Fanaticism

My friend in the library told me this morning that he was going to "watch some [basket]ball this weekend." He said he was still feeling a little down over our local men's collegiate basketball team's failure to reach The Final Four. (Next day's front-page headline of Raleigh's News and Observer was "Tar Heels Collapse." Note, this was the front front page, not the sports front page. Basketball is big in Carolina.)

I told my library friend that that was the trouble with being a fanatic: you'll be disappointed a lot.

Hmm, he observed, "there are around three hundred Division A collegiate basketball teams. Most fans are going to be disappointed."

Remember that "fans" is short for "fanatics."

I talked with another sort of fan on the commute bus a couple of days ago. She's a devout Christian, and we've discussed religion. She knows I am not a devout Christian, but a skeptical one at best. I told her about my reading of Muhammad Asad's extraordinary memoir, The Road to Mecca. I told her he is the man who wrote the 12-pound book, The Message of the Qur'an. I told her I'm reading the Qur'an, in Thomas Cleary's English translation.

Well, my commute friend (we are friends; we respect and care about one another) frowned and warned me to be wary of Islam. "The Qur'an isn't the word of God."

"You seem pretty sure or that."

She affirmed that indeed she was. And she said it again, "The Qur'an isn't the word of God."

That's the other kind of fan I was referring to. Both types of fan don't "believe all things," obviously. Basketball fans don't believe that basketball is just a game. (I'd add "stupid" to that, but then, I guess I'd be a sort of fanatic myself.) My library friend did agree with me, however, when I said that if fans could step back and adopt "a more philosophical view of life" they'd be a lot happier.

And, of course, my Christian friend doesn't believe all things. In fact, she corrected my understanding of Paul's essay on charity (love) in his letter to the Corinthians. "He's talking about human relationships," she said, "about being open and accepting."

I can accept that, believe it. But I still believe the larger (if incorrect) interpretation of "believeth all things." It might be necessary to overcome fanaticism.

And frequent disappointment. I wonder how often my Christian friend is disappointed. She's a lovely person (and a beautiful woman). I would want happiness for her. Aside from her fanaticism, she deserves it.