Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Karey L. Perkins" <karey AT charter.net>]

A great link!  But...wouldn't it testify to Percy's point that we don't have direction in this society (and Huxley's -- John the Savage twirling from a rope, having hung himself in the lighthouse at the end of the novel like a directionless compass -- no direction in our world).

 

Spirituality is not how our overarching culture defines us.  There are many sub-cultures that do so -- I live in Atlanta, and a whole lot of my students are good ole South Georgia Baptists, firmly viewing themselves with a meaning, and defining themselves and their place and purpose in the world as spiritual creatures -- saved by Jesus Christ no less -- but this is a sub-culture and they have just traveled only 50-100 miles from their hometown to sit side by side in a classroom (and at work I suppose as well) with others -- the majority I'd say -- who think they're living a fairy tale. 

 

Humans are spiritual creatures and will, to a greater or lesser extent, look for some sort of spirituality to grasp onto -- but the dominant culture no longer guides and directs us in that, and hence we have all sorts of religious permutations -- sort of a grab bag -- take what suits you in the moment.  If that is so, it kinda makes one think that if any of them will do, then none of them will do.  Which is right?  All?  Some? None?  A loss of universals, and hence, the postmodern world of physical "particulars," and "K-Mart Realism" (brand names) in literature taking the place of spiritual universal truths.

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Earthrise Press

To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org

Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 1:01 PM

Subject: Re: [percy-l] Re: Some Random Thoughts, Largely Unrelated, Based on Previous Discussions and Readings

Karey wrote:
>It lacks any connection to meaning, purpose,
>and man's place in the world as it relates to anything transcendent.  It
>(the postmodern age) lacks a spirituality.


Are you sure? What do you make of THIS:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/

Frederick Glaysher


----- Original Message -----
From: "Karey L. Perkins" <karey AT charter.net>
To: <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Re: Some Random Thoughts, Largely Unrelated, Based on
Previous Discussions and Readings


> Oops -- same message, but Plain Text format this time.  I keep forgetting.
>
> KP
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Karey L. Perkins
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 12:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] Re: Some Random Thoughts, Largely Unrelated, Based
on
> Previous Discussions and Readings
>
>
> Aristotle thought the teenagers of his day were all going to pot.  An
essay
> in Percy's Signposts says more (American) men were killed in the Civil War
> than WWI and WWII put together. On a physical level, the 20th century
wasn't
> any worse than other centuries... On a material level, our lives are
> terrific (Percy would agree) and far better than they have been ever (at
> least the Northern Hemisphere).   The 9/11 tragedy and the wars that are
> following it are tragedies of course -- but no worse than those that came
> before and actually far less I would say.
>
> However, on a spiritual level, we don't know why we're here, or who we
> are -- THIS is what's different about our century.
>
> On an ETHICAL level, however, I'd have to say this century is no better or
> worse than any others...  We can still learn to be "ethical" in this
> transient, anonymous, capitalist, postmodern society -- ethical implies a
> statement about our behavior in the physical world, and the laws of nature
> still apply.  I.E.:  If you're lazy and don't work, you won't produce and
> hence you will be fired, become hungry, and become motivated to work.  If
> you're a freeloader, people will know it, resent you, abandon you, and
> you'll soon lose people to freeload off of.  If you cheat and lie, you
will
> (eventually) be found out.  Enron and WorldCom.  Being unethical just
> doesn't work -- in the long run -- and the structure of the universe will
> ensure that we learn our lessons and act ethically to succeed, or not
learn
> our lessons and fail.  "What doesn't work will eventually fail."  There
are
> exceptions, of course, but generally our world -- THE world -- works that
> way.
>
> However, ethics is different from spirituality -- though the two are
related
> more often than not.  Spirituality implies a sense of meaning and purpose
> behind our actions.  Spirituality implies something that is transcendent
of
> the physical world.  Spirituality implies, esp. for Percy, something
> human -- different from the animals -- and entails such concepts and
> experiences of "joy" and "alienation" and a "soul" and a "dark night" and
> "pattern" and "purpose."
>
> In other words, I can act ethically for the physical rewards/benefits of
> that and have no spiritual purpose behind it at all (though spirituality
> usually entails ethical actions).  You referred to the "Thanatos
> Syndrome" -- in it you have the characters cavorting about engaging in all
> sorts of meaningless sexual acts -- it's not that that's unethical that is
> the problem with this -- but that it shows the absence of spirituality --
> there's no meaning or purpose behind what should be a spiritual act.  In
TS,
> the water is tampered with to make a happy society on a physical plane,
but
> there's no purpose to the happiness, no transcendent meaning related to
> that.  (In this way, to me, Thanatos Syndrome is very closely related to
> Huxley's Brave New World -- in events and in theme.)
>
> Huston Smith (best known for his "World Religions" work) has a great
little
> book, a pretty quick read, called "Beyond the Post-Modern Mind" (1989?
> though that might not be the first edition).  In it he says the middle
ages
> was an era in which man saw himself as a creature of God, as a creature
with
> a soul, and his place in the world was determined by the state of his soul
> and relationship with God.  So the middle ages was "Man with a soul,"
which
> became usurped in the Renaissance by mind, science, and intellect -- man
was
> "Man with a mind," and in the 20th century, we no longer view our place in
> the world as defined by soul or mind, but by body.  We are physical
> creatures, and that is the end of that.
>
> So, what's wrong with making society productive on a physical plane
> (certainly what the Nazis wanted -- Hitler was a Utopian) and people happy
> through physical inducement?  It lacks any connection to meaning, purpose,
> and man's place in the world as it relates to anything transcendent.  It
> (the postmodern age) lacks a spirituality.
>
> Karey
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Earthrise Press
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 7:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] Re: Some Random Thoughts, Largely Unrelated, Based
on
> Previous Discussions and Readings
>
>
> "Wade Riddick"  wrote:
> > Well, the list appears to have gone dark, which isn't surprising what
with
> > the increasing corporate ownership of media and all.
>
> I've been occasionally lurking around for some months out of interest
> in Percy's work, surfing the website too. How about attempting a
> "revival" with one of my favorite quotations from Percy:
>
> Sign Posts in a Strange Land, 309:
>
> "The old modern age has ended. We live in a post-modern as well
> as a post-Christian age which as yet has no name....
>
> "It is post-modern because the Age of Enlightenment with its vision
> of man as a rational creature, naturally good and part of the cosmos,
> which itself is understandable by natural science--this age has also
> ended. It ended with the catastrophes of the twentieth century."
>
> What are we to make of the catastrophes of the 21st Century?
> Not off to an especially good start, are we?! Or too gloomy
> a quotation to prompt comment?
>
> Frederick Glaysher
>
> Earthrise Press
> P. O. Box 81842
> Rochester, MI 48308-1842
> Voice: 248-651-3380
> FAX: 248-608-6424
> EarthrisePress AT Comcast.Net
> www.fglaysher.com
>
> --
>
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy

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