ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AJ Jacobs - Author
Immersing himself in alternate lifestyles and long, hilarious experiments (usually with himself the guinea pig), writer AJ Jacobs tests the limits of behavior, customs, culture, knowledge -- and his wife's sense of humor.

Why you should listen

AJ Jacobs' writings stand at the intersection of philosophy, Gonzo journalism and performance art. Stubbornly curious and slyly perceptive, he takes immersive learning to its irrational and profoundly amusing extreme -- extracting wisdom and meaning after long stints as a self-styled guinea pig. For his widely circulated Esquire article "My Outsourced Life," he explored the phenomenon of outsourcing by hiring a team in Bangalore to take care of every part of his life -- from reading his emails to arguing with his wife to reading bedtime stories to his own son. A previous article, "I Think You're Fat," chronicled a brief, cringe-inducing attempt to live his life in Radical Honesty, telling all the truth, all the time.

Jacobs is author of The Know-It-All, which documents the year he spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, uncovering both funny and surprising factoids but also poignant insight into history and human nature. In 2007 he released The Year of Living Biblically, in which he attempted to follow every single rule in the Bible as literally as possible for an entire year. His recent book The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment is a collection of numerous personal experiments. including living according to George Washington's rules of conduct, outsourcing every single task to India, and posing as a woman on an online dating site. 

More profile about the speaker
AJ Jacobs | Speaker | TED.com
EG 2007

AJ Jacobs: My year of living biblically

A.J. Džejkobs (A.J. Jacobs): Moja godina života po Bibliji

Filmed:
2,923,764 views

Govoreći na nedavnoj EG konferenciji, autor, filozof, šaljivdžija i novinar A. J. Džejkobs govori o godini koju je proveo živjeći biblijski -- prateći pravila Biblije bukvalno, koliko je bilo moguće.
- Author
Immersing himself in alternate lifestyles and long, hilarious experiments (usually with himself the guinea pig), writer AJ Jacobs tests the limits of behavior, customs, culture, knowledge -- and his wife's sense of humor. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I thought I'd tell you a little about what I like to write.
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Mislio sam da vam malo govorim
o tome šta ja volim da pišem.
00:20
And I like to immerse myself in my topics.
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I volim da se zadubim u temu.
00:24
I just like to dive right in and become sort of a human guinea pig.
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Jednostavno, volim da utonem u to
i postanem neka vrsta ljudskog zamorčeta.
00:29
And I see my life as a series of experiments.
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Posmatram svoj život kao niz eksperimenata.
00:34
So, I work for Esquire magazine, and a couple of years ago,
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Tako, radio sam za "Eksquire" časopis
i prije nekoliko godina,
00:38
I wrote an article called "My Outsourced Life,"
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napisao sam članak pod nazivom
"Moj spoljni život",
00:41
where I hired a team of people in Bangalore, India,
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i unajmio tim ljudi u Bangloru, u Indiji,
00:45
to live my life for me.
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da žive moj život umjesto mene.
00:47
So, they answered my emails.
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Tako da su oni, odgovarali na moje email-ove.
00:49
They answered my phone.
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Javljali se na moj telefon.
00:51
They argued with my wife for me, and they read my son bedtime stories.
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Raspravljali se sa mojom ženom umjesto mene,
i čitali mom sinu priče za spavanje.
00:58
It was the best month of my life,
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To je bio najbolji mjesec u mom životu,
01:00
because I just sat back and I read books and watched movies.
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zato što sam se samo odmarao, čitao knjige
i gledao filmove.
01:05
It was a wonderful experience.
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To je bilo predivno iskustvo.
01:07
More recently, I wrote an article for Esquire called --
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Skorije, sam napisao članak za "Esquire"
pod nazivom --
01:10
about radical honesty.
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o radikalnoj iskrenosti.
01:13
And this is a movement where --
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I to je pokret u kom --
01:15
this is started by a psychologist in Virginia,
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osnovao ga je psiholog u Virdžiniji,
01:19
who says that you should never, ever lie,
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u kom se kaže da nikad, baš nikada
ne smijete slagati,
01:22
except maybe during poker and golf, his only exceptions.
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osim možda tokom pokera ili golfa,
to su samo izuzeci.
01:27
And, more than that, whatever is on your brain
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I više od toga, šta god vam je u mislima
01:29
should come out of your mouth.
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treba da kažete.
01:31
So, I decided I would try this for a month.
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Tako da sam pokušao ovo mjesec dana
01:34
This was the worst month of my life.
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To je bio najgori mjesec u mom životu.
01:37
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:38
I do not recommend this at all.
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Ne preporučujem ovo uopšte.
01:40
To give you a sense of the experience,
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Da vam malo približim ovo iskustvo,
01:42
the article was called, "I Think You're Fat."
