For our last meeting of the term, we watched “A.J. Jacobs’ year of living biblically.” Jacobs is a writer for Esquire magazine, and enjoys living life as a series of experiments. One such experiment entailed him living his life according to the laws of The Bible as closely as possible. Watch the video for some entertaining anecdotes and a few lessons he learned along the way.

One key point was that everyone picks and chooses when it comes to religion — what he and many others call “cafeteria religion,” picking the good stuff and avoiding whatever turns your stomach. No matter how literally people think they take The Bible, they’re pretty much always filtering it somehow because a lot of it is just crazy in modern society.

Another of Jacobs’ takeaways was “Thou shalt not disregard the irrational” — a point that was difficult for him to admit at first as an agnostic with a scientific worldview. But he observed throughout his year that rituals, Biblical or not, give us a sense of meaning whether or not they make sense. He also came to appreciate the concept of sacredness — keeping the sabbath, having respect for rituals. This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about since watching Letting Go of God; religion builds in time and space for reflection, which is something I miss. I love the art and architecture of churches, and wish there were comparable secular spaces. Sure, we have libraries and museums and whatnot…but it would be nice to have some place dedicated to nothing other than introspection and discussion and taking a break from the bustling world.

Well, that concludes our first full term of activity. Thanks to everyone who’s made it out, and if you haven’t, we hope to see you next term! If you have any ideas for events, let us know. Good luck on finals and have a great spring break!

Tags: A.J. Jacobs, Bible, cafeteria religion, literal interpretation, ritual, sacredness, TED, videos