merren me artin.

The two really bad ideas that are hovering in the modern world

Dy ide jo te mira qe vertiten ne boten moderne

that inhibit our capacity to draw strength from art:

qe shterojne fuqine tone per te marre force nga arti:

The first idea is that art should be for art's sake --

Idea e pare eshte qe arti duhet te jete

a ridiculous idea --

per art--nje ide qesharake--

an idea that art should live in a hermetic bubble

nje ide qe arti duhet te mbahet ne nje fllucke hermetike

and should not try to do anything with this troubled world.

dhe s'duhet te perfshihet ne kete bote te turbulluar.

I couldn't disagree more.

Nuk jam dakort fare.

The other thing that we believe is that art shouldn't explain itself,

Tjetra qe besojme eshte se arti s'duhet te shpjegoje vetveten,

that artists shouldn't say what they're up to,

artistet s'duhet te tregojne cfare ndodh aty,

because if they said it, it might destroy the spell

sepse nese e thone, do te humbte magjine

and we might find it too easy.

dhe do ta shihnim si dicka te thjeshte.

That's why a very common feeling when you're in a museum --

Ja sepse nje ndjenje e perbashket, kur jeni ne muzeum--

let's admit it --

le ta pranojme--

is, "I don't know what this is about."

eshte, "S'e kuptoj c'eshte".

But if we're serious people, we don't admit to that.

Por, nese jemi serioze, nuk e pranojme kete.

But that feeling of puzzlement is structural

Por kjo ndjenje konfuzimi eshte strukturale

to contemporary art.

ne artin bashkekohor.

Now religions have a much saner attitude to art.

Religjionet kane nje qendrim mjaft me normal ndaj artit.

They have no trouble telling us what art is about.

S'kane problem te na thone cfare trajton arti.

Art is about two things in all the major faiths.

Arti eshte rreth dy gjerave ne te gjitha besimet kryesore.

Firstly, it's trying to remind you

E para, perpiqet tju kujtoje

of what there is to love.

cfare duhet te duash.

And secondly, it's trying to remind you

E dyta, perpiqet tju kujtoje

of what there is to fear and to hate.

cfare duhet te kesh frike e te urresh.

And that's what art is.

Ky eshte arti.

Art is a visceral encounter with the most important ideas of your faith.

Arti eshte nje takim vicioz me idete kryesore te besimit.

So as you walk around a church,

Ndersa ecen ne nje kishe,

or a mosque or a cathedral,

xhami apo katedrale,

what you're trying to imbibe, what you're imbibing is,

ajo qe perpiqesh te asimilosh eshte,

through your eyes, through your senses,

me syte tuaj, me senset,

truths that have otherwise come to you through your mind.

te verteta qe perndryshe do tju vinin vetem nga mendimi.

Essentially it's propaganda.

Kryesisht eshte propagande.

Rembrandt is a propagandist

Rembrandi, ne pikeveshtrimin kristian,

in the Christian view.

ishte nje propagandist.

Now the word "propaganda" sets off alarm bells.

Tani, fjala "propagande" krijon alarm.

We think of Hitler, we think of Stalin. Don't, necessarily.

Na vjen ne mend Hitleri, Stalini. Jo medoemos.

Propaganda is a manner of being didactic in honor of something.

Propaganda eshte menyra e te qenit didaktik ne respekt te dickaje.

And if that thing is good, there's no problem with it at all.

Dhe, nese ajo eshte gje e mire, s'ka asnje roblem.

My view is that museums should take a leaf out of the book of religions.

Une mendoj qe muzeumet duhet te shkulin nje flete nga libri i religjioneve.

And they should make sure that when you walk into a museum --

Dhe, te sigurohen qe kur hyjme ne nje muze --

if I was a museum curator,

nese une do te isha pergjegjesi,

I would make a room for love, a room for generosity.

do te beja nje dhome per dashurine, nje per bujarine.

All works of art are talking to us about things.

Te gjitha veprat e artit na thone dicka.

And if we were able to arrange spaces

Dhe, nese do ishim ne gjendje te organizonim hapsirat

where we could come across works

ne menyre qe te mund te gjendemi perballe veprave

where we would be told, use these works of art

ku te na thuhet, perdorni keto vepra arti

to cement these ideas in your mind,

qe te ngulisni ne mendje keto ide,

we would get a lot more out of art.

do te mesonim me shume nga arti.

Art would pick up the duty that it used to have

Arti do te merrte detyren qe ka pasur

and that we've neglected because of certain mis-founded ideas.

dhe qe e kemi neglizhuar per shkak te ideve pa baze.

