do you really believe in god?

I'm totally ripping this from a comment I just left on Kate's "Oh Mercy, and Heavens to Betsy!" post. Please forgive me.

The strength in human relationships lies within the factor of doubt.

This is, perhaps, a relatively outlandish statement when first considered. Do you really appreciate your friends because they're always there for you? Do you really love the Vancouver Canucks because you're confident they'll win the Cup this year? Do you worship/respect/whatever-it-is-you-religious-people-do your god(s) because of their omnipresence?

No. No. And no. You fear that your friends will no longer be there tomorrow. You expect the Canucks to exit in the first round, like they tend to every year. And you fear your god(s) because of their inability to create a utopia.

Before everyone tears my face off for that last one, let's back up a little. Belief and doubt are antagonistic concepts, indeed, but they feed off each other in unimaginably implicit ways. And, gosh, isn't it convenient that Margaret Avison and Douglas Coupland have made the connexion so easy for us?

There are very few blatant threads between the two: Avison is a poet, Coupland is a novelist; Avison has a whimsical style, Coupland is extremely blunt; Avison is devoutly religious, Coupland is notably indecisive. They do, however, draw attention to belief (as opposed to knowledge) and its' relationship with doubt.

In what Ogden describes as the "missing link" between Avison and Coupland, we find a poem called Absolute. Avison establishes "One Person" as the only one that knows her at "the worst there is" (92). Her use of capitalisation makes it abundantly clear that this person is, in fact, god. Avison goes on to relate her past wrong-doings to god's knowledge of herself, that she has "broken the good / lost the best / [and] gone past the most [she'd] ever ask for" (92). The tone created in this portion of the poem exudes a sense of doubt, even surprise, that she still finds solace and acceptance from god. This reaffirms what Avison states at the opening of the poem; a belief that, despite her short-comings, there is still one person that knows her and believes in her.

The relationship between belief and doubt are noticably switched around in Douglas Coupland's Hey Nostradamus!, but are nevertheless still relevant to Margaret Avison's point of view. Whereas Avison's view leans heavily towards belief, Coupland elaborates on the concept of doubt. In the fourth and final section of the novel, Reg, a character that was initially seen as an irrational, terrible, god-fearing man, describes his relationship with god in a cynical manner, whiel still affirming his system of beliefs. Near the closing of his narrative, Reg relates his belief in god to a mathematical equation; this comes as a surprise, considering the picture painted of Reg thus far was one of strict adherence to god's will. However, his life experiences have altered his belief system. Instead of full submission to god, he hammers home Coupland's concept of connecting belief with doubt; Reg "doubts [he] can ever believe with the purity of heart ... Cheryl once had" (243).

Now, consider my earlier statement; the strength in human relationships lies within the factor of doubt. Avison is able to get this point across through doubt in herself and her worthiness of god's acceptance. On the other hand, Coupland offers the idea that true belief can only occur with an objective view point on the realities of the nature of the relationship.