{"id":874,"date":"2025-11-13T21:42:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/?page_id=874"},"modified":"2025-11-13T21:42:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:42:53","slug":"anna-kontula","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/endorsements\/anna-kontula\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Kontula"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"874\" class=\"elementor elementor-874\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-28ff6cf e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"28ff6cf\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-544bfb6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-shortcode\" data-id=\"544bfb6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"shortcode.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div 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data-id=\"df6cf10\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"icon.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-icon-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/endorsements\/\">\n\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-arrow-left\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M257.5 445.1l-22.2 22.2c-9.4 9.4-24.6 9.4-33.9 0L7 273c-9.4-9.4-9.4-24.6 0-33.9L201.4 44.7c9.4-9.4 24.6-9.4 33.9 0l22.2 22.2c9.5 9.5 9.3 25-.4 34.3L136.6 216H424c13.3 0 24 10.7 24 24v32c0 13.3-10.7 24-24 24H136.6l120.5 114.8c9.8 9.3 10 24.8.4 34.3z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-12ee28f e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"12ee28f\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-91388da elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"91388da\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p1\">The Duck Considers Eternity<\/p><p class=\"p1\">The existence of God, the limits of science, Nietzsche, yoga, silence \u2013 it\u2019s all there in one neat package. The premise of the book in a nutshell: over the course of just over 3000 panels, a duck tells us all there is to know about transcendence.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">Although the work doesn&#8217;t really say anything new about topics that cannot be discussed, it presents a beautiful defence of why it&#8217;s worth trying.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">Every now and then, someone publishes a popular science book containing dialogues between dignitaries of science and religion. Most of them are abhorrent. On one side is usually someone whose identity is so staunchly built on atheism and science that their main message becomes their total blindness to anything beyond their own understanding.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>On the other side, the religious scholar who, forced into this firmly worldly debate, cannot even convince believers of the existence of Heaven.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">However, Gloves Come Off manages to be popular without being embarrassing. It begins by dismantling the usual arguments against religion and spirituality, one by one. It then moves on to consider whether, if conventional arguments do not stand up to scrutiny, there are better ones out there somewhere. Is it even possible to find information about things like ethics, beauty, or God?<\/p><p class=\"p1\">Overall, the book is a healthy reminder of the limitations of science. Indeed, it\u2019s been almost 400 years since the Scientific Revolution, and we still live in a world of mystery!<\/p><p class=\"p1\">I did glean from the book the inference that pursuing knowledge and understanding of any and all subjects is inherently worthwhile. I&#8217;m not sure that it is. I don&#8217;t think I would want to live in a world where all miracles could be explained and all questions answered. It wouldn&#8217;t be fun, and it would certainly not be safe &#8211; the last centuries have shown that in his hubris, man is more adept at collecting information than using it wisely.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">The rhythm and intimacy of the comic book format make difficult issues easier to approach and force the reader to slow down at sharp turns. The form (perhaps intentionally?) foreshadows the final denouement, the search for answers in poetry and its imagery when empirical science meets its limits.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">However, this idea fails to come to fruition, as it always has. The fundamental problem is that all language is inherently worldly. If the word &#8216;comprehend&#8217; is derived from &#8216;grasping&#8217;, which derives from physically gripping objects with a hand, then concepts and our ability to comprehend them can never reach that which hands cannot grasp.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">While it is true that poetry can sometimes build understanding and truth better than science, the extent to which this results from a transfer of knowledge remains unanswered by this book. For instance, if a sacred text says that God is as deep as the sea, will that make me believe in, or even recognise, God?<\/p><p class=\"p1\">I doubt it.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">Perhaps it helps those who have already met God to rejoice in their spiritual experiences, but it does not communicate this knowledge beyond the experience. In this sense, the change in liturgical language during the Reformation must not have had much significance; vernacular words are just as useless as Latin. While reformism stripped churches of the trappings of experiential religiosity, it may even have weakened the transmission of information.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means for a secular Westerner to face an eco-catastrophe. There is nothing new about humans being confronted with their own limits and insignificance in the face of nature. But for the first time in tens of thousands of years, we are doing it without a god. Without the conviction that even though I don&#8217;t see any sense or justice in this, someone somewhere is pulling the strings.<\/p><p class=\"p1\">It can be psychologically important and unpredictable in its consequences. Time will tell.\u200b<\/p><p class=\"p1\">Either way, it is good that these issues are now being addressed.<\/p><p class=\"p1\"><em>Anna Kontula<\/em><br \/><em>Member of parliament, DsocSci<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Duck Considers Eternity The existence of God, the limits of science, Nietzsche, yoga, silence \u2013 it\u2019s all there in one neat package. The premise of the book in a nutshell: over the course of just over 3000 panels, a duck tells us all there is to know about transcendence. Although the work doesn&#8217;t really [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":24,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-874","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/874\/revisions\/878"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutetruthpress.com\/gloves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}