Process in Pakistan

Colin Mason's A Short History of Asia speaks about the growing trend toward something called "Controlled Democracy." Certainly this is what exists in Pakistan, where there are democratic institutions, such as a parliament, elections that are contested, etc., but where the real power rests with Musharraf and the (apparently) still loyal army elites. It's nice for our politicians to say that the trend toward democracy must continue in Pakistan, but a certain care must be exercised and a sober course negotiated.

The sudden fall of the government might have the potential to allow the growing terror from Waziristan to topple what's left of the institutions of democracy. What would that nation have then? Pakistan has 165 million people. It's a large nation, and the breakdown of social order there would be a catastrophe. Faced with a radical state of the Khmer Rouge/Kampuchea nature on its border, what would India do? Or Pakistan's other neighbors?

This is not an endorsement of any further weakening or abrogation of electoral process in Pakistan. The community of nations--and our politicians--should exercise restraint and do what's possible to encourage the existing government to deal responsibly with the influential parties in that nation.

By the way: no one's said much about the practical problems of securing the nukes. Surely we have some agents/agencies in contact with the Pakistani army about the realities on the ground where these are concerned.

Mrs. Bhutto

The assassination is no less a tragedy for its lack of surprise. If and until the Pakistani administration credibly arrives at some resolution of culpability and proper justice for this act, it must remain suspect, and U.S. policy must hold it to account for this behavior. In this regard, it was disconcerting to hear President Bush mention "extreme elements" in his terse statement this morning. Do we know something already or are we building a cover for Musharraf? Is this a way to apply pressure and provide support to Musharraf to act against the extremists? Or, are we shamelessly and cynically applying another fig leaf to replace the one that blew off with this murder? I'd honestly guess at this point that if there was not severe pressure prior to this, there is now. "Allies" are friends, but not necessarily friendly--nor do they have to be in order to accomplish a level of common cause.

Christmas Message from Ephraim the Syrian

As quoted by Pope Benedict in his Wednesday audience about a month ago:

The Lord came to her
To make himself a servant.
The Word came to her
To keep silence in her womb.
The lightning came to her
To not make any noise.

The shepherd came to her
And the Lamb is born, who humbly cries.
Because Mary’s womb
Has reversed the roles:
The One who created all things
Wasn’t born rich, but poor.

The Almighty came to her,
But he came humbly.
Splendor came to her,
But dressed in humble clothes.
The One who gives us all things
Met hunger.

The One who gives water to everone
Met thirst.
Naked and unclothed he came from her,
He who dresses all things with beauty.

“On the Nativity”
Ephraim the Syrian (306-373 CE)

Why we teach

"And even if they are demanding answers, the young are not afraid of them; more to the point, they even await them."

--Pope John Paul II

A Christmas Wish

I wish I could take the credit for this Christmas blessing, but it was passed along by a co-worker. However, I can't think of a better sentiment, and pass it along again--

We will celebrate again the glorious birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th.

The dirt poor condition of His arrival to human form has not, does not, diminish Him.

He's still the King.

We're so dog-gone fortunate He's called us to travel with him.

May we all find under "our tree" a measure of grace for each and every day of our trip together in faith, with hope.

Merry Christmas!

Happy 2008!

I think I get it...

Saw this handmade sign pointing down a side street on the way home today:

"GOSPLE REBIBLE".

No further comment.

New toy

... but not a toy! Bought and received my Christmas present, and it's pretty spectacular. I'd been reading about the Asus eeePC, and decided to invest the $400. to get hold of one. Seems like this ultraportable laptop, the size and weight of a trade-type paperback novel, will be the next thing. I showed it to the tech folks at school, and they were stunned by its completeness as a general-purpose laptop computer and its tiny size. I'm writing this entry on it. I'm still a little clumsy with the downsized keyboard, but getting better with it. Here's a link to Wikipedia's entry on this machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC.

Benedict XVI and the Environment

I love the rhetorical language in this news piece--"surprise attack" and "condemns," etc.

Benedict would be what's called a moderate on this issue. He doesn't deny the need to pay attention, but considers human needs and human problems as the priority item. End of discussion.

Joyous Hanukkah!

Everything about the Jewish faith extends beyond its juridical limits into the roots of human civilization, especially in the West. The struggle to practice one's faith and conform to lawful dictates of conscience, and the premises themselves upon which the legitimacy of that struggle is founded, are (in Thomas Cahill's expression) truly "gifts of the Jews." So as Christians we bow with humility and gratitude in this season to our elder siblings in faith and culture.