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članak se zove "Mislim da si debela".
01:46
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:48
So, that was hard.
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To je bilo teško.
01:50
My most recent book -- my previous book was called "The Know-It-All,"
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Moja najskorija knjiga -- prethodna se zvala
"Znam sve",
01:55
and it was about the year I spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica
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i ona je o godini koju sam proveo
čitajući enciklopediju "Britanika"
01:59
from A to Z in my quest to learn everything in the world,
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od A do Z sa namjerom da naučim sve na svijetu,
02:03
or more precisely from Aak, which is a type of East Asian music,
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ili tačnije od Aak, to je vrsta
istočno azijske muzike,
02:08
all the way to Zwyiec, which is -- well, I don't want to ruin the ending.
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pa sve do Zwyieka, što je
-- pa, ne želim da kvarim kraj.
02:12
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
02:13
It's a very exciting twist ending, like an O. Henry novel, so I won't ruin it.
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Kraj ima uzbudljiv zaplet, kao u romanu
O. Henrija, tako da ne želim da ga pokvarim.
02:17
But I love that one,
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Ali taj volim,
02:19
because that was an experiment about how much information
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jer je to eksperiment o tome koliko informacija
02:23
one human brain could absorb.
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ljudski mozak može da primi.
02:25
Although, listening to Kevin Kelly, you don't have to remember anything.
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Mada, ako slušamo Kevina Kelija,
ne moramo da pamtimo ništa.
02:29
You can just Google it.
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Sve možemo naći na Guglu.
02:31
So, I wasted some time there.
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Tako da sam potrošio vrijeme na tome.
02:33
I love those experiments,
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Volim te eksperimente,
02:36
but I think that the most profound
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ali mislim da je najtemeljniji
02:38
and life-changing experiment that I've done
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i najsudbonosniji eksperiment
koji sam uradio
02:42
is my most recent experiment, where I spent a year
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moj najskoriji eksperiment,
u kom sam proveo godinu dana
02:46
trying to follow all of the rules of the Bible,
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pokušavajući da pratim pravila Biblije,
02:49
"The Year of Living Biblically."
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"Godina života po Bibliji".
02:52
And I undertook this for two reasons.
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I uradio sam ovo iz dva razloga.
02:55
The first was that I grew up with no religion at all.
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Prvi je jer sam odrastao bez ikakve religije.
02:59
As I say in my book, I'm Jewish in the same way
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Kao što sam rekao u svojoj knjizi,
ja sam Jevrej koliko je
03:03
the Olive Garden is Italian.
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Oliv Garden, Italijan.
03:05
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
03:07
So, not very.
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Znači, nisam baš.
03:09
But I've become increasingly interested in religion.
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Ali sve sam se više interesovao za religiju.
03:12
I do think it's the defining issue of our time,
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Mislim da je ona jedno od
bitnih pitanja našeg vremena,
03:14
or one of the main ones.
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ili bar jedno od glavnih.
03:16
And I have a son. I want to know what to teach him.
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I imam sina. Želim da znam šta da ga naučim.
03:19
So, I decided to dive in head first, and try to live the Bible.
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Tako sam odlučio da zaronim u to,
i pokušam da živim Bibliju.
03:24
The second reason I undertook this is because
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Drugi razlog zbog kog sam
uradio ovo je zato što sam
03:27
I'm concerned about the rise of fundamentalism,
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zabrinut zbog rasta fundamentalizma,
03:30
religious fundamentalism, and people who say
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religioznog fundamentalizma,
i ljudi koji kažu
03:33
they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls,
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da bukvalno shvataju Bibliju, kojih je,
prema nekim anketama
03:36
as high as 45 or 50 percent of America.
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veliki broj, 45 do 50 procenata Amerikanaca.
03:40
So I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally?
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Pa sam odlučio, šta ako stvarno
shvatite Bibliju bukvalno?
03:44
I decided to take it to its logical conclusion
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Odlučio sam, i došao do logičkog zaključka
03:48
and take everything in the Bible literally,
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da prihvatim sve u Bibliji bukvalno,
03:50
without picking and choosing.
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a da ne biram.
03:53
The first thing I did was I got a stack of bibles.
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Prva stvar koju sam uradio je da sam
nabavio gomilu Biblija.
03:56
I had Christian bibles.
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Imao sam hrišćanske Biblije.
03:58
I had Jewish bibles.
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Imao sam jevrejske Biblije.
04:00
A friend of mine sent me something called a hip-hop bible,
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Moj prijatelj mi je poslao nešto
što se zove Hip-Hop Biblija,
04:03
where the twenty-third Psalm is rendered as, "The Lord is all that,"
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u kojoj je 23. Psalm glasio, "Gospod je sve to",
04:07
as opposed to what I knew it as, "The Lord is my shepherd."
