Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason

I've been a moderate Bill Moyers fan for many years. Most probably it is partially connected with growing up in the south and appreciating that intelligent commentary and reporting can come through a southern accent. So I was excited to see info about his newest PBS series, "Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason". Moyers took advantage of the PEN ((poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, and novelists) World Voices Festival 2006 gathering to interview contemporary writers on issues of faith and reason (the actual topic of this years festival).

An interview with Moyers appeard this past week in the San Francisco Chronicle, and he discusses the background of the series. Several quotes in the interview appealed to (and apply to) me:

"I practice what the Italian philosopher [Antonio] Gramsci called 'the pessimism of the mind' and 'the optimism of the will'. As a journalist, my job is to see the world as it is, without whitewash or illusion. But as a husband, father, grandfather and citizen, I don't know how to be in the world without expecting a confident future and getting up every morning to do what I can to help bring it about."

Speaking of his famous series "The Power of the Myth" and Joseph Campbell, he says:

"What [it] did for me, David, was to awaken me fully to the power of metaphors. 'Change the metaphors,' Campbell told me, 'and you can change the world.' "

I consider myself a "metaphor-driven" person. With a strongly intuitive temperment, I'm more often than not motiviated by inner or hidden meanings and metaphors rather than hard facts or single events.

The DVR will definitely be set for this series. It begins June 23 on PBS. You can find out when it can be viewed in your area here.