Art should be one of the tools

Arti duhet te jete nje nga keto instrumenta

by which we improve our society.

qe ne permiresojme shoqerine.

Art should be didactic.

Arti duhet te jete didaktik.

Let's think of something else.

Le te mendojme dicka tjeter.

The people in the modern world, in the secular world,

Njerezit ne boten moderne, laike,

who are interested in matters of the spirit,

te interesuar ne ceshtje spirituale,

in matters of the mind,

ne ceshtje te mendjes,

in higher soul-like concerns,

ne ceshtje shpirterore me te larta,

tend to be isolated individuals.

kane prirje te jene individe me te izoluar.

They're poets, they're philosophers, they're photographers, they're filmmakers.

Jane poete, filozofe, fotografe, regjizore.

And they tend to be on their own.

Ata perpiqen te jene me vete.

They're our cottage industries. They are vulnerable, single people.

Ata jane industria e vogel. Jane te rrezikuar, njerez te vetem.

And they get depressed and they get sad on their own.

Ata depresohen dhe merziten me vete.

And they don't really change much.

Ata nuk ndryshojne shume.

Now think about religions, think about organized religions.

Tani mendo per fete e organizuara.

What do organized religions do?

Cfare bejne ato?

They group together, they form institutions.

Grupohen bashke, krijojne institucione.

And that has all sorts of advantages.

Kjo ka lloj lloj avantazhesh.

First of all, scale, might.

Para se gjithash, shkalla, forca.

The Catholic Church pulled in 97 billion dollars last year

Kisha Katolike ka mbledhur 97 miliard dollare vitin qe kaloi

according to the Wall Street Journal.

sipas Wall Street Journal.

These are massive machines.

Jane makina masive.

They're collaborative, they're branded, they're multinational,

Ato bashkepunojne, jane marke, jane shumekombeshe,

and they're highly disciplined.

dhe jane shume te disiplinuara.

These are all very good qualities.

Keto jane vecori shume te mira.

We recognize them in relation to corporations.

I vleresojme ato ne korporatat.

And corporations are very like religions in many ways,

Korporatat jane shume te ngjashme me fete ne shume drejtime,

except they're right down at the bottom of the pyramid of needs.

pervec se ato jane ne nivelin me te ulet te piramides se nevojave.

They're selling us shoes and cars.

Ato na shesin kepuce e makina.

Whereas the people who are selling us the higher stuff --

Nderkohe njerezit qe na shesin gjera te nivelit me te larte --

the therapists, the poets --

terapistet, poetet --

are on their own and they have no power,

jane per llogarine e tyre dhe nuk kane fuqi,

they have no might.

nuk kane force.

So religions are the foremost example

Religjionet jane shembulli me i dukshem

of an institution that is fighting for the things of the mind.

i nje institucioni qe lufton per gjerat e mendjes.

Now we may not agree with what religions are trying to teach us,

Ne mund te mos jemi dakort me ate qe ato perpiqen

but we can admire the institutional way

te na mesojne, por admirojme menyren

in which they're doing it.

institucionale qe perdorin.

Books alone, books written by lone individuals,

Librat vetem, te shkruar nga individuale te vetmuar,

are not going to change anything.

nuk do te ndryshojne asgje.

We need to group together.

Duhet te bashkohemi.

If you want to change the world, you have to group together, you have to be collaborative.

Nese do te ndryshosh boten, duhet te bashkohesh, te bashkeveprosh.

And that's what religions do.

Kete bejne besimet.

They are multinational, as I say,

Jane shumekombeshe,

they are branded, they have a clear identity,

kane nje marke, nje identitet te qarte,

so they don't get lost in a busy world.

nuk humbasin ne boten e zhurmshme.

That's something we can learn from.

Kjo eshte dicka qe mund te mesojme prej tyre.

I want to conclude.

Dua te perfundoj.

Really what I want to say

Ne fakt ajo qe doja te thoja

is for many of you who are operating in a range of different fields,

per shume nga ju qe operoni ne sektore te ndryshem,

there is something to learn from the example of religion --

mund te mesosh dicka nga shembulli i fese --

even if you don't believe any of it.

edhe pse nuk beson ndonje.

If you're involved in anything that's communal,

Nese merrni pjese ne dicka kolektive,

that involves lots of people getting together,

qe perfshin shume njerez se bashku,

there are things for you in religion.

mund te gjeni gjera tek feja.

If you're involved, say, in a travel industry in any way,

Nese punoni, le te themi, ne sektorin e udhetimit,

look at pilgrimage.

shihni pelegrinazhin.

