This is a thought on some words of Our Lord in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 11, Verses 16-19.
Christ observes that a communicator has to lay down any thought of convincing people, or getting them to agree with you. You can play the “Pipes of Pan” in the most danceable way, and those who are in earshot can still refuse to “get on up.” Or you can play them the “Pathetique” Symphony and they can still shut down their emotions just as sharp as you please.
Yet, Christ says, “Wisdom is justified by her children”. Somebody out there may be listening. Somebody out there — ‘Major Tom’? — could be waiting for what you are saying.
“I have a song to sing” (The Yeomen of the Guard). Sing it — like even off-key Joe Meek — and there’ll probably end up being a whole fan club out there for you, in 40 years.
The fact that I think the use of predator drones to “remove” enemies of “high value” is both un-American and un-ethical, is not the point of the this podcast.
Rather, I put the question to you: What do you do when you have no power, no influence, in relation to something you regard as a complete impasse and completely bad thing? How do you engage in the face of absolute powerlessness?
I think I have an idea what to do. George Harrison sheds some light here, as well as a late-Victorian doppelganger for George whose name was William Hale White (aka ‘Mark Rutherford’).
What does a final dissenter with something in her or his environment do — or, better, become — in the presence of that imposing and intimidating “thing” in relation to which you dissent?
Do you struggle, perseveringly, “Day by Day” (Godspell), like the tortoise with the hare — and the tortoise sometimes wins ? Do you give up, opt out, and “turn on”? (or something like that)
What are you s’posed to do, mate, in the face of a brick wall?
That is the subject of Podcast 70, entitled “Removal”.
How is it possible to love, and to engage with, in love, a world that acts as ours does? On what basis can we do this, as opposed to heading for the hills and never looking back?
Another way of putting the question would be,
Where is the image of God in fallen earth kind? Where can it be found?
This cast draws on Kerouac (Desolation Angels, 1965), Harnack (The Gospel of the Alien God, 1924), and Huxley (Island, 1962) in search of an answer.
To listen, simply click on the titles above. To subscribe, go here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o&w=600]
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