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A Leap of Faith
Okay, so I know that Dawson’s Creek isn’t everyone’s basis for religious analysis, but try to follow me here. In the show’s series finale, as Jen Lindley makes the final preparations before her impending death, she films a farewell documentary for her baby daughter. In this video, she provides a list of hopes for her daughter’s life. The one wish that stuck in my mind --- and made the "Put-In-A-Dawson’s-Creek-Quote" switch go off in my head --- was a wish for her to establish a belief in God: "God. I've never really believed in God. In fact, I've spent a lot of time and energy trying to disprove that God exists. But I hope that you are able to believe in God, because the thing that I've come to realize, sweetheart... is that it just doesn't matter if God exists or not. The important thing is for you to believe in something, because I promise you that that belief will keep you warm at night, and I want you to feel safe always." As a season 1/season 2 Dawson’s Creek fan who tuned in to this series finale out of pure nostalgia, I can’t vouch for Jen’s struggles or progression toward religious awareness. But since hearing these words, I have begun to think a lot about leaps of faith.
I’ll be honest with you -- I’m not sure what I think about the Torah’s accuracy. I don’t know if I believe in a revelation at Mount Sinai. I don't know if I believe that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, Noah survived the flood or that Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. What I do know is that Judaism has been the foundation and focus of my life for as long as I can remember. So how do I reconcile these beliefs? I don't have any way to confirm the origins of the Torah or its historical accuracy, but it still provides the basis for my life. What does that mean to me? In the past, I have resolved this by thinking of the Torah as a series of stories, meant to teach us lessons about the way we are living our lives. In that way, I could follow the messages of the Torah, without getting hung up on their origins. But I think this mindset has really caused me to be more cynical, rather than to help me find meaning in the teachings of my ancestors. If the Torah is nothing but a series of stories, then what makes it different from any story, fairy tale or myth? Why would people live their lives according to an arbitrary compilation of seemingly impossible tales? Which leads me back to Jen. If a belief in God can provide you with comfort, then maybe a belief in Torah can, too. Maybe I would feel more connected to rituals if I felt more connected to their origins. And maybe the Torah's accuracy doesn't matter. Maybe faith itself can provide us with the sense of purpose that we all yearn to find. If we follow religion with our heart, rather than our head, perhaps we can better understand the teachings of our ancestors. Maybe the act of believing and the notion of faith are more important than finding the truth. Maybe instead of striving to understand, we should strive to believe. [Posted 3/29/06]
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By Alyssa Appelman