A Few Books to Grow With.

Be careful—these dangerous books will challenge your assumptions!

As Plato's Socrates put it, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Fiction and Drama:

A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt
Enders Game, Orson Scott Card – and its sequels!
Animal Farm, George Orwell
The Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
On the Beach, Neville Shute
War Day, Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka
Diary of A Country Priest, Georges Bernanos
Cancer Ward, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The First Circle, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
"The Bear", William Faulkner
(Short Story, not novel/movie of same name)
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Bridge at Andau, James Michener
The Life of Pi, Yann Martel
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
Lamy of Santa Fe, Paul Horgan

Personal Stories:

Confessions, St. Augustine
Flight to Arras, Antoine de St. Exupery
Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de St. Exupery
Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number, Jacobo Timmerman
Waiting for God, Simone Weil
No Bars to Manhood, Daniel Berrigan
Isaiah, Daniel Berrigan
The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day
Being and Having: An Existentialist Diary, Gabriel Marcel

Philosophy, Religion and Culture:

Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper
Aristotle for Everybody, Mortimer Adler
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine, Harold Bloom
Where Shall Wisdom Be Found, Harold Bloom
The Discarded Image, C.S. Lewis
Man Against Mass Society, Gabriel Marcel
How to Read A Book, Mortimer Adler
Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), Pope John Paul II
Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), Pope John Paul II
Personalism, Emmanuel Mounier
Easy Essays, Peter Maurin
The Peasant of the Garonne, Jacques Maritain
Education at the Crossroads, Jacques Maritain

Politics, Ethics and Environment:

The Prince, Niccolo Macchiavelli
The Embers and the Stars, Erazim Kohak
The Green Halo, Erazim Kohak
The Fate of the Earth, Jonathan Schell
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
Reflections on America, Jacques Maritain
Apology/Crito/Phaedo/Allegory of the Cave, Plato
The Republic, Plato
Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle
Politics, Aristotle
The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism, Leo Strauss
Persecution and the Art of Writing, Leo Strauss

Biography, History:

The Dumb Ox, G.K. Chesterton
How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill
Sailing The Wine Dark Sea, Thomas Cahill
The Gifts of the Jews, Thomas Cahill
The Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Thomas Cahill
The Holocaust, Martin Gilbert
Founding Brothers, Robert Ellis

"One Galileo trial is enough..."

Ok, here's a rather long entry, quoted from a text I believe is out of print. It's worth at least one careful reading, however. It's the Preface, by Prof. Francis J. Nead, to Owen Carrigan, Man’s Intervention in Nature, Hawthorn Books, New York, 1967. I don't think his point is out of date:

With the words "One Galileo trial is enough for the Church," Cardinal Suenens took formal notice at Vatican II of the death of an age (October 29th, 1964). The adolescence of religious man is finished. He is on the threshold of maturity. His childhood was marked by extensive ignorance of the real nature both of his world and of God. So in his fear he confused the two. His adolescent period saw the growth of his awareness that the world has its own immanent laws. The heady wine of his discoveries caused him to say foolish things about banishing God from the world. But he gradually began to see that he really did not know God so well. God would not be so lightly banished. Some old questions remained naggingly present in the midst of man’s rebellion. As a rational procedure, depending for its first principles on sources quite outside its competence (e.g., the validity of empirical knowledge) and by definition unable to face such questions beyond itself as "Why does anything exist at all?," science is helpless to answer them. There must always be for science a surrounding sphere or envelope of unanswerable questioning. "The life of science bathes in an ocean of mystery" (Butler).

Those who thought they knew God well turned upon the rash discoverers of the world’s immanent forces in righteous indignation. They condemned Galileo and announced a state of war between science and religion. They cited God’s holy word in support of their fulminations. Galileo was perplexed. He could not see, he said, why there was religious opposition to his theories. What difference does it make for man’s eternal salvation whether the sun turns around the earth or vice versa? He was right. His judges had made a mistake. As they studied God’s word they learned more about its real meaning. Leo XIII encouraged the pioneers among them to press deeper: "It could not have been," he said, "the intention of the sacred writers, or rather . . . of the Spirit of God who spoke through them, to instruct us about things that cannot be of service for the salvation of man, namely, the internal constitution of the visible world" (Providentissimus Deus). Pius XII added, "Holy Scripture instructs us only regarding divine things, but it makes use of the ordinary language of men for that purpose" (Divino Afflante Spritu). Thus humbled, religious men of both warring factions were ready for the movement of the Spirit. They were readied to acknowledge as never before the God who is not part of his world at all, but a person summoning man to mutuality and genuine autonomy, a God who chooses, promises, demands, rejects and fulfills.

