The view from top
The
theme of today's visit is "religious tour", in which the destinations
are Umm Rassass, Madaba and Mount Nebo, however, the most intriguing experience
I found in Mount Nebo. Mount Nebo is famous as a destination for religious
tour, specifically the Christian pilgrimage. In the Bible it was mentioned that
Mount Nebo is the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised
Land. This place is also considered as the place where Moses was buried.
This fact is, nevertheless, true according to the Christian belief. It is
interesting to question, whether this fact is "true" for all people?
As an example, because I was brought up with a Muslim belief, I did not
recognize Mount Nebo as part of the Prophet Moses's journey; only the story of
the Sinai hill is regarded as important. The two perspectives might have the
same root, however the details become different. This shows that there are
certain "facts" that are "true" for some people, but not
for the others. This idea reminds me of the concept explained by Urry (2002),
the "postmodernism" concept. Postmodernism approach suggests that
there is no single truth regarding an instance. Rather, the truth is composed
of pieces of information gathered from different perspectives, to create a
bigger picture. Contrary to previous beliefs, the postmodernism approach is
skeptical to the grand narratives. It believes that knowledge is produced by
human, and thus it is socially constructed. Of course, if we relate back to the
previous example, a fundamental difference is present as it is related to
people’s beliefs. However, the
postmodernism approach is useful to better understand the process in which one
story can have so many different versions and details, even according to the
same belief. It shows that facts and knowledge are produced in particular
social and historical context.
References:
- Urry, J. (2002). The tourist gaze. Sage.
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