Re: loss of the creature


Subject: Re: loss of the creature
From: David Trotter (dtrotter@HRW.COM)
Date: Wed Sep 01 1999 - 11:10:58 EDT


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>Seriously, though, the collapse of any Romantic image is inevitable, whether
>it be the Grand Canyon, Yosemite etc....Tourism has been fueled by the lust
>for the excitement provided by the exotic/erotic. The secular substitute for
>faith.

Jim,

For the public at large, is it an entirely secular substitute for faith, or is
it possible that it's some kind of unconscious pantheism? Is it still, in other
words, a quest for faith of a different breed, the need to believe, yet at the
same time distance oneself from religious affiliation and all the obligations
that go with it?

I wholeheartedly agree about part of the motivation behind tourism being the
lust for the exotic. We all do that, to a degree. But I haven't been to the
Grand Canyon since I was a kid, and I had the postcard experience
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?I never made
it past the rails. The awe is long gone from waking consciousness, but=
 the
singular snapshot image prevails.

I also haven't been to a church service in years (sadly, I still consid=
er myself
a pretty good Methodist), but the need to believe itself is strong. I'=
ll take
my communion wherever I can get it.

What do you think?

Dave T.

=

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