Tinker Creek is a kind of church—if you don't mind your church being full of muskrats and predatory insects—and Dillard asks lot of big questions about God in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The biggest is whether he (we're going to say he for simplicity's sake) created the universe in earnest, or as a big practical joke. She cites a number of religious leaders and rituals in an effort to understand whether or not the creator has any love for his creations. If there is a God, she reasons, he's pretty inefficient—he creates ad nauseam, while watching his creations die.
Questions About Spirituality
- Do we become more self-conscious as we get older? Are teenagers more self-conscious than children? Are adults more self-conscious than teens? If so, what causes the increase?
- Annie states that faith is the difference between asking how we were made versus why. Which question do you think is more easily answered?
- In what ways does religion teach us how to see? In what ways does it inhibit our ability to see?
Chew on This
Questioning the existence and motivation of God can either lead to a stronger faith or the loss of faith.
You can see the beauty of nature as proof of God's love, or the brutality of nature as proof of his sadism. Once again, it's all about perception.