In the author's journeys and interviews with various Jewish historians/archaeologists, its incredible the sense of family they project into their religion. Not family in the sense of one's current nuclear family, but how the Patriarchs of their faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are their family. That the Bible is their family's history. And how many of them, in coming back to their Holy Land, find themselves repeating, so to speak, the steps of their Patriarchs. The author's journey through the steps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ends in talking to a man, originally from Chicago, who moved to Israel shortly after the creation of the Israeli State and built a ranch. What's at the core of the experience of living there...
"It's people, living on the land, creating, dying. Being. Life is very banal when all is said and done.?"Why is that banal? Why isn't that beautiful?""Banal can be beautiful. You're born, you grow up, you marry, raise children, have a family, love. You die, they continue. And along that line you live. I get up every morning and enjoy looking at the Sea of Galilee. I enjoy talking to people. I enjoy my work. Perhaps that's not banal after all. That's God's little dream."
Banal can be beautiful. I think we often complain about the mundane in our lives, or the never ending routine of waking, working, sleeping (I've been known to from time to time). It can seem tedious, or boring at times. But it can be beautiful. Its still life; its the most basic routine that we share with all others, those around us, those around the world, and those who have lived before us. That inherent interconnectedness has to be beautiful, right?
I find it appropriate that Chardin would over such a thought, knowing your appreciation of him and from our past conversations regarding interdependence.
ReplyDeleteKinds of reminds me of the sarcastic quip, "you're unique, just like everyone else." I think there's more truth to that sentiment than we sometimes realize, and just another mystery to marvel at.