Look very closely at pilgrimage.

Veshtro me kujdes pelegrinazhin.

We haven't begun to scratch the surface

Akoma nuk kemi filluar te gervishtim cipen

of what travel could be

se cfare eshte udhetimi

because we haven't looked at what religions do with travel.

sepse s'kemi pare cfare ben feja me udhetimin.

If you're in the art world,

Nese jeni ne boten e artit,

look at the example of what religions are doing with art.

shihni shembullin cfare ben feja me artin.

And if you're an educator in any way,

Nese jeni mesues

again, look at how religions are spreading ideas.

prape, shih se si feja i shperndan idete.

You may not agree with the ideas,

Mund te mos biesh dakord me idete,

but my goodness, they're highly effective mechanisms for doing so.

por, ato kane mekanizma shume efikase.

So really my concluding point

Konkluzioni eshte

is you may not agree with religion,

ju mund te mos bini dakort me fene,

but at the end of the day,

por ne fund te fundit,

religions are so subtle, so complicated,

fete jane kaq te holla, kaq te komplikuara,

so intelligent in many ways

kaq inteligjente ne shume menyra

that they're not fit to be abandoned to the religious alone;

saqe s'duhet ti lihen vetem besimtareve;

they're for all of us.

jane per te gjithe.

Thank you very much.

Falemnderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

Chris Anderson: Now this is actually a courageous talk,

Chris Anderson: Ky eshte nje fjalim kurajoz,

because you're kind of setting up yourself in some ways

sepse po e fut veten ne nje menyre

to be ridiculed in some quarters.

qe t'ju qeshin ne disa vende.

AB: You can get shot by both sides.

AB: Mund te qellohesh nga te dy anet.

You can get shot by the hard-headed atheists,

Qellohesh si nga ateistet kokeforte,

and you can get shot by those who fully believe.

po ashtu qellohesh nga ata qe besojne plotesisht.

CA: Incoming missiles from North Oxford at any moment.

CA: Raketa te nisura nga North Oxford priten ne cdo moment.

AB: Indeed.

AB: Vertet.

CA: But you left out one aspect of religion

CA: Por ju s'permendet nje aspekt te fese

that a lot of people might say

qe sipas shume njerezve

your agenda could borrow from,

mund ta kishit perfshire ne program,

which is this sense --

qe eshte sensi --

that's actually probably the most important thing to anyone who's religious --

ajo qe ne realitet eshte ndoshta gjeja me e rendesishme per fetaret --

of spiritual experience,

eksperienca spirituale

of some kind of connection

e nje lloj lidhjeje

with something that's bigger than you are.

me dicka me te madhe se ju.

Is there any room for that experience in Atheism 2.0?

A ka vend per kete eksperience ne Ateizmin 2.0?

AB: Absolutely. I, like many of you, meet people

AB: Absolutisht. Si shume nga, une takoj njerez

who say things like, "But isn't there something bigger than us,

qe thone, "Nuk eshte dicka me e madhe se ne,

something else?"

dicka tjeter?"

And I say, "Of course." And they say, "So aren't you sort of religious?"

Une them, "Sigurisht." Me thone, "Je ne ndonje menyre fetar?"

And I go, "No." Why does that sense of mystery,

I them, "Jo". Pse ky sens misteri,

that sense of the dizzying scale of the universe,

i universit te pafund,

need to be accompanied by a mystical feeling?

duhet te shoqerohet nga nje ndjenje mistike?

Science and just observation

Shkenca dhe vete observimi

gives us that feeling without it,

na japin kete ndjenje

so I don't feel the need.

keshtu qe nuk e ndjej nevojen.

The universe is large and we are tiny,

Universi eshte i madh e ne jemi te vegjel,

without the need for further religious superstructure.

pa nevojen e superstrukturave religjioze.

So one can have so-called spiritual moments

Njeriu mund te kete momente te quajtura spirituale

without belief in the spirit.

pa besuar ne shpirt.

CA: Actually, let me just ask a question.

CA: Le t'ju bej nje pyetje.

How many people here would say

Sa njerez ketu do te thoshin

that religion is important to them?

se feja eshte e rendesishme per ta?

Is there an equivalent process

A ka nje proces ekuivalent

by which there's a sort of bridge

sipas te cilit ka nje ure midis

between what you're talking about and what you would say to them?

asaj qe po flisni dhe asaj qe do ti thonit atyre?

AB: I would say that there are many, many gaps in secular life

AB: Do tu thoja qe ka aq shume boshlleqe ne jeten laike

and these can be plugged.

dhe ato mund te mbyllen.

