I hadn’t really had any idea about the relationship between spaghetti carbonara and faith before my friend mentioned his distinction between technique and art regarding my way of cooking.
I very rarely cook because I’m not a cook. Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I made some servings of classic spaghetti carbonara. I did it twice. First, it was a trial (and real error) intended to serve only two persons. I didn’t make a good mixture of eggs and pecorino romano so that the sauce wasn’t looking good. Then, I just followed the instructions of an Italian chef, thanks to Youtube, expecting that I would serve four persons. The result was outstanding, and it was enough for ten persons!
My friend, having known that it was my first time to cook Italian food, asked me if I tasted the spaghetti while cooking and I said ‘not at all.’ In fact, I just followed the instructions. “Well, then you’re a technician since you didn’t taste it. You just follow the instructions. It’s no longer an art.”
“Yes, but I decided how much salt I put in it.”
“Oh, I see, then you master the art of cooking!”
As a matter of fact, I didn’t taste the spaghetti just because I suspect that de gustibus non disputandum est (there is no disputing concerning tastes) and I don’t master the art of cooking merely by deciding the amount of salt, for sure!
*****
There is no direct link between spaghetti carbonara and faith. The art is in-between.
No one has faith before listening from others first. So, faith comes from hearing (Rom 10:17), and that’s what happened to me when I was making spaghetti carbonara. I just followed the instructions. No creativity. So, my friend is right: it is really a technique of making spaghetti carbonara.
Faith is more than a technique. It’s more than sticking to the instructions, no matter how good they are. One needs art of embodying the instructions into a tasty life. Just as cooking without tasting might fall into the danger of parroting, so too observing the religions’ rule without art might reduce faith into the meaningless compulsive act: no relationship between subject and his/her God and the world around, it might be just a habit.
There is no faith without imagination, isn’t there?
Through the Lens of Freedom 
Reblogged this on A Pathway to God and commented:
Imajinasi memang medium bagi Allah untuk mencipta setiap saat, dan Roh Jahat memakai medium yang sama juga… Itu mengapa dibutuhkan suatu pembedaan roh.
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