日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 27 Later that evening I overheard my parents speaking. You said yes? said Father. I believe he asked you too. You referred him to me, replied Mother. Did I? You did. I had a very busy day... Youre not busy now. Youre quite comfortably unempl... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 26 A few days after the meeting on the esplanade, I took my courage into my hands and went to see Father at his office. Father? Yes, Piscine. I would like to be baptized and I would like a prayer rug. My words intruded slowly. He looked up f... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 25 And that wasnt the end of it. There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by le... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 24 Ravi had a field day of it when he found out. So, Swami Jesus, will you go on the hajj this year? he said, bringing the palms of his hands together in front of his face in a reverent namaskar. Does Mecca beckon? He crossed himself. Or wil... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 23 Alas the sense of community that a common faith brings to a people spelled trouble for me. In time, my religious doings went from the notice of those to whom it didnt matter and only amused, to that of those to whom it did matter - and th... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 22 I can well imagine an atheists last words: White, white! L-L-Love! My God! - and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to ex... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 21 I am sitting in a downtown cafe, after, thinking. I have just spent most of an afternoon with him. Our encounters always leave me weary of the glum contentment that characterizes my life. What were those words he used that struck me? Ah,... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 20 He was a Sufi, a Muslim mystic. He sought fana, union with God, and his relationship with God was personal and loving. If you take two steps towards God, he used to tell me, God runs to you! He was a very plain-featured man, with nothing... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 19 I went to see him again. Whats your religion about? I asked. His eyes lit up. It is about the Beloved, he replied. I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit, and not to love it. It is a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devot... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 18 Islam followed right behind, hardly a year later. I was fifteen years old and I was exploring my hometown. The Muslim quarter wasnt far from the zoo. A small, quiet neighbourhood with Arabic writing and crescent moons inscribed on the fac... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 17 First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first. I owe to Hinduism the original landscape of my religious imagination, those towns and rivers, battlefields and forests, holy mountains and deep seas wh... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 16 We are all born like Catholics, arent we - in limbo, without religion, until some figure introduces us to God? After that meeting the matter ends for most of us. If there is a change, it is usually for the lesser rather than the greater;... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 15 His house is a temple. In the entrance hall hangs a framed picture of Ganesha, he of the elephant head. He sits facing out-rosy-coloured, pot-bellied, crowned and smiling - three hands holding various objects, the fourth held palm out in... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 14 It is interesting to note that the lion that is the most amenable to the circus trainers tricks is the one with the lowest social standing in the pride, the omega animal. It has the most to gain from a close relationship with the super-al... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 13 So you see, if you fall into a lions pit, the reason the lion will tear you to pieces is not because its hungry - be assured, zoo animals are amply fed - or because its bloodthirsty, but because youve invaded its territory. As an aside, t... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 12 At times he gets agitated. Its nothing I say (I say very little). Its his own story that does it. Memory is an ocean and he bobs on its surface. I worry that hell want to stop. But he wants to tell me his story. He goes on. After all thes... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 11 Consider the case of the female black leopard that escaped from the Zurich Zoo in the winter of 1933. She was new to the zoo and seemed to get along with the male leopard. But various paw injuries hinted at matrimonial strife. Before any... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 10 Yet there will always be animals that seek to escape from zoos. Animals that are kept in unsuitable enclosures are the most obvious example. Every animal has particular habitat needs that must be met. If its enclosure is too sunny or too... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 9 Getting animals used to the presence of humans is at the heart of the art and science of zookeeping. The key aim is to diminish an animals flight distance, which is the minimum distance at which an animal wants to keep a perceived enemy. A... 阅读全文>>

日期：2023-05-16 Chapter 8 We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man. In a general way we mean how our species excessive predatoriness has made the entire planet our prey. More specifically, we have in mind the people who feed fishh... 阅读全文>>