I kept one eye on the horizon, one eye on the other end of the lifeboat.
People move in the hope of a better life.
I don’t believe in religion. Religion is darkness.
Animals are also poisoned. And there are indecencies.
For example – I wonder – could you tell my jumbled story in exactly one hundred chapters, not one more, not one less? I’ll tell you, that’s one thing I hate about my nickname, the way that number runs on forever. It’s important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go.
The obsession with putting ourselves at the centre of everything is the bane not only of theologians but also of zoologists.
How do you live with evil? Art is traditionally – certainly with my secular background – the answer, but art is very self-referential, whereas religion claims to go beyond the bounds of human existence.
I cannot think of a better way to spread the faith. No thundering from a pulpit, no condemnation from bad churches, no peer pressure, just a book of scripture quietly waiting to say hello, as gentle and powerful as a little girl’s kiss on your cheek.
Truth is a nebulous thing. There are certain, definite truths, but the truth of our lives goes far beyond facts.
Afterwards, when it’s all over, you meet God. What do you say to God?
I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.
Just as art brings you to another place, so does religion – and to ask questions of factuality tends to reduce both. If you say you were inspired by a novel, that implies that your book is a work of fiction.
Fanatics do not have faith – they have belief. With faith you let go. You trust. Whereas with belief you cling.
Even when God seemed to have abandoned me, he was watching. Even when he seemed indifferent to my suffering, he was watching. And when I was beyond all hope of saving, he gave me rest. Then he gave me a sign to continue my journey.
To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity.
A movie tends to box you in, at least as far as the aesthetics. You have an incredibly kinetic experience, which is the joy of cinema.
Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science.
To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.
I love cinema. I think the risk of the aesthetics being fixed is compensated by other advantages. Cinema is visually powerful, it is a complete experience, reaches different audience. It’s something I really like. I like movies.
Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love – but sometimes it was so hard to love.