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suprotno od onoga što sam ja znao
da "Gospod je moj pastir"
04:11
Then I went down and I read several versions,
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Onda sam uzeo i pročitao nekoliko verzija,
04:15
and I wrote down every single law that I could find.
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i napisao svako pravilo koje sam
mogao da nađem.
04:18
And this was a very long list -- over 700 rules.
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I to je bila prilično dugačka lista --
više od 700 pravila.
04:23
And they range from the famous ones that I had heard of --
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I rangirane su od najpoznatijih
za koje sam čuo --
04:26
The Ten Commandments, love your neighbor, be fruitful and multiply.
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Deset Zapovijesti, volite vašeg komšiju,
budite vjerni i množite se.
04:29
So I wanted to follow those.
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I želio sam da slijedim ta.
04:31
And actually, I take my projects very seriously,
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I ustvari, shvatio sam svoj projekat
veoma ozbiljno,
04:34
because I had twins during my year,
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zato što sam dobio blizance tokom te godine,
04:36
so I definitely take my projects seriously.
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tako da sam definitivno shvatio
projekat ozbiljno.
04:39
But I also wanted to follow the hundreds
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Ali isto tako sam želio da slijedim stotine
04:42
of arcane and obscure laws that are in the Bible.
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neshvatljivih i nejasnih pravila
koja postoje u Bibliji.
04:45
There is the law in Leviticus,
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Postoji pravilo u knjizi Levitske,
04:47
"You cannot shave the corners of your beard."
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"Ne smiješ da briješ uglove brade svoje".
04:49
I didn't know where my corners were,
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Nijesam znao gdje su moji uglovi,
04:51
so I decided to let the whole thing grow,
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pa sam odlučio da pustim sve da raste,
04:54
and this is what I looked like by the end.
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i ovako sam izgledao na kraju.
04:57
As you can imagine, I spent a lot of time at airport security.
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Kao što možete da pretpostavite, proveo sam
dosta vremena sa obezbjeđenjem na aerodromu.
05:01
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
05:03
My wife wouldn't kiss me for the last two months.
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Moja žena nije htjela da me poljubi
posljednja dva mjeseca.
05:06
So, certainly the challenge was there.
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Pa, definitivno je postojao izazov u tome.
05:08
The Bible says you cannot wear clothes made of mixed fibers,
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Biblija kaže da ne smiješ da nosiš odjeću
od mješovitih vlakana,
05:13
so I thought, "Sounds strange, but I'll try it."
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pomislio sam "Zvuči čudno, ali probaću".
05:15
You only know if you try it.
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Znate samo ako pokušate.
05:17
I got rid of all my poly-cotton T-shirts.
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Otarasio sam se svojih polu-pamučnih majica.
05:20
The Bible says that if two men are in a fight,
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Biblija kaže da, ako se dva muškarca tuku,
05:24
and the wife of one of those men grabs the testicles of the other man,
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a žena od jednog uhvati testise ovog drugog,
05:30
then her hand shall be cut off.
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onda se njena ruka treba odsjeći.
05:32
So, I wanted to follow that rule.
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Pa sam želio da ispoštujem i to pravilo.
05:34
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
05:35
That one I followed by default,
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To sam ispoštovao, podrazumijeva se,
05:38
by not getting in a fight with a man whose wife was standing nearby,
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tako što nijesam započinjao tuču sa muškarcima
čija je žena stajala u blizini,
05:42
looking like she had a strong grip.
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i izgledala kao da ima jak stisak.
05:45
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
05:48
So -- oh, there's another shot of my beard.
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Tako da -- o, postoji još jedan snimak moje brade.
05:52
I will say it was an amazing year
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Moram reći da je to bila nevjerovatna godina
05:54
because it really was life changing, and incredibly challenging.
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zato što mi se život mijenjao
i bio nevjerovatno pun izazova.
05:57
And there were two types of laws that were particularly challenging.
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A postojale su dvije vrste pravila
koje su bile posebno izazovne.
06:00
The first was avoiding the little sins that we all commit every day.
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Prvo je bilo izbjegavanje malih grijehova
koje činimo svaki dan.
06:04
You know, I could spend a year not killing,
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Znate, mogao bih da provedem godine
da nikog ne ubijem,
06:06
but spending a year not gossiping, not coveting, not lying --
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ali da provedem godinu da ne tračarim,
žudim, ne lažem --
06:11
you know, I live in New York, and I work as a journalist,
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znate, živim u Njujorku, i radim kao novinar,
06:14
so this was 75, 80 percent of my day I had to do it.
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tako da ja to 75, 80 posto dana moram da radim.
