flying by the nets

"When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
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(from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce)
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Yes, 'young' is about right. Only a young person could believe that it's possible to totally evade the nets of nationality, language, religion, family, culture, ethnicity. Even the act of trying to fly by them, recognises and confirms their power.
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Yet there is something about this vision that arrests me. A friend once asked me why i don't write for the Church / church, since i feel that God has called me to write. My answer: that it would be a cage for me. i was reminded again today of the censorious tendency that so easily accompanies any turning to religious faith. So difficult -- to tread that very fine line between faith, loyalty, love and obedience to God, and a dogmatic shutting down of everything that one sees as being not-of-God.
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It's not the fault of religion or faith. It's human nature. We just want to be right all the time. The thing about religion is that it can be used / abused to claim divine warrant for our natural desire to be right, and to see others as wrong. It's really as simple as that, i think. And i think that my own desire not to be caught by the nets of nationality, language, and yes, religion -- probably comes from that same twisted desire to always be right, to not have to answer to anything other than my own ideas of what's right or wrong. Not to have my art be tied down or obliged in any way to any rules or systems outside of myself. In other words, the artist's desire for freedom. i think that, taken too far, this can be a bad thing. There has to be a line somewhere, between when this impulse can be harnessed for the good, and when it becomes a thing hurtful and out of control.
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Life is so bloody complicated. People are so bloody complicated. Not for the first time i find myself yearning for simplicity.
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