The Pastoral Constitution "On the Church in the Modern World" of Vatican II rings with repeated assertions of solidarity of the Church with developments in today’s world. She does not chide, bemoan the "death of religion," seek to call men back to former times, lament the disappearance her influence. In her new consciousness of self and in fuller freedom she ratifies the transition from a sacral to a secular world. She declares her union with secular man struggling to subject the world to himself. "In the emancipation and control of creation is realized still more what God has intended with the creation of man and the man who has participated in the transformation of creation, even when he does so not out of the recognition of God, is a helper in his plan" (Vischer).

If by the autonomy of earthly affairs we mean that created things and societies themselves enjoy their own laws and values which must be gradually deciphered, put to use, and regulated by men, then it is entirely right to demand that autonomy. Such is not merely required by modern man, but harmonizes also with the will of the Creator. For by the very circumstances of their having been created, all things are endowed with their own stability, truth, goodness, proper laws and order. Man must respect these as he isolates them by the appropriate methods of the individual sciences or arts . . . Indeed, whoever labors to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, even though he is unaware of the fact, is nevertheless being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence, and gives them their identity.

The Constitution sounds a belated (but necessary) warning to Christians about a warlike attitude evidenced even now. "We cannot but deplore certain habits of mind, which are sometimes found, too, among Christians, which do not sufficiently attend to the rightful independence of science and which, from the arguments and controversies they spark, lead many minds to conclude that faith and science are mutually opposed."

Led by the scriptural scholars, theology has entered into a new freedom, which is to say a fuller maturity. It is ready to enter into an open and genuine dialogue with man’s natural awareness of himself and the world. Freed by its realizing that there are sources of religious knowledge outside of historical revelation, theology is ready to listen as the sciences speak of themselves. For example, sure that man is the goal of all creation and that creation in fact did begin from God and depends on him (this certainty coming from its own proper resources), theology is prepared to learn from natural science what can actually evolve within creation.

Something quite important is at stake here for theology and for religious man in his new maturity. God is not glorified (it was "zeal for the glory of God" that spared the bellicosity of religion vis-à-vis science) by reducing him to the level of the contingent beings of which he is the creator. Such a reduction is in fact implied by a fearful reluctance to disengage creation’s operation from God’s distinct causality. To put it positively, if God truly creates (that is, imparts) existence, then the measure of the power of that creative act (and of the grandeur of the one who performs it) will be the extent to which the creature can "go it alone." Far from banishing God from the scene, the autonomy of creatures, the ability of things to move according to their own immanent dynamisms and laws, makes God all the more necessary. This law of God’s being necessary in direct (not inverse) proportion to creaturely independence is rooted in the Word made Flesh. It is the law of the Incarnation itself. So intimate is the divine embrace of the humanness of Christ that the latter is liberated for fullest freedom, for unlimited (once having had a start in time) achievement, for the most radical autonomy; for genuine existence. The entering in of God to man and his world is an enabling grace, a release of the creature to fullest truth. "In him we live, move and have our [own] being" (Acts 17,28).

Religious man (and man is permanently and irreducibly so, thought it may rile him in his adolescence), must face, perhaps for the first time, an overwhelmingly difficult truth, now that he has come to accept the autonomy of creation. His need for God has caused him to fashion many gods, many absolutes. Now that in his growing maturity he has banished all the idols from the scene, he must face up to this disturbing and difficult proposition: There is only one God, and that God is a person! To say that creation is autonomous is not to say that it is no longer theophanous. Though man may even wish that God were dead, God has not really (ontologically) departed creation.

The Christian should stand uniquely equipped for religious maturity; that is, for mutuality with a personal God. The Christian revelation imparts to man the knowledge of who he is for God (which is to say who he is ultimately "in himself") by showing him who God is for him in Christ. The Christian thus stands on the firmest ground of self-awareness, liberated for genuine encounter with the world without the danger of losing himself in slavery to idols. He is (or should be) uniquely equipped to discover once more (in freedom and in truth) for himself and for all men that the world is genuinely theophanous, since he is willing to let God be genuinely God. God did not leave the world while adolescent man was running away from home. He waits for man, for his adult son to return to genuine encounter with him in creation.