06:19
But it was really interesting, because I was able to make some progress,
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Ali bio sam mnogo zainteresovan, zato što
sam bio u stanju da napredujem,
06:24
because I couldn't believe how much
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jer nijesam vjerovao koliko je
06:26
my behavior changed my thoughts.
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moje ponašanje promijenilo moje misli.
06:29
This was one of the huge lessons of the year,
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Ovo je bila jedna od ogromnih lekcija godine,
06:31
is that I almost pretended to be a better person,
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jer sam se pretvarao da sam bolja osoba,
06:34
and I became a little bit of a better person.
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i postao sam malo bolja osoba.
06:37
So I had always thought, you know, "You change your mind,
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A uvijek sam mislio, znate
"Promijeni svoje mišljenje,
06:42
and you change your behavior," but it's often the other way around.
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i promijenićeš svoje ponašanje",
ali je obično obrnuto.
06:45
You change your behavior, and you change your mind.
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Promijeniš ponašanje, promijeniš mišljenje.
06:50
So, you know, if you want to become more compassionate,
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Tako da, znate, ako želite
da postanete osjećajniji,
06:53
you visit sick people in the hospital,
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posjetite bolesne ljude u bolnici,
06:55
and you will become more compassionate.
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i postaćete osjećajniji.
06:57
You donate money to a cause,
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Donirajte novac za neki cilj,
06:59
and you become emotionally involved in that cause.
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i postaćete emotivno vezani za taj cilj.
07:02
So, it really was cognitive psychology --
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Tako, to je stvarno kognitivna psihologija --
07:05
you know, cognitive dissonance -- that I was experiencing.
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znate, kognitivni nesklad -- to je ono
što sam ja iskusio.
07:08
The Bible actually talks about cognitive psychology,
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Biblija ustvari govori o
kognitivnoj psihologiji,
07:11
very primitive cognitive psychology.
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vrlo primitivnoj kognitivnoj psihologiji.
07:13
In the Proverbs, it says that if you smile, you will become happier,
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U Poslovicama se kaže da, ako se smijete,
postaćete srećniji,
07:17
which, as we know, is actually true.
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što je, kako i znamo, ustvari tačno.
07:20
The second type of rule that was difficult to obey
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Sljedeće vrste pravila
koje je bilo teško ispoštovati
07:24
was the rules that will get you into a little trouble
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bila su pravila koja će vas
uvaliti u male probleme
07:27
in twenty-first-century America.
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u 21. vijeku u Americi.
07:30
And perhaps the clearest example of this is stoning adulterers.
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I možda najjasniji primjer za ovo je
kamenovanje preljubnika.
07:35
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
07:36
But it's a big part of the Bible,
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Ali to čini veliki dio Biblije,
07:40
so I figured I had to address it.
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pa sam mislio da moram da se bavim tim.
07:43
So, I was able to stone one adulterer.
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Pa, bio sam u stanju da kamenujem preljubnika.
07:45
It happened -- I was in the park, and I was dressed in my biblical clothing,
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Desilo se -- bio sam u parku,
obučen u svoju biblijsku garderobu,
07:50
so sandals and sort of a white robe,
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znači sandale i neka vrsta bijele odore,
07:53
you know, because again, the outer affects the inner.
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znate, zato što, spoljašnje utiče na unutrašnje.
07:55
I wanted to see how dressing biblically affected my mind.
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Želio sam da vidim kako to, što se oblačim
biblijski utiče na moj um.
07:59
And this man came up to me and he said,
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I jedan čovjek mi je prišao i rekao:
08:01
"Why are you dressed like that?"
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"Zašto si obučen tako?"
08:03
And I explained my project,
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I objasnio mu svoj projekat,
08:05
and he said, "Well, I am an adulterer, are you going to stone me?"
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a on je rekao: "Pa, ja sam preljubnik,
hoćeš li me kamenovati?"
08:08
And I said, "Well, that would be great!"
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Ja sam rekao: "Pa, to bi bilo sjajno!"
08:11
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
08:16
And I actually took out a handful of stones from my pocket
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I zaista sam izvukao šaku kamenja iz džepa
08:21
that I had been carrying around for weeks,
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koje sam nosio sa sobom nedjeljama,
08:23
hoping for just this interaction -- and, you know, they were pebbles --
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nadajući se upravo ovome -- i, znate,
to je bio šljunak --
08:27
but he grabbed them out of my hand.
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ali on ih je oteo iz mojih ruku.
08:30
He was actually an elderly man, mid-70s, just so you know.
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On je ustvari bio stariji čovjek,
srednjih 70ih, samo da znate.
08:33
But he's still an adulterer, and still quite angry.
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Ali ipak je bio preljubnik, i to prilično ljut.