It's not as though, as I try to suggest,

Nuk eshte se, sic po sugjeroj,

it's not as though either you have religion

nuk eshte se ju ose jeni fetare

and then you have to accept all sorts of things,

dhe duhet te pranoni gjithcka,

or you don't have religion

ose s'jeni fetare

and then you're cut off from all these very good things.

dhe jeni privuar nga gjithe te mirat.

It's so sad that we constantly say,

Eshte e trishte qe te thuash vazhdimisht,

"I don't believe so I can't have community,

"Une s'besoj keshtu qe s'kam komunitet,

so I'm cut off from morality,

jam privuar nga moraliteti,

so I can't go on a pilgrimage."

keshtu, s'bej dot pelegrinazh."

One wants to say, "Nonsense. Why not?"

Njeri do thoshte, "Absurde, Pse jo?"

And that's really the spirit of my talk.

Ky eshte shpirti i vertete i fjalimit tim.

There's so much we can absorb.

Kemi kaq shume gjera per te thithur.

Atheism shouldn't cut itself off from the rich sources of religion.

Ateizmi nuk duhet ta ndaje veten nga burimet e pasura te fese.

CA: It seems to me that there's plenty of people in the TED community

CA: Mua me duket se ka shume ateiste

who are atheists.

ne komunitetin e TED.

But probably most people in the community

Por ndoshta shume nga ata

certainly don't think that religion is going away any time soon

nuk mendojne se feja do te zhduket se shpejti

and want to find the language

dhe duan te gjejne nje gjuhe

to have a constructive dialogue

te kene nje dialog konstruktiv

and to feel like we can actually talk to each other

dhe te ndjejne se mund te flasim me njeri tjetrin

and at least share some things in common.

dhe te pakten te ndajne disa gjera te perbashketa.

Are we foolish to be optimistic

Eshte qesharake te jesh optimist

about the possibility of a world

rreth mundesise se nje bote

where, instead of religion being the great rallying cry

ku, ne vend te fese qe ben ligjin

of divide and war,

te ndarjes dhe luftes,

that there could be bridging?

mund te kete lidhje?

AB: No, we need to be polite about differences.

AB: Jo, duhet te respektojme diferencat.

Politeness is a much-overlooked virtue.

Respekti eshte nje virtut shume i neglizhuar.

It's seen as hypocrisy.

Shihet si hipokrizi.

But we need to get to a stage when you're an atheist

Por duhet te arrijme te nje pike ku je ateist

and someone says, "Well you know, I did pray the other day,"

dhe dikush thote, "Une u luta nje dite",

you politely ignore it.

ta injorosh me miresjellje.

You move on.

Ti vazhdon punen tende.

Because you've agreed on 90 percent of things,

Sepse ju bini dakort ne 90 perqind te gjerave,

because you have a shared view on so many things,

ndani te njejtin pikeveshtrim ne shume gjera,

and you politely differ.

dhe me miresjellje mendoni ndryshe.

And I think that's what the religious wars of late have ignored.

Mendoj qe kete kane injoruar luftrat e fese.

They've ignored the possibility of harmonious disagreement.

Ato kane injoruar mundesine e mospajtimit te harmonishem.

CA: And finally, does this new thing that you're proposing

CA: Dhe ne fund, kjo gje e re qe propozoni

that's not a religion but something else,

qe nuk eshte besim, por dicka tjeter,

does it need a leader,

i duhet nje krye,

and are you volunteering to be the pope?

po del vullnetar te jesh papa?

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

AB: Well, one thing that we're all very suspicious of

AB: Nje gje qe kemi dyshim

is individual leaders.

jane kreret individuale

It doesn't need it.

Nuk ka nevoje.

What I've tried to lay out is a framework

Ajo qe po kerkoj te krijoj eshte nje strukture

and I'm hoping that people can just fill it in.

e shpresoj qe njerezit do ta mbushin.

I've sketched a sort of broad framework.

Kam krijuar nje lloj skeleti base.

But wherever you are, as I say, if you're in the travel industry, do that travel bit.

Por kudo qe jeni, sic thashe, ne sektorin e udhetimit, bej ca udhetime te tilla.

If you're in the communal industry, look at religion and do the communal bit.

Nese je ne industrine komunitare, veshtro te feja e merr sugjerime.

So it's a wiki project.

Eshte nje wiki projekt.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

CA: Alain, thank you for sparking many conversations later.

CA: Alain, falemnderit per bisedimet qe do ndezesh me vone.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)