In the secular world we think, "If an idea is important, I'll bump into it. I'll just come across it."
在非宗教世界里,我们觉得 "我会毫无预兆就想到一个好主意,我是偶然想到的"
Nonsense, says the religious world view.
宗教人士会说 "胡扯"
Religious view says we need calendars, we need to structure time, we need to synchronize encounters.
宗教人士觉得我们需要日历,需要安排好时间,我们需要同步好想法和时间
This comes across also in the way in which religions set up rituals around important feelings.
这还帮助宗教们安排传统仪式和感受到特定的感情
Take the Moon. It's really important to look at the Moon.
就像月亮,看月亮是非常重要的
You know, when you look at the Moon, you think, "I'm really small. What are my problems?"
你看月亮的时候,你会想 "我真渺小,我有什么问题呢"
It sets things into perspective, etc., etc.
这帮助你从不同角度看世界
We should all look at the Moon a bit more often. We don't.
我们应该经常赏月,可是我们不这么做
Why don't we? Well there's nothing to tell us, "Look at the Moon."
为什么呢,因为光看月亮不会给我们什么信息
But if you're a Zen Buddhist in the middle of September,
但如果你是个信禅的,在九月中旬
you will be ordered out of your home, made to stand on a canonical platform and made to celebrate the festival of Tsukimi,
你会去一个专门的站台上,去庆祝月见节日
where you will be given poems to read in honor of the Moon and the passage of time
你会吟诗去赞赏月亮,你会阅读关于时间的文章
and the frailty of life that it should remind us of.
你会被重新提醒关于生命的脆弱
You'll be handed rice cakes.
你会收到米糕
And the Moon and the reflection on the Moon will have a secure place in your heart. That's very good.
而月亮和它的倒影会让你感到内心中的一片净土。这是很好的事情
The other thing that religions are really aware of is: speak well
宗教还注重另外一件事情就是去好好说话发言
I'm not doing a very good job of this here -- but oratory, oratory is absolutely key to religions.
虽然我的演讲不是很出色,但是演讲术对宗教来说是非常关键的
In the secular world, you can come through the university system and be a lousy speaker and still have a great career.
在非宗教世界里,你仍然可以有个很好的工作,即使你演讲说的很糟糕
But the religious world doesn't think that way.
但是在宗教世界里不是这样的
What you're saying needs to be backed up by a really convincing way of saying it.
你说的话必须要有说服力,去支持你的论点
So if you go to an African-American Pentecostalist church in the American South
如果你去一个在美国南部的非洲美国五旬节教会
and you listen to how they talk, my goodness, they talk well.
你会知道他们的演讲是如何出色
After every convincing point, people will go, "Amen, amen, amen."
每在说得好的地方,大家会说"阿门,阿门,阿门"
At the end of a really rousing paragraph, they'll all stand up,
在最后一段振奋人心的地方,大家都会站起来
and they'll go, "Thank you Jesus, thank you Christ, thank you Savior."
他们说 "谢谢你耶稣,谢谢上帝,谢谢救世主"
If we were doing it like they do it -- let's not do it, but if we were to do it --
如果我们像他们那样做--好吧算了,但如果我们真的做了--
I would tell you something like, "Culture should replace scripture."
我会告诉你们,文明文化应该代替教典
And you would go, "Amen, amen, amen."
然后你们会说 "阿门,阿门,阿门"
And at the end of my talk, you would all stand up and you would go, "Thank you Plato, thank you Shakespeare, thank you Jane Austen."
我演讲完的时候,你们应该都站起来,然后说 "谢谢你柏拉图,谢谢莎士比亚,谢谢简·奥斯汀"
And we'd know that we had a real rhythm going.
我们都知道你们会说的很好
All right, all right. We're getting there. We're getting there.
好了,快说到重点了