"The Christian knows the shortest, most compelling way to God" (Von Balthasar). It is in and through his fellow man. This is the meaning of the Cross, the summary of all revelation. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of truth. "This is why I was born and why I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth" (John 18, 37). First among all truths is the truth, the uniqueness, the irreplaceability of each and every human being. In the light of this truth (the whole cosmos is for man the person) the fullest truth of the world is revealed. "All things are yours, you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s" (1 Cor 3, 23).

Here is the specific witness of the Christian scientist. In him the world reveals its fullest truth, since he knows and stoutly defends its real finality, its genuine value. It is for man and man is for God. In the conduct of his science, in the manipulation of matter, in the managing of his interventions in the course of natural events, the Christian reveals God to the world and the world to itself. His decisions will be informed by the real values of matter and of man, and thus his work will bring both to fullness.

It is a real joy to commend a book that embodies such a witness.

Another favorite team does well

The amazing Houston Dynamo have repeated as MLS champs. The Inner Fan is bursting with pride--again!

Inside baseball, if I may--

I've made a comment or two regarding the very valid attempt by the Catholic hierarchy to assist in elaborating a more coherent and timely catechesis for students in our schools and learners in religious education and instruction programs. Like anything else, it will work better if all concerned roll up their sleeves and get to work rather than spewing and fulminating about the (mythical) powers that be. Really, there's no substitute for being involved and paying our dues instead of waiting for the next great thing to be dropped into our laps so we can criticize the work of others.

In case you can't click on the title above, here's a pretty good update: http://engagingfaith.blogspot.com/2007/11/national-framework-approved.html

Mr. Bonds

There were several comments in the press yesterday to this effect: "It's a sad day for baseball...."

No it isn't.

Baseball and America ought to be jumping with joy that Mr. Bonds will now have his day in court, and, if found guilty of perjuring himself about his alleged use of banned performance-enhancing drugs, will be removed from the available-heroes landscape.

Go Sox!

Of course, that's the hose of the red variety, and the pro baseball team of the world series championship variety!

"Erring on the side of...."

Now can anyone think of a more misused expression?

"We're going to err on the side of safety."

"We're erring on the side of the children."

I'd prefer we chose not to err at all. Let's ACT or DECIDE in favor of safety, the children, etc.

Give me a break....

Mr. Ahmedinejad's very odd address at the U.N. surely cannot be taken to be a sampling of the best of Muslim-nation statecraft, can it? Even the ambassador from Vatican City wouldn't pretend to deliver such a naive cart-load of religious pomp. If he did, the Church would be laughed from U.N. membership.

If it weren't so dire in its potential, it would be farce.

Just discouraging

There are mountains of serious words about Iraq and policy in the Middle East, but not much good debate. When the first premise of one side's argument is "It's a war for oil," there really isn't very far to go in terms of dealing with "the facts on the ground" both in Iraq and the region.

A challenging article ...

.... about how the atheist and agnostic ought to think about and behave toward sacred texts, in the 9/21/07 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Something to think seriously about and examine later. Texts and reading (do they still call this "hermeneutics") are even more critical issues today than ever.

Mother Theresa

It appears that Mother Theresa of Calcutta was not a “flat character” in the annals of the saints of the Catholic Church. Time Magazine has a major article describing the contents of a new book containing excerpts from her diaries and correspondence over the long period of her adult life, especially from the time of her transition from the community of teaching sisters in which she began her vocation through the period of her ministry as founder of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.
She documents a lifelong spiritual struggle, much of which takes the form of a “dark night of the soul” where despite an intense desire for intimacy with Jesus who called her forward, she often found silence, emptiness, and abandonment. Certainly this does not make her less, but ranks her among the great spiritual figures of Christianity. Based on the account here, the collection of writings appears to be a truly remarkable document. A spiritual guide, in the truest sense, is not the cocksure figure waving a baton at the head of a parade down Main Street, but rather one who dares to navigate the lonely alleys and deep shadows, drawing forward the lost, the hurt, the angry, the doubting.

Reading update

Finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. An apocalyptic story so painful to read that it's impossible to put down. You just have to find out whether the boy and his father live. Why must they? Until the last few paragraphs, they appear to be the last two people who care about others and live on some rudimentary level of principle. All relationships, kinships and taboos, except theirs, have been blasted from the world. (Even the blind prophet in the story isn't very coherent.)