08:35
He grabbed them out of my hand
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Oteo ih je iz mojih ruku
08:37
and threw them at my face, and I felt that I could --
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i bacio ih meni u lice, i osjetio sam da
bih trebao --
08:40
eye for an eye -- I could retaliate, and throw one back at him.
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oko za oko -- mogao bih se osvetiti,
i baciti jedan na njega.
08:44
So that was my experience stoning, and it did allow me
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I to je bilo moje iskustvo kamenovanja,
i ono mi je dozvolilo
08:47
to talk about, in a more serious way, these big issues.
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da govorim, mnogo ozbiljnije,
o ovom velikom problemu.
08:52
How can the Bible be so barbaric in some places,
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Kako Biblija može biti
tako varvarska na nekim mjestima,
08:56
and yet so incredibly wise in others?
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a opet tako nevjerovatno mudra na drugim?
08:59
How should we view the Bible?
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Kako bi trebalo da posmatramo Bibliju?
09:01
Should we view it, you know, as original intent,
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Da li bi trebalo da je posmatramo,
znate, kao originalnu namjeru,
09:03
like a sort of a Scalia version of the Bible?
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kao neku vrstu konzervativne verzije Biblije?
09:08
How was the Bible written?
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Kako je Biblija napisana?
09:10
And actually, since this is a tech crowd,
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I ustvari, pošto je ovo učena publika,
09:12
I talk in the book about how the Bible actually reminds me
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u knjizi govorim kako me
Biblija ustvari podsjeća
09:16
of the Wikipedia, because it has all of these authors and editors
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na Vikipediju, zato što sadrži autore i urednike
09:19
over hundreds of years.
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tokom stotina godina.
09:21
And it's sort of evolved.
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I tako se vremenom mijenjala.
09:23
It's not a book that was written and came down from on high.
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I to nije knjiga koja je napisana
na nebu i pala sa neba.
09:28
So I thought I would end by telling you
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Pa sam mislio da završim sa
09:32
just a couple of the take-aways, the bigger lessons
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nekoliko "za ponijeti", najvećih lekcija
09:35
that I learned from my year.
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koje sam naučio u svojoj godini.
09:38
The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally.
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Prva je, ne shvataj Bibliju bukvalno.
09:42
This became very, very clear, early on.
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Ovo je bilo vrlo vrlo očigledno, na početku.
09:45
Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person,
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Jer ako je shvatiš tako, završićeš
tako što ćeš se ponašati kao ludak
09:48
and stoning adulterers, or -- here's another example.
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koji kamenuje preljubnike,
ili -- evo još jednog primjera.
09:51
Well, that's another. I did spend some time shepherding.
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Eto to je drugi. Proveo sam
neko vrijeme kao pastir.
09:56
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
09:57
It's a very relaxing vocation. I recommend it.
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To je veoma opuštajuće zanimanje.
Preporučujem.
10:01
But this one is -- the Bible says that you cannot touch women
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Ali ovo -- u Bibliji se kaže
da ne smiješ taći ženu
10:05
during certain times of the month, and more than that,
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tokom trajanja određenih dana u mjesecu,
i više od toga,
10:08
you cannot sit on a seat where a menstruating woman has sat.
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ne smiješ sjedeti na mjestu na kom je
sjedela žena koja ima menstruaciju.
10:12
And my wife thought this was very offensive,
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I moja žena je mislila kako je to
veoma uvrjedljivo,
10:14
so she sat in every seat in our apartment,
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pa je sjedila svuda u našem stanu,
10:16
and I had to spend much of the year standing
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tako da sam morao da provedem
većinu godine stojeći
10:19
until I bought my own seat and carried it around.
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dok nijesam kupio stolicu
i nosio je svuda sa sobom.
10:25
So, you know, I met with creationists.
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I, znate, upoznao sam se sa kreacionistima.
10:29
I went to the creationists' museum.
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Otišao sam u njihov muzej.
10:31
And these are the ultimate literalists.
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I oni su krajnje bukvalni.
10:33
And it was fascinating, because they were not stupid people at all.
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I bio sam fasciniran, jer oni
uopšte nijesu bili glupi ljudi.
10:36
I would wager that their IQ is exactly the same as the average evolutionist.
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Kladio bih se da je njihov IQ isti
kao i prosječnom evolucionisti.
10:39
It's just that their faith is so strong
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Ali, njihova vjera je toliko jaka
10:42
in this literal interpretation of the Bible
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u ovoj bukvalnoj interpretaciji Biblije
10:44
that they distort all the data to fit their model.
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da su iskrivili sve podatke da bi se
uklopili u njihov model.
10:49
And they go through these amazing mental gymnastics to accomplish this.
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I prolaze kroz teške mentalne vježbe
da bi to ostvarili.
10:53
And I will say, though, the museum is gorgeous.
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I moram da kažem da je muzej sjajan.
