Café Grundmann - an art deco cafe with some of the best cakes and tortes in Leipzig
The corner of August Bebel Straße, with many Gründerzeit buildings.
The tramstop Südplatz - I am here virtually every day.
KillyWilly - an Irish pub at Südplatz; Leipzig has several Irish watering holes.
When I returned from Texas in April, I was back in my daily life here, traveling down these streets, as well as many other streets, and interacting with people again. Here in East Germany there are many people with little or no connection to religion, often called atheists. This is one of the results of fifty years of a state-sponsored socialist dictatorship.
In relating to my friends and acquaintances how I had lost my mother, I usually mentioned my faith and my conviction that I will see all my family members again. In response to this, I got, in essence the following reactions:
- silence, meaning the person did not show a reaction to my expression of faith in a life after this life.
- respect for my conviction, since it helps me deal with the tragedy.
- the most considerate response: "Why not? Since millions of people on earth believe in life after this life, there must something important there that helps a lot of people."
I also spoke with the pedagogical manager of a language school I work for. The manager is a Christian and grew up in East Germany. So I asked her how most people here deal with death in their immediate family. The answer: it is an extremely difficult situation. For them death is an enemy you can do nothing about, so just avoid it as long as possible. It is the end of all things, after which we know nothing.
In an unexpected turn, this lack of support from a number of people has actually given me strength. Even though the death of a parent is a rift in your life, I focus even more on the coming permanent reunion and gain strength from this hope. But what would there be without this hope?
3 Kommentare:
Beliefs are such a very personal thing. That's why they are called beliefs- it is something we do not know to be true, but we believe to be true, at least for ourselves. As long as they don't lead us to actions which could cause harm to others, all beliefs should be accepted. Even better than just accepting them would be if we tried to understand why a certain person finds comfort or truth in certain belief.
Yes, we should hope beliefs are very personal, otherwise they are simply asumptions. But, on the other hand, since they address existential concerns - the meaning of life, death, and eternity - they should be on a different level than simpy a "belief". English has the nice distinction between "believe" and "faith" that some other languages don't know in that way. Are they simply talismans or "lucky charms" that get us through the day, or are they deeper convictions effecting more than just the crisis of the moment?
I think I can bring my thoughts to a point better. Many friends and acquaintances here feel that either we do not know what happens to us after death, or we cease to exist forever. This does, indeed, seem very hopeless.
If I remember my religion survey courses, most relgions (some consider Daoism and Buddhism to not be real religions) consider their tenets of faith to be firm and true, and since followers still sometimes die for these convictions, I am sure they feel convinced that their tenets of faith are certain. This insight does not require adherants of faith systems to harm others, but it can cause conflict as differing convictions collide. Conflict can be constructive or destructive.
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