Reading a medieval epic, "The Walking Drum" by Louis L'Amour--his one non-Western, I think.

Still not finished with "Morality Matters."

"Structurally Deficient"

What in the world does that mean?

It is apparently a bureaucratic designation reflecting the general/categorical condition of a particular bridge, according to its age, type and observed manifestations of aging/weathering/usage, etc. It seems to be used to place a bridge on a given schedule of testing and observation. It does not seem to be, by itself, a panic signal to be ignored or not.

I wish the media would begin to grow up about very basic differentiations in terminology. Many reporters confuse a bureaucratic label with some sort of normative statement, as in "the official was dangerously negligent." It doesn't seem that officials of any sort did anything different with the fallen bridge than they do with any other of the thousands of bridge in the same designation: watch carefully, accelerate the monitoring/testing schedule according to the engineering norms that are currently accepted. It may be that these criteria need to be looked at and updated according to what is learned from the collapse in Minneapolis. But that may not be the need--we just don't know. No one has categorically eliminated any possibilities yet, from acts of nature to problems with the ongoing construction to criminal activity.

In case no one's noticed, there are still operations in progress to recover the bodies of victims.

Harry

Finished early this morning. It's good.

Not buying it

In the new Time, Lev Grossman has a short commentary lamenting the fading of God in the Potter series. True, there's no "Aslan," as in Narnia. But Narnia is far more allegorical by intention. It's apparent that Rowling has no such intention, and probably wants to avoid the theology. That doesn't mean the Power isn't there and isn't essential to the story. You won't find God in LOTR, either. More to be said about this after reading number seven. Can't wait until Friday.

By the way, I didn't know that Louis L'Amour wrote a medieval-themed novel. Found it at the big upscale chain bookstore over the weekend. It's called The Walking Drum. Something else to do.

Rowling and Lewis

Partway through Prince Caspian. It's episode 4 of Narnia. Without having read secondary materials by people who study these things, it's completely obvious that J.K. Rowling has big time affinities with Lewis. Someday I'll have a life of leisure, and look into this; meanwhile, just delight. Have to finish the Chronicles before next Friday.

Fun with reading...

...now that I have a little time.

Just for pleasure, getting through The Chronicles of Narnia. Started the third last night, A Horse and his Boy.

Just for the challenge: War, Progress and the End of History by Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian philosopher who died around 1900. It's a short series of "platonic" dialogues, the last thing he wrote, subtitled "Three Conversations Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ". All of today's issues--the morality of war, political realism vs. idealism, etc.--are here.

Preparation for the night class, a new (to me) text: Morality Matters: Race, Class and Gender in Applied Ethics, by Jeffrey R. DiLeo. It's an imposing collection of resources (and a big book) that marches into moral thinking from many perspectives. If I'm a student, I save this one on my shelf for future reference.

An Opportunity, perhaps?

I think the administration (with the Israeli government) is acting correctly in releasing funds and providing more aid to the Abbas government of the Palestinian Authority. Let's develop and encourage a willing state in the West bank--one whose citizenry doesn't want to return to chaos, to killing its young, to political mayhem and pure rejectionism. Polls out last week showed that many Palestinians--in Gaza, even--longed for the degree of order that existed under Israel's management. Make Abbas strong enough to move forward with a government; pull the rug out from under Hamas. I think the benefits would be significant, and worth the risk.

Something wise about the Middle East--Finally!

Thomas L. Friedmann's column today (unfortunately available online only by paid subscription) discusses the crying need for Arab and Islamic leadership as the most important way out of what will be a continuing crisis whether the U.S. stays or leaves. His point: an "Arab fourth way" would avoid the extremes of chaos and authoritarianism now present in the majority of Arab states in the Middle East. The problems are that states that hold promise for their populations are small and lack influence, and that--in the larger and flash-point states--the moderate politicians are forced to hide from fear or leave from despair. "That's why decent people, particularly Arab college grads, are leaving the area. They have no one to cheer for. The only hope for getting them back or for getting us out of Iraq--without leaving the region to the most nihilistic or impoverished elements--is an Arab Fourth Way. But it has to come from them--and right now, it is not happening, not inside Iraq, not outside."

He's right. Go out and buy today's Houston Chronicle.

