Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Thanks to a link and recommendation from keswindhover, I recently found butterfly's fascinating and intelligent Jan. 4 post on "Martyrs and Heroes", which not only got me (and, judging by the comments, many other people) thinking about questions of self and self-sacrifice in the LotR and BtVS mythologies, but also reminded me of some of the things I'd been thinking about on vacation and had been meaning to write on when I got home.

The following may, or may not, be coherent (they were turning out the lights on me in the library as I was writing the last paragraph -- early closing time due to semester break -- so no time to refine or edit). And it also contains spoilers -- if, that is, there is anyone who has not yet seen "The Return of the King" at least once.

The morning before I went to see "Return of the King" for the second time with my sister (who was just seeing it for the first time), I got into a rather depressing conversation with my brother, about (as he saw it) the total absence of morality or concern for the welfare of others in the dominant culture of the U.S. in the 21st century. ( my brother's rant about the lack of actual Christian ethics -- or ethics of any kind -- in U.S. public and economic life )

Later that day, as I sat on a plush couch next to my sister (the movie was being shown in one of those "theater-pubs", where the seating more nearly resembles a comfy living room and the concession stand offers a choice of wines and mixed drinks, as well as gourmet snacks and entrees, in addition to the ubiquitous soda pop and popcorn) watching "The Return of the King" unfold on the big screen before us, I couldn't help but think about my brother's words with part of my mind.

And I was struck by the fact that this movie (which is, of course, extremely popular) is all about duty to others and the need to be true to our oaths and callings.( Read more... )

If, as anthropologist Clifford Geertz suggests in his essays in THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES, the peculiar power of religious symbols comes from their ability to link "is" and "ought" at the most basic level (to say that, because this is the way the universe REALLY IS at the level of ultimate reality, this is how we OUGHT to behave while we live in it), then it is possible that every time we create a mythology or even recycle the mythologies of previous generations or other cultures, if that fictional mythology rings true to us and draws us in, then it also implants within us some of its ethical content, . . . some of its sense that, beyond what my five senses can tell me of my everyday world, there is an order or purpose which says that doing good unto others, even if they don't always do good unto you, is still a really good idea.