10:58
They really did a fantastic job.
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Zaista su napravili odličan posao.
11:00
If you're ever in Kentucky,
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Ako ikada odete u Kentaki,
11:01
there's, you can see a movie of the flood,
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tamo možete vidjeti film o poplavi,
11:04
and they have sprinklers in the ceiling
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i imaju prskalice na plafonu
11:06
that will sprinkle on you during the flood scenes.
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koje vas prskaju tokom scene poplave.
11:10
So, whatever you think of creationism -- and I think it's crazy --
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Pa, šta god mislili o kreacionizmu --
a ja mislim da je to ludost --
11:13
they did a great job.
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napravili su odličan posao.
11:16
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
11:18
Another lesson is that thou shalt give thanks.
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Još jedna lekcija je da se moraš zahvaliti.
11:22
And this one was a big lesson because I was praying,
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I ovo je jedna velika lekcija, jer sam se molio
11:26
giving these prayers of thanksgiving, which was odd for an agnostic.
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molio se na Dan zahvalnosti,
što je čudno za jednog agnostika.
11:30
But I was saying thanks all the time, every day,
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Ali sam se zahvaljivao stalno, svakog dana,
11:34
and I started to change my perspective.
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i počeo sam da mijenjam perspektivu.
11:37
And I started to realize the hundreds of little things
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I shvatio sam da stotinu malih stvari
11:40
that go right every day, that I didn't even notice,
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koje se dešavaju svakog dana,
koje nijesam ni primjećivao
11:44
that I took for granted, as opposed to focusing
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koje sam uzimao zdravo za gotovo,
u suprotnosti sa fokusiranjem
11:46
on the three or four that went wrong.
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na tri od četiri stvari koje su krenule naopako.
11:50
So, this is actually a key to happiness for me,
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Tako da je ovo ustvari ključ za sreću za mene,
11:53
is to just remember when I came over here,
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a to je da se sjetim kad sam došao ovdje,
11:55
the car didn't flip over, and I didn't trip coming up the stairs.
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auto se nije prevrnuo,
nijesam se spotakao na stepenicama.
11:59
It's a remarkable thing.
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To je izvanredna stvar.
12:03
Third, that thou shall have reverence.
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Treće, treba da imaš poštovanje.
12:05
This one was unexpected because I started the year
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Ovo je bilo neočekivano, jer sam
počeo ovu godinu
12:08
as an agnostic, and by the end of the year,
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kao agnostik, i do kraja godine,
12:10
I became what a friend of mine calls a reverent agnostic, which I love.
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postao sam ono što moj prijatelj zove
"agnostik pun poštovanja", što volim.
12:15
And I'm trying to start it as a movement.
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I želim da napravim od toga pokret.
12:17
So, if anyone wants to join,
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Pa, ako želite da se pridružite,
12:19
the basic idea is, whether or not there is a God,
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osnovna ideja je, bez obzira
da li ili ne postoji Bog,
12:22
there's something important and beautiful about the idea of sacredness,
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postoji nešto važno i lijepo
u ideji svetosti,
12:26
and that our rituals can be sacred.
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i naši rituali mogu biti sveti.
12:28
The Sabbath can be sacred.
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Sabat može biti svet.
12:31
This was one of the great things about my year, doing the Sabbath,
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To je bila odlična stvar u mojoj godini,
obavljajući Sabat,
12:34
because I am a workaholic, so having this one day
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jer ja sam radoholičar, i prilika
da imam ovaj jedan dan
12:38
where you cannot work, it really, that changed my life.
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u kom ne smijem da radim, stvarno je
promijenilo moj život.
12:42
So, this idea of sacredness, whether or not there is a God.
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I ideja o Svetosti, postojao Bog ili ne.
12:47
Thou shall not stereotype.
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Ne smiješ imati predrasude.
12:49
This one happened because
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Ovo se desilo jer sam
12:51
I spent a lot of time with various religious communities
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proveo dosta vremena sa različitim
vjerskim zajednicama
12:54
throughout America because I wanted it to be more
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širom Amerike jer sam želio
da sve to bude nešto više
12:56
than about my journey.
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od samog putovanja.
12:58
I wanted it to be about religion in America.
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Želio sam da to bude o religiji u Americi.
13:01
So, I spent time with evangelical Christians, and Hasidic Jews, and the Amish.
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Tako sam proveo vrijeme sa Evanđelistima,
Hasidik Jevrejima i sa Amišima.
13:05
I'm very proud because
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Veoma sam ponosan na sebe jer
13:07
I think I'm the only person in America
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mislim da sam jedina osoba u Americi
13:09
to out Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness.
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koja može pričati više o Bibliji
nego Jehovin svjedok.