G-M foods

Dr. DeGregori at U of H has an excellent wrap-up on the technology of modern food production:

http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=50

Great Reading

Just finished Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield. Terrific! I'll probably pick up his others this summer.

He's here, by the way: http://www.stevenpressfield.com/

Jackie Robinson

Trapped at home doing grades this weekend, I had the TV on. The sports channels, especially those that carry baseball, were wall-to-wall Jackie Robinson, and rightly so. I think his achievement and character become more significant as time passes in this country. However, there was NOTHING on the regular news channels. Once again, the news networks prove their utter lack of a clue.

Congratulations to MLB--you got this one right!

The True Treasure of Sierra Madre

[Peg and Al are teachers. Late on a Tuesday afternoon Peg enters the lounge to find Al nuking a package of popcorn.]

Peg: That smells good, Al--reminds me that it's almost dinner time.

Al: I've got to finish my lesson plans for the week and this is some pretty good quiet time, so I'll have this snack as I work on them. If they've started playing, I might check in on the basketball team before heading out.

Peg: It's movie night for me. My sister usually drops in with a video. We fix a big antipasto and some warm bread.

Al: Now that sounds like a plan. What's the film tonight?

Peg: I told her to surprise me. I have no clue, but she usually picks out something good, since she keeps track of all the new releases.

Al: My current movie viewing is really limited, but I did watch a great oldie over the weekend: "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

Peg: I don't care for those old things--they're just too primitive and dated for me. There aren't any women in that one, either.

Al: I hadn't looked at it that way--do you think that makes it sexist, too?

Peg: Probably.

Al: Wait a minute--there are some women in the story.

Peg: You were seeing things.

Al: No, no, I'm not--there are at least . . . three.

Peg: Where?

Al: That crooked businessman--the Irish guy--who swindles Dobbs and Curtin out of their wages for building that oil camp: when they meet back up with him in Tampico, he has a girl on his arm. Of course, she's probably a prostitute, since he doesn't remember her name and she has to correct him.

Peg: THAT woman doesn't help your case at all--a film with one woman, in the minor role of a prostitute!

Al: But the scene has a point--she's exploited, too, just like Dobbs and Curtin and many other poor laborers.

Peg: So you're saying the film is secretly a feminist manifesto?

Al: I didn't say that, but it might be about exploitation, and that certainly has a gender aspect to it.

Peg: True, but I'm not convinced that the story is as progressive as you say. Besides--you said there were three women, not one. How do you figure?

Al: The second woman has a whole monologue in the story.

Peg: You're dreaming.

Al: No. Remember Cody--the fourth drifter who tried to blackmail his way into the partnership with Dobbs, Curtin and Howard?

Peg: Maybe. And that wonderful trio of exploited heroes plots to kill him in cold blood to protect their gold. Truly a sordid tale.

Al: After Cody gets killed in the gunfight with the banditos, the other three check his wallet and find that letter from his wife, who has let him go on this gold adventure while she tends to their farm, orchard and family.

Peg: There--you see? An oppressed housewife waiting for Mister Bacon Earner to make his triumphant return, money bags and all.

Al: But he doesn't, does he? Try it this way--a strong, loving voice of conscience calling all the dreamers back to reality. And even Cody's listened, I think, because he's willing to try that desperate gamble with the guys on the mountain--apparently at the risk of his life. You'd have to think that reading her letter at least helps convince the troop to leave the mountain--and at the end of the story gives Curtin, who is much wiser now, a mission of hope for his future. It's not all perfectly symmetrical, but I think it might be an apt and just resolution, and it gives this woman a voice in the story.

Peg: So, Curtin's going to swap the hunt for gold for the pursuit of a domesticated little woman?

Al: He's swapping greed for something much more human. I'd bet the human side won't leave him as empty as the gold-lust does.

Peg: I'm not sure I buy that. But, O.K., where's the third woman?

Al: This one's a stretch--be ready.

Peg: I should have known.

Al: The third woman is Gaia, Howard's goddess. She creates, gives and takes away. Of course, only Howard acknowledges this powerful female, courts her and knows her ways.

Peg: Huh?

Al: The earth--the mine--the mountain--the Sierra Madre--the Mother.

Peg: I don't see it, and I'm not sure I want to.

Al: Answer this: where will Howard wind up at the end?

Peg: He says he'll go with the Indians. They'll treat him like a chief or something.

