Faith
I am rewatching the Netflix series The Crown and finding it great entertainment and chock full of thoughtful issues worthy of contemplation. That is the sign of well-produced, directed and acted movie or series. Being thought-provoking is something I very much value in my movie and TV viewing. It seems somehow easier to do be thought-provoking in a written piece and easier to be entertaining in a visual piece, but the ability to enroll both aspects in a piece is what makes for the great ones in my opinion. I am not sure that the overarching theme of the evolution of the monarchy in modern society is all that relevant to our every day lives, but the series manages to humanize and distill more ordinary topics into its episodes such that we can all relate to them in our own lives.
I found the Man on the Moon episode called Moondust to be particularly poignant for several reasons. To begin with, for people or my age, the 1969 landing on the moon, which took place when I was fifteen years old and living in Rome, was a cataclysmically important event, perhaps one of a small handful which I can distinctly remember where I was and what I was thinking. I remember going to watch the landing itself at my friend Tom’s house since he had a television and we didn’t. That was not an economic issue, but the fact that there was so little programming on Italian TV in those days did not give us much cause to own a television. I remember sitting in Tom’s living room along with his mother, father and brother. We were all quite mesmerized by it all. I even remember the crackling “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” I remember us all being quite dumbstruck by the event. It was both inspiring and a bit scary. Had we understood the technology then, the way we do now, we would have all been terrified for the three astronauts. But at the time, we had a high degree of faith in NASA and probably as much faith in our technology and our government.
I’m not so sure we feel the same way now. Our technology has blossomed over the past fifty-three years, to be sure. We live with what could only have been described back then as Buck Rogers or certainly at least Star Trek technology. We can’t dematerialize people and send them from here to there one atom at a time and even flying cars are not with us like the New York World’s Fair would have had us believe, but with the advent of wireless technology and the internet, we have come so much further in communications as well as many other areas that it is not clear that we are not further along technologically today than anyone could have predicted back then. The problem is far less about the technology today, and far more about the fragility of the people behind the technology that should concern us.
This morning I read about the decisive victory (the margin was over 10 points) of Emmanuel Macron over Marine Le Pen. That was a relief for France, for the EU, for NATO and for liberal democracy fans like me. But the articles this morning are less about the win and more about the concerns over the divisiveness of French society when 42% of the electorate vote for such a reactionary alternative like Le Pen represented. It is being called a generational divide, but it is a far less clear one than you might suspect. It is clear that the majority of the aging French electorate over 55 years old voted for Macron, with Le Pen’s support coming from the 35-55 year old group. What of the under-35 electorate? They voted for a far more radical leftist candidate, creating a three-way split in the electorate. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of the election was the 28% of the electorate that abstained from voting at all. That was enough of a portion to swing the election in almost any direction that apathetic group would have wanted. Those are the people who have lost faith in the system of government altogether.
We have a very similar problem here in the U.S. except I would suggest that we have five groups: the moderate Democrats who support Joe Biden, the progressive Democrats who still think Bernie Sanders should have won, the pro-Trump rabid right, the Republicans who would either be called RINOs by the right or sensibly anti-Trump by the left, and finally, our own 33% of the voting-age population that chose not to vote in the most recent presidential election. It is no wonder that democracy is under attack since studies show clearly that democracy works best when voter turnout is high. When the population sinks into a sense of futility, disillusionment and indifference, there is a weakening of the social fabric which keeps us strong. There is a loss of faith that life can get better.
People have been pondering and studying faith and the loss thereof for centuries, if not millennia. It is one of those things that we have all witnessed or felt and it is incredibly difficult to get our arms around it. They say that it is caused by misunderstandings, personality conflicts, tragic circumstances, ill treatment and, perhaps, even our own ignorance. To lose one’s faith is to lose one’s way in the world. It is a loss of purpose or direction. It is easier to capture the sense of loss that comes about from a loss of faith when speaking about an individual and far harder when considering en entire society. The movie City Slickers does a good job of characterizing the depression that comes from the loss of purpose in one’s life. Billy Crystal goes on a cattle drive as part of a mid-life crisis. This happens despite the fact that one of his two best friends is in far greater personal crisis and the other is apparently superficially dealing with his own mid-life issues. What he concludes with the help of Jack Palance (Curly), is that for each of us, life is about just one thing (highlighted by one poignant raised finger). In Billy Crystal’s case it is about his children. In that sense, the movie displays a universal theme that suggests that we are all here to carry on the species and to love our procreative offspring. That is certainly a good solution for many, but the fact that lapses in faith occur for many people who have children and grandchildren belies the reality of the problem.
I prefer the idea that beyond the sine qua non of procreation and the necessity of love in our lives, we all also need purpose in order to retain faith. Faith is what lifts our spirits in song and drives us forward when the sun rises. Right now, Kim is deeply ensconced in learning a new set of songs for her new choral group. This is a voluntary activity, but for Kim it is far less voluntary and far more mandatory. She needs song to lift her spirits and to give herself direction and purpose. For her, faith is song and song is faith.
I have a more complex problem with faith. Last night we went to see the new Alexander Skarsgard film The Northman. It is Viking tale rooted in the revenge that motivates the heart of a Conan-like figure who goes to Iceland to satisfy his bloodlust. What he encounters is that the basis for his revenge is undermined by his mother (Nicole Kidman) who tells him that his father was not worthy of vengeance and the object of his ire, his uncle and now step-father, is a good man. This represents the breaking of his faith. He loses direction and has no anchor to windward. Iceland is a good metaphor for retirement. We go there with great intent and purpose and then when we arrive we find that our faith has vanished like the motivation of the greyhound that catches the mechanical rabbit. We suddenly become lost. At this moment, I too am cast adrift on an endless northern sea in search of purpose. My grandchildren just left from their visit. My kids are all successfully on their paths. My property projects are on pause. I am The Northman, staring into the abyss of the adjacent chaparral ravine this Monday morning.
But like Skarsgard, whose trap muscles bulge beyond rationality as he stalks the dark world with his animalistic hunched shoulders, I simply need to search for and find a new purpose. Skarsgard finds a wife and children in his future. I have the perfect wife and three wonderful children, so instead I am on the hunt for a new project to help me restore my faith, my purpose, my direction. Watch out hillside.