13:12
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
13:13
After three and a half hours, he looked at his watch,
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Nakon tri i po sata, pogledao je na svoj sat,
13:16
he's like, "I gotta go."
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i rekao je kao "moram da idem".
13:18
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
13:20
Oh, thank you very much.
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O, hvala Vam puno.
13:25
Thank you. Bless you, bless you.
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Hvala Vam. Budite blagosloveni,
budite blagosloveni.
13:27
But it was interesting
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Ali bio sam zainteresovan,
13:29
because I had some very preconceived notions about, for instance,
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jer sam imao neke predrasude, o, na primjer,
13:32
evangelical Christianity, and I found that
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evanđelizmu, i saznao sam da
13:36
it's such a wide and varied movement
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je to jedan širok i raznolik pokret
13:38
that it is difficult to make generalizations about it.
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i da ga je teško generalizovati.
13:44
There's a group I met with called the Red Letter Christians,
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Postoji grupa koju sam upoznao
a zovu se Hrišćani Crvenog Slova,
13:47
and they focus on the red words in the Bible,
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i oni su usredsređeni na
crvene riječi u Bibliji,
13:50
which are the ones that Jesus spoke.
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a to su one koje je Isus govorio.
13:52
That's how they printed them in the old Bibles.
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Tako su ih štampali u starim Biblijama.
13:54
And their argument is that Jesus never talked about homosexuality.
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Oni tvrde da Isus nikada nije govorio
o homoseksualnosti.
13:59
They have a pamphlet that says,
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I imaju pamflet na kom piše:
14:01
"Here's what Jesus said about homosexuality,"
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"Evo šta je Isus rekao o homoseksualnosti",
14:03
and you open it up, and there's nothing in it.
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i kada ga otvorite, ne piše ništa.
14:06
So, they say Jesus did talk a lot about helping the outcasts,
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Ali, kažu da je Isus pričao mnogo o
pružanju pomoći izgnanicima,
14:12
helping poor people.
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i siromašnima.
14:15
So, this was very inspiring to me.
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Tako da je ovo bilo veoma
inspirativno za mene.
14:19
I recommend Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo.
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Preporučujem Džim Valisa i Tonija Kampola.
14:24
They're very inspiring leaders, even though I disagree
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Oni su vrlo inspirativni lideri,
iako se ne slažem
14:28
with much of what they say.
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sa većinom stvari koje govore.
14:30
Also, thou shalt not disregard the irrational.
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Takođe, ne odbacuj iracionalno.
14:33
This one was very unexpected because, you know,
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Ovo je bilo vrlo neočekivano, jer sam, znate,
14:37
I grew up with the scientific worldview,
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odrastao sa naučnim pogledom na svijet,
14:40
and I was shocked learning how much of my life
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i bio sam šokiran koliko je moj život
14:47
is governed by irrational forces.
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regulisan iracionalnim silama.
14:50
And the thing is, if they're not harmful,
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Stvar je u tome, ako nijesu štetne,
14:54
they're not to be completely dismissed.
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ne treba ih u potpunosti odbaciti.
14:56
Because I learned that -- I was thinking, I was
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Zato što sam naučio da -- mislio sam da,
15:00
doing all these rituals, these biblical rituals,
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obavljajući sve te rituale, biblijske rituale,
15:03
separating my wool and linen, and I would ask these religious people
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odvajajući vunu i lan,
i pitao bih religiozne ljude:
15:07
"Why would the Bible possibly tell us to do this? Why would God care?"
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"Zašto bi nam Biblija rekla da radimo ovo?
Zašto bi Boga zanimalo ovo?"
15:11
And they said, "We don't know,
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I oni su rekli: "Ne znamo,
15:13
but it's just rituals that give us meaning."
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ali to su jednostavno rituali
koji nam pružaju smisao."
15:17
And I would say, "But that's crazy."
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Ja sam rekao: "Ali, to je ludost."
15:19
And they would say, "Well, what about you?
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Oni bi rekli: "Pa, šta je sa tobom?
15:21
You blow out candles on top of a birthday cake.
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Duvaš svjećice na rođendanskoj torti.
15:26
If a guy from Mars came down and saw, here's one guy
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Kad bi neko sa Marsa došao
i vidio, evo čovjeka
15:30
blowing out the fire on top of a cake
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koji duva vatru sa vrha torte
15:34
versus another guy not wearing clothes of mixed fabrics,
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i drugog koji ne nosi odjeću
pomiješanih materijala,
15:38
would the Martians say, 'Well, that guy, he makes sense,
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hoće li Marsovci reći:
"Pa, ovaj čovjek, to ima smisla,
15:42
but that guy's crazy?'"
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ali ovaj je lud?"
15:44
So no, I think that rituals are, by nature, irrational.
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Tako da ne, mislim da su rituali,
po prirodi, iracionalni.