Al: Not a chief; a shaman, healer, medicine man--someone who knows the wisdom of Mother Nature, by whatever names the Indians know her and her totems.

Peg: Just because he revives that little boy? Even he says it's common knowledge, Boy-Scout tricks.

Al: I'm not sure it's actually that he heals--he does acknowledge the Indians' request and is open to them in ways none of the other adventurers are. He shows a rapport with the Indians, and they call and ordain him their shaman.

Peg: It's a nice gimmick, but I have a feeling there's more to this story.

Al: Sure, because there's more to Howard. His values, especially in the end, are very different. You couldn't imagine either Dobbs or Curtin doing anything other than they did when the
Indians came to ask for help, could you?

Peg: Of course not.

Al: He's the only one at that point for whom the issue of the gold is something that has a chance of being transcended. Howard's getting over his sickness already.

Peg: He's got a different attitude toward the gold at the end, too. I guess you have to put in the same ballpark the issue of his uproarious laughter, when he and Curtin figure out that with Dobbs the gold is gone for good, too.

Al: That's the incident that actually pointed me in his direction. He's the key antagonist to Dobbs and the key to the whole of the story's meaning. Howard heals; Dobbs gets sicker and sicker, mentally and physically, as the story wears on. The improvement in Howard's appearance opposes the decline in Dobbs'.

Peg: You're stretching again.

Al: I don't think so. When Howard gets into the wilderness and on the mountain, even Dobbs and Curtin have a little conversation about Howard's surprising energy and youthfulness. Dobbs says he's like a mountain goat.

Peg: So Howard has this special relationship with the Indians because he is in better touch with nature?

Al: In a way, yes. Howard's in better touch with HIS nature, at least. So there's one sort of theme: compassion is the opposite of greed and selfishness. Compassion heals and greed is a sickness--at least of the soul. The characters' physical appearance in the movie is a great metaphor that points to the moral of the story. Howard understands nature and human nature. He knows himself and his "connectedness" with things much better than the others know theirs.

Peg: I suppose that would explain that strange scene that's always bothered me--why Howard stops on the descent from the mountain and makes the party salute "her" for giving them the gold.

Al: It's real incongruous--almost out of place.

Peg: I know you'll tell me that makes it important, because films have no accidents, or something like that.

Al: Sure. Great films are completely intentional. No accidents. Every detail is in a place where the director thinks it belongs. When something seems to stick out oddly, it deserves attention. So, on the thesis that this is a great film, things like the salute to the mountain, the boy's healing and Howard's uproarious scene at the end are windows into John Huston's mind.

Peg: So you think that this is more than a tale of greed and how "the love of money is the root of all evil"?

Al: Yeah, I think it's much more than that. Of course, the tale of greed is there to carry the story and prevent it from being, umm, preachy.

Peg: But there is an agenda.

Al: That's not a bad thing. All art portrays an observation about reality, life, nature, society, the human psyche, good and evil, gender, and the intentions of the human heart. --Are you sure you don't want any popcorn?

Peg: No, I've got to get rolling. My sister's probably waiting for me to show up. I may stop and pick up some popcorn on the way, however. Now I really wonder what film she's coming over with.

Al: Whatever it is, enjoy it. Don't forget the popcorn!

Morality and Religion

The relationship between religion and morality is complicated(--duh). There are a couple of issues that critics of religion regularly cite:

[1] Commonly, we make the assumption that morality simply emerges out of religion. That recreates the Euthyphro dilemma: do we do that which is just because that's what God commands, or does God comnand our doing of the just because the just is what is just, purely and simply?

[2] Moral codes embedded within the self-understandings of religious communities don't seem to meet the ideals of human nature that those communities (from our modernist point of view, at least) promise. There are outstanding examples of flagrantly bad behavior by religious adherents, and flagrantly bad behavior attributed by religious adherents to their deities.

I'm not completely certain that I've seen this complex of issues dealt with lately in a systematic and satisfactory manner addressed to a secular audience--without an air of superiority or a polemical agenda of one sort or another. For me, this discussion could constitute the basis of a "proof"--in the philosophic sense--or moral argument toward the reasonableness of religious faith, assuming that truth is truth in whatever context it may be seen to abide.

See the discussion here, for example:

http://nerdcountry.blogspot.com/2007/01/with-thanks-to-atheist-in-mini-van-and.html

Earth's insignificance.

See this Google video, showing the relative sizes of certain astronomical bodies:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3974466981713172831