Re: an atheist speaks . . .
gpaterso@richmond.edu
Thu, 17 Sep 1998 09:46:15 -0400
At 03:04 09/17/98 +0100, Craig King wrote:
>...i share zooey's respect for christ, even reading about him as
>an atheist but the effect is the same. zooey marvels at the man and his
>wonders and i marvel at the creation of this man and his wonders. the
>aesthetics of christ, fragments from four different people, each seeing,
>hearing with slight difference. the ethics of the man, the humility. all
>done by people. i can never quite click with zooey, feel that harmony of
>thought from idea to understanding (though always from author to reader),
>but i connect with the strength of feeling. me, i prefer the creation of
>beauty through people than beauty through god. god in man or just man? we
>have art! and thankfully we have salinger.
I would point out that Franny herself remarks that the influence of the ideas
presented in religion can be felt even when starting from a state of little or
no faith. I don't have the book in front of me but I remember when she is
describing the book "The Way of the Pilgrim" she says something like, "You
don't
even have to believe in what your doing at first," and that it is not any sort
of true faith but instead an active force created by constant chanting/prayer.
Apparently this connection to "divine" influence does not require any true
divine intervention, but instead depends on the fervor with which the
practitioner continues to pray. The result is a connection not with any
particular god, as I see it, but with a general faceless Infinite force not
unlike the state of enlightenment Teddy seeks. This would tend to enhance
the ability to create "beauty through people" as you put it without smothering
that creativity under unnecessarily religious containment.
Also your description of Christ above reminds me very much of the humble,
nameless protagonist in "The Way of the Pilgrim," which was, of course, a
human construct, not a divine scripture. The search of four men for a
description of the highly enlightened man (Christ) in a way mirrors the
(also unnamed) author's attempt to show all the qualities -- ethics, humility,
etc. -- exhibited by his own protagonist as he searches the Russian (?)
countryside for enlightenment. The accounts we receive of Christ's teachings
were not handed down from a silver-lined cloud; like "The Way of the Pilgrim,"
the accounts of Christ's travels, his personality, his ethical struggles,
all come from mortal men, desperate for a representative of perfect
enlightenment. As you say, thankfully, we have Salinger, probably not the
most enlightened man around, but also seeking -- through Seymour, Franny,
Teddy, and others -- a path to an enlightened state, not necessarily
Christian, only a little Buddhist, and universally applicable to a world in
which the Eloises, Lees, Lane Coutells, Muriel Fedders, and all-around
"phonies" hold all too much of society in their materialist thrall.
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G.H.G.A.Paterson (804)662-3737 gpaterso@richmond.edu
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