15:49
So the key is to choose the right rituals,
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Ključno je da se izaberu pravi rituali,
15:52
the ones that are not harmful -- but rituals by themselves
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oni koji nijesu štetni --
ali rituale same po sebi
15:58
are not to be dismissed.
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ne treba odbacivati.
16:01
And finally I learned that thou shall pick and choose.
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I na kraju sam naučio da treba birati.
16:05
And this one I learned because
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Ovo sam naučio jer sam
16:07
I tried to follow everything in the Bible.
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pokušavao da se pridržavam svega u Bibliji.
16:09
And I failed miserably.
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I osjećao sam se bijedno.
16:11
Because you can't.
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Zato što tako ne možeš.
16:13
You have to pick and choose. And anyone who follows the Bible
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Moraš birati. I svako ko se pridržava Biblije
16:16
is going to be picking and choosing.
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će birati i praviti izbor.
16:18
The key is to pick and choose the right parts.
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Glavno je izabrati pravi dio.
16:23
There's the phrase called cafeteria religion,
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Postoji fraza, "kafanska vjera",
16:27
and the fundamentalists will use it in a denigrating way,
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i fundamentalisti će je koristiti u klevetanju,
16:31
and they'll say, "Oh, it's just cafeteria religion.
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i reći će: "O, to je samo kafanska vjera,
16:33
You're just picking and choosing."
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samo birate ono što želite."
16:34
But my argument is, "What's wrong with cafeterias?"
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Moj argument je: "Šta fali kafanama?"
16:38
I've had some great meals at cafeterias.
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Jeo sam odlična jela u kafanama.
16:40
I've also had some meals that make me want to dry heave.
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Takođe sam jeo jela od kojih mi je bilo loše.
16:44
So, it's about choosing the parts of the Bible about compassion,
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Tako da je sve u odabiru
djelova Biblije o saosjećanju,
16:48
about tolerance, about loving your neighbor,
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toleranciji, o ljubavi prema bližnjem,
16:51
as opposed to the parts about homosexuality is a sin,
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kao suprotnost djelovima u kojima je
homoseksualnost grijeh,
16:56
or intolerance, or violence,
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ili netolerancija, ili nasilje,
16:58
which are very much in the Bible as well.
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kojih takođe ima mnogo u Bibliji.
17:00
So if we are to find any meaning in this book,
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Tako, ako želimo da pronađemo
smisao u ovoj knjizi,
17:04
then we have to really engage it, and wrestle with it.
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onda se stvarno moramo posvetiti,
i izboriti se sa tim.
17:08
And I thought I'd end with just a couple more.
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Mislio sam da završim sa samo još nekoliko.
17:11
There's me reading the Bible.
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Evo mene kako čitam Bibliju.
17:13
That's how I hailed taxicabs.
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Ovako sam dozivao taksi.
17:15
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
17:18
Seriously, and it worked. And yes,
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Ozbiljno, i uspijevalo je. I da,
17:20
that was actually a rented sheep,
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to je zaista iznajmljena ovca,
17:23
so I had to return that in the morning, but it served well for a day.
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i morao sam da je vratim ujutro,
ali je dobro poslužila za dan.
17:28
So, anyway, thank you so much for letting me speak.
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Uglavnom, mnogo vam hvala
što ste mi dozvolili da govorim.
Translated by Anastazija Langer
Reviewed by Radica Stojanovic

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AJ Jacobs - Author
Immersing himself in alternate lifestyles and long, hilarious experiments (usually with himself the guinea pig), writer AJ Jacobs tests the limits of behavior, customs, culture, knowledge -- and his wife's sense of humor.

Why you should listen

AJ Jacobs' writings stand at the intersection of philosophy, Gonzo journalism and performance art. Stubbornly curious and slyly perceptive, he takes immersive learning to its irrational and profoundly amusing extreme -- extracting wisdom and meaning after long stints as a self-styled guinea pig. For his widely circulated Esquire article "My Outsourced Life," he explored the phenomenon of outsourcing by hiring a team in Bangalore to take care of every part of his life -- from reading his emails to arguing with his wife to reading bedtime stories to his own son. A previous article, "I Think You're Fat," chronicled a brief, cringe-inducing attempt to live his life in Radical Honesty, telling all the truth, all the time.

Jacobs is author of The Know-It-All, which documents the year he spent reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, uncovering both funny and surprising factoids but also poignant insight into history and human nature. In 2007 he released The Year of Living Biblically, in which he attempted to follow every single rule in the Bible as literally as possible for an entire year. His recent book The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment is a collection of numerous personal experiments. including living according to George Washington's rules of conduct, outsourcing every single task to India, and posing as a woman on an online dating site. 

More profile about the speaker
AJ Jacobs | Speaker | TED.com