Analysis

'Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; still we grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind..."

I appreciated class today. The loose ends that were tied together made a lot of sense to me. The whole idea of the importance of analysis help clear things up a lot for me. One of my resistances in this class was that I felt the mind was being downplayed completely.

But it really is so hard to walk the fine line between going too far on the "reason" side of things and then too far on the "emotion" side of things. I really do believe that analysis helps us to evaluate our beliefs, and that plays a big role in what we choose to believe. But ultimately (and this is what we've been saying all along, I think, starting with Augustine), analysis can only get us so far. When it comes to religion there comes a point when we just have to say: "this makes sense to me, but I recognize that this is a faith leap."

In my own experience, as I've mentioned in other blogs, I went through a time of questioning and doubt. But, like Wordsworth asserts, that period of doubt really helped to solifify my faith in God. There was reason and analysis, but there was also a sense of not being able to abandon this faith tradition because it means something to me. Like Augustine, I came to Christianity not as an answer to all my questions, but as a way to ask more questions while still being assured. Does that make any sense at all?