Stranger in a Strange Land
...s Jubal Harshaw and Jill Boardman, he comes to the conclusion that “all who groks is God”. “That which groks. Anne is God. I am God. The happy grasses are God. Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together-“(Henlein, 144) He believes that those who grok have the ultimate power to mold and create the world and all around them, thus they are God. This does not mean that he believes in those religions which include a God or Gods, however. Smith later says that he believes all religions to be true, and it is also shown later in the book. Two characters are killed before and during the story, Foster and Digby. Both those characters are devout followers of the Foster religion, which demands that people repent and be happy all their life for entrance into heaven, and all those who don’t are not “saved”. A side story of Stranger in a Strange Land shows what Foster and Digby are talking about and doing in Heaven. At one point Foster says to Digby “If you need a Day off to calm down, duck over to the Muslim Paradise and take it. Otherwise, straighten your halo, square your wings, and dig in. The sooner you act like an angel, the quicker you’ll feel angelic. Get Happy, junior!” (268). This implies that the spirits of one religion are able to travel from the paradise of one religion to that of another. Smith also finds sex and gender to be extremely important to human life. Because there is no gender on Mars, Smith is thoroughly confused about it on Earth and in the beginning often mistook females for males. When he discovers sex, he finds it to be a “great goodness” in his own words. He believes sex should be used as a “growing closer” between people, and it is the closest form of grokking. In the “religion” Smith creates, although it is more like a lifestyle, all people are shared with everyone. That is, one man’s wife may have sex with seven people who aren’t her husband all through the week. Although it seems morally incorrect, within Smith’s followers it is normal and a “great goodness” that those people can be shared. There is no jealousy and no lust, just love between everyone. A description of Smith’s “religion” is found in this quote “We're not trying to bring people to God; that's a contradiction in terms, you can't even say it in Martian. We're not trying to save souls, because souls can't be lost. We're not trying to get people to have faith, because what we offer is not faith but truth —truth they can check; we don't urge them to believe it. Truth for practical purposes, for here-and-now, truth as matter of fact as an ironing board and as useful as a loaf of bread… so practical that it can make war and hunger and violence and hate as unnecessary as…. as —well, as clothes here in the Nest.” (389). For a long time during the story, Smith is unable to laugh, when he does laugh, it is during a trip to the zoo. He sees one monkey attack another for food, and then watches as the monkey which was attacked pouts and then attacks a monkey smaller than itself for no reason. Smith bursts out laughing, and one of his friends gets angry with him for it. Smith then says "I grok people. I am people… so now I can say it in people talk. I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much… because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting...I had thought-I had been told-that a 'funny' thing is a thing of goodness. It isn't. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery . . . and a sharing… against pain and sorrow and defeat." (312). On Mars mistakes were never made, everyone was perfect, but humans are capable of laughing, are able...