Currently I'm reading Walker Percy's Lost in the Cosmos: the Last Self Help Book. I was intrigued to find out that it's one of philosopher Peter Kreeft's favorite books. Percy is a favorite of mine as well. His novels, in my opinion, fit the description "southern writers weird" -- like Flannery O'Connor. Percy didn't like to think of himself as a southern writer and, in fact, parodied the tradition through the character, Sam Yerger, in The Moviegoer. Nevertheless, I can never separate him from the southern genre.
I happen also to be listening (whenever we're in the car) to Chesterton's novel, Manalive which I've read several times. It occurred to me yesterday that the questions raised by Percy's satirical Lost in the Cosmos are answered in Chesterton's Manalive.
Chesterton's protagonist, Innocent Smith, bounds into the garden of Beacon House during a windstorm where the tenants all seem to be lost souls paralyzed by their circumstances and hardly alive at all. Then, like the spirit of Pentecost, a wild wind tears into the garden bringing in Smith in a green suit chasing his Panama hat. Like the Jolly Green Giant he begins to shake things up and encourage memories of unrealized hopes and dreams among the boarding house residents. Blowing hats seem to me to be a metaphor for the minds of the characters, whose cobwebbed brains begin to clear by their reactions to Smith's crazy antics.
These ideas are germinating in my head and I'm sure will develop as I continue reading. How many lost souls populate our society, paralyzed by pleasure and distraction? How many avoid thinking seriously about almost anything, because it's easier to devote all their attention to mindless entertainment and be lulled to sleep by the repetitive nature of ordinary life? How many ever think about who they are and where they're going?
What do you think? Are you lost in the cosmos or are you bounding into the garden on the wings of a wind intent on waking up the world?
I remember a homily I heard when I was a teen. The priest said he used to be a fan of a certain actress and he knew all about the movies & tv shows she'd been in. And one day it occurred to him that all that effort he'd spent learning & knowing this information was wasted effort & useless. He realized he needed that effort to be directed towards something more worthwhile and that of course was God.
ReplyDeleteThat has always stuck with me. I think of that sometimes when someone I know is crazy about some band, movie franchise or sports team and could spend hours talking my ear off about the smallest of details as if it was vital information. All too often these same people seem to devote little time to their faith and spiritual matters. It makes me sad.
I'm not saying that a little fun cheering for a favorite team or the anticipation of a new movie should be avoided. But I do think some people avoid God by filling themselves with useless activities and information. They live to be entertained.
Have you read Amusing Ourselves to Death by Postman? I didn't agree with him 100% but it was an interesting read.
Re Margaret's comment - I agree. When my younger daughter was 4 she had learned every line of the Lion King. One rainy day when she was watching the movie for the 20th time and saying the characters' lines before they said them on the screen I thought "If she has that entire movie memorized she can learn to read."
ReplyDeleteI sat her down and told her you already know two words which are "I" and "A" and this word is "see". Then I printed all down a sheet of paper - I see a cat. I see a dog, I see a boy. I see a girl.
After she read that I wrote I see a cat and a dog and a boy and a girl.....and it went on from there. She graduated from Villanova and Georgetown, is now married with a baby living in Seattle where both she and her husband are techies.