Words on Paper: An author’s quest for meaning beyond Postmodernism. Finding Metamodernism in searching how literature reflects and influences society and exploring the Great Conversation about the human condition. Emerging into the Metamodern Era, we rediscover hope, faith, facts, truth, ethics, values, meaning, while retaining questioning, even skepticism where necessary. Metamodernism: An informed naivete, ironic sincerity, pragmatic idealism.
Current events again inspire me to diverge from the initial list of topics in this series, while still referencing important books. In this case, two books by Dr. Francis Collins: The Road to Wisdom – On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust, and The Language of God – A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Also, Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler.
Regardless of how your vote matched with the election outcome, observing people in the succeeding days suggests some sense of relief from the barrage of messages portraying darkness. Much of that came from one side that fomented and exploited hate and fear, and greatly abetted by an amoral cable network that claims to have the largest “news” audience. Or, as I spell it, Faux News.
The ‘darkness at noon’ in Koestler’s novel refers to horrors of totalitarian dictatorship under Joseph Stalin from 1924 to 1953. A Hungarian, Koestler at first was enamored by Stalin, but later became disillusioned. Published in 1941, his novel was assigned reading for a college class on 20th Century Europe. My copy still sits on our bookshelf. The following leads off my review written for the class.
“The major theme of this book is the internal moral agony suffered by one man as he experienced the conflict between humanitarian ideals and the harsh necessity of a totalitarian state. During the Thirties the masses of Russia either yielded or were crushed by the ‘logical necessity’ of the Party.” The closing sentence states: “As Lenin shaped the course of the (Russian) revolution, so did Stalin shape the events of this period, and the blind loyalty of his followers was in sharp contrast to his own cynicism.” Sound familiar?
In recent years we have heard much about comparing Trumpism with Germany’s fascism in the 1930s through World War II. Let’s not forget the lessons that could be learned from Stalinism. Or, as we seem to be doing, why bother to study and learn from history when it’s much easier to simply repeat it. We mus continue to study and learn from history.
What will future historians say about the present? Donald Trump’s fascination with Vladimir Putin, strong evidence of Russia’s interference with our elections, and the feeling among many Americans that democracy is in peril, might suggest the Cold War is over. Russia won.
On that dim note, let’s turn to the other books.
If you are not familiar with Dr. Francis Collins, he was the tall one with Dr. Anthony Fauci at news conferences as they strove to present the facts up against the false and absurd (Postmodern?) proclamations of then-president Trump about Covid-19.
As director of the National Institutes of Health, Collins marshalled the resources of science to produce a Covid vaccine in record time. Prior to that he led the Human Genome Project, which identified the estimated three billion pairs of genes in our DNA (the language of God).
Published in 2006, The Language of God, provides an excellent overview of the project, and a powerful thesis for a “satisfying harmony” between faith and science. “…We desperately need both voices to be at the table, and not to be shouting at each other.”
I see a parallel here. Today, one side had blind faith in a demagogue; the other, while attempting to be passionate, still relied on facts, platforms, past accomplishments, and logic. We are still shouting at each other, but there’s always hope.
As portrayed in the book, scientists have strong evidence that all humankind today descended from about 10,000 humans living in east Africa about 100,000 years ago. At the DNA level all humans are about 99.9 percent identical, about which Collins reportedly has said, “we are all brothers and sisters. We are all Africans.”
In The Road to Wisdom (2024), Collins writes, “This is a book about the sources of wisdom, something that I fear too many of us have lost sight of. I was inspired to write it after spending many years in the public eye and seeing just how badly divisiveness and politics have warped our thinking – including our ability to discern truth, our understanding of science, and our anchor to the fundamentals of faith represented in our churches. This is my attempt to ‘unwarp’ us, and to help recover what matters most.” Amen.
Coda
Attending a church service Nov. 10, I was impressed by the pastor’s ability to address the Nov. 5 election. It surprised me when he opened the sermon saying about one-third of the nation’s estimated 239 million eligible voters were happy about the outcome, about one-third were in despair, and about one-third didn’t vote or care.
The Gospel reading for that Sunday (Mark Chapter 12, verses 38-44) tells of the poor widow who gives the treasury two pennies, which she can hardly afford. Observing that, Jesus said to his disciples that she gave far more than all the rich people who gave a fraction of their wealth. She gave it all.
What does that have to do with the outcome of an election? As I recall the sermon, the message is that God works through His creation, us, all humankind created in his image. The pastor left the door open for those who believe that an omnipotent God can act supernaturally in the world, miracles and such. We must strive to resist the present assault on democracy, but a miracle would be welcome.
One more Gospel lesson John (Chapter 4) tells