Imagine a world of perfect order: where God rules from a heaven just beyond the fixed stars, where rulers govern according to God's will, where every action is met with a proper response, even if we do not understand it; a world that is divinely guided, and where one's place and one's culture is held in high esteem and without question; a world where the family is supreme, the father at the head, the woman the support of the children, the children obedient to the parents, with all a microcosm of the one orderly universe.
This is the world painted beautifully by Willa Cather in her book, "Shadows on the Rock," the Rock being Quebec City in the 1690's. Having read more than half, I have been waiting for some slant, for some more modern intrusion into this world from the author, but this has not come. Instead, she leaves an impression of what the people she depicts would approve of. It would not be a bustling world of novelty, but rather one of custom, for this has been tested by the genius from centuries before. Steadiness of character and humility, as well as attention to work and aid to the less fortunate would trump novelty and excitement every time.
It is the way of the French at the time of King Louis the XIVth, the era of the Sun King as he radiates his greatness throughout his Kingdom and beyond, even to the far-flung corners of darkest Canada. Yet, in spite of this, there is excitement: a big snowstorm, a new war with England, the military engagements with the Iroquois, personal hardships and sickness - and the miracles. It is this last that the French people of Canada look for most, for in their unchanging world, it is the direct signs from God that most inspire - that give anyone inspiration. And miracles abound: angels come and fix spinning wheels, a touch of a bone relic converts a pagan, and religious vocations are pronounced through incredible acts of personal abnegation. This is the world of New France, of custom, of tradition, of God's implacable rule, and of His divine exceptions to the rule, for with Him everything is possible under a ceaseless sky.
It is an odd book for me to read, for its pace reflects the slow and steady ethos of the times, punctuated by acts of God, or so the people believe. It is not full of excitement, but it builds, slowly, giving us this different world, a fascinating one so different from our own. And it makes me think: would I like such a world?
In the book, there is a rebel, a woman who does as she pleases, which means sleeping with whichever man she wants, having children without accountable fathers, and taking off for a river jaunt while her young child stays home, alone. She is haughty towards the town folk, because they all know what she is, and she must uphold whatever she can of her dignity by showing the world that no one is her boss. Rebellious she is and without virtue, the bad woman in town. While the rest humble themselves to their betters -and they all know who they are - and all humble themselves before God and (their version of) His morality, she throws it away, and is poor and wretched for it. In our society, she would be Madonna (no pun intended) or Miley Cyrus, reviled by the elders and esteemed by many of the young.
Except that this image is not really true. Social rebels are like genetic mutations - most end badly, while a very few work out for the better. Even in our society, where individualism reigns and no one is appointed by God, it is the go-alongs, the conservative of action (not political conservatives necessarily) who have the nice house, the new car, the kids who go to college, the 401K plan. They have boring lives, but they survive well. They stay in their marriage and give up luxuries and desires of the moment for their perceived responsibilities. They are the back bone of society, still. We talk of freedom but we know that in freedom, we must limit our freedom. It is not just for the security, even, but rather the right thing to do.
The world is no longer the center of the universe, and god is not often seen in the workings of everyday life and politics. Chaos is all around us, and we know it. Change is happening before our eyes, as if it is dictated by a foreign agent; as if God is, instead of the center of a changeless universe, the center of a cyclone, of disruption and novelty.
This brings me back to that question - would I like the world of New France in 1697? Personally, I was a rebel for most of my youth, and wouldn't have taken it then for a minute. I could still not stand the idea of a monarch and royalty that was accepted as better than I by birth. On the other hand, the quiet way is, really, the way of the Universe. As our author noted, whatever thing new that humans do, it had better be slowly tested beforehand. Novelty for the sake of change can be extremely damaging, even fatal. Fashions, ideas, recreations, drugs, whatever may be the thing of the moment, is more like the rebel - most probably harmful, and most probably doomed. The calm person of duty, of care, of harmony with his work and land and family and neighbors, this is what endures; this, it seems, is what causes the greater happiness.
It is, after all is said and done, the way of the wise. Even Jesus commanded us to give to Caesar what is Caesar's. The IChing, too, tells us to move with the current, to not fight the battles that are only battles of our ego. And yet, I have lived the quiet life, far off from society with the forest Indians. I became bored, my life seeming to pass by without purpose. In this I was not a rebel, but an American, a man of the modern world who needs forward momentum, change and lively entertainment.
It seems we stand at the crossroads, between the tottering old and the ruinous young, between the closed heavens of Old Europe and the frantic pace of the growing industrial world. In 2001:A Space Odyssey, it is shown that we are casting off the old world as well as the new, the old social order as well as the technological glitzy (HAL, the computer), to emerge into a new world, one we can barely perceive now. This leap to "something new" will not be the handmaiden of the careful and conservative, but not that of the rebel, either. Whatever vision there is now of a New Order, it has not yet been well defined. Perhaps we will have to wait before it is upon us - or perhaps it will never come. It will not be old, but not hasty either - rather, something just right. Old Jacques of old Kebec would be as perplexed as I, and perhaps like him I must wait - or pray - for a miracle, for what only 'that which is beyond us all' can give. FK
This is the world painted beautifully by Willa Cather in her book, "Shadows on the Rock," the Rock being Quebec City in the 1690's. Having read more than half, I have been waiting for some slant, for some more modern intrusion into this world from the author, but this has not come. Instead, she leaves an impression of what the people she depicts would approve of. It would not be a bustling world of novelty, but rather one of custom, for this has been tested by the genius from centuries before. Steadiness of character and humility, as well as attention to work and aid to the less fortunate would trump novelty and excitement every time.
It is the way of the French at the time of King Louis the XIVth, the era of the Sun King as he radiates his greatness throughout his Kingdom and beyond, even to the far-flung corners of darkest Canada. Yet, in spite of this, there is excitement: a big snowstorm, a new war with England, the military engagements with the Iroquois, personal hardships and sickness - and the miracles. It is this last that the French people of Canada look for most, for in their unchanging world, it is the direct signs from God that most inspire - that give anyone inspiration. And miracles abound: angels come and fix spinning wheels, a touch of a bone relic converts a pagan, and religious vocations are pronounced through incredible acts of personal abnegation. This is the world of New France, of custom, of tradition, of God's implacable rule, and of His divine exceptions to the rule, for with Him everything is possible under a ceaseless sky.
It is an odd book for me to read, for its pace reflects the slow and steady ethos of the times, punctuated by acts of God, or so the people believe. It is not full of excitement, but it builds, slowly, giving us this different world, a fascinating one so different from our own. And it makes me think: would I like such a world?
In the book, there is a rebel, a woman who does as she pleases, which means sleeping with whichever man she wants, having children without accountable fathers, and taking off for a river jaunt while her young child stays home, alone. She is haughty towards the town folk, because they all know what she is, and she must uphold whatever she can of her dignity by showing the world that no one is her boss. Rebellious she is and without virtue, the bad woman in town. While the rest humble themselves to their betters -and they all know who they are - and all humble themselves before God and (their version of) His morality, she throws it away, and is poor and wretched for it. In our society, she would be Madonna (no pun intended) or Miley Cyrus, reviled by the elders and esteemed by many of the young.
Except that this image is not really true. Social rebels are like genetic mutations - most end badly, while a very few work out for the better. Even in our society, where individualism reigns and no one is appointed by God, it is the go-alongs, the conservative of action (not political conservatives necessarily) who have the nice house, the new car, the kids who go to college, the 401K plan. They have boring lives, but they survive well. They stay in their marriage and give up luxuries and desires of the moment for their perceived responsibilities. They are the back bone of society, still. We talk of freedom but we know that in freedom, we must limit our freedom. It is not just for the security, even, but rather the right thing to do.
The world is no longer the center of the universe, and god is not often seen in the workings of everyday life and politics. Chaos is all around us, and we know it. Change is happening before our eyes, as if it is dictated by a foreign agent; as if God is, instead of the center of a changeless universe, the center of a cyclone, of disruption and novelty.
This brings me back to that question - would I like the world of New France in 1697? Personally, I was a rebel for most of my youth, and wouldn't have taken it then for a minute. I could still not stand the idea of a monarch and royalty that was accepted as better than I by birth. On the other hand, the quiet way is, really, the way of the Universe. As our author noted, whatever thing new that humans do, it had better be slowly tested beforehand. Novelty for the sake of change can be extremely damaging, even fatal. Fashions, ideas, recreations, drugs, whatever may be the thing of the moment, is more like the rebel - most probably harmful, and most probably doomed. The calm person of duty, of care, of harmony with his work and land and family and neighbors, this is what endures; this, it seems, is what causes the greater happiness.
It is, after all is said and done, the way of the wise. Even Jesus commanded us to give to Caesar what is Caesar's. The IChing, too, tells us to move with the current, to not fight the battles that are only battles of our ego. And yet, I have lived the quiet life, far off from society with the forest Indians. I became bored, my life seeming to pass by without purpose. In this I was not a rebel, but an American, a man of the modern world who needs forward momentum, change and lively entertainment.
It seems we stand at the crossroads, between the tottering old and the ruinous young, between the closed heavens of Old Europe and the frantic pace of the growing industrial world. In 2001:A Space Odyssey, it is shown that we are casting off the old world as well as the new, the old social order as well as the technological glitzy (HAL, the computer), to emerge into a new world, one we can barely perceive now. This leap to "something new" will not be the handmaiden of the careful and conservative, but not that of the rebel, either. Whatever vision there is now of a New Order, it has not yet been well defined. Perhaps we will have to wait before it is upon us - or perhaps it will never come. It will not be old, but not hasty either - rather, something just right. Old Jacques of old Kebec would be as perplexed as I, and perhaps like him I must wait - or pray - for a miracle, for what only 'that which is beyond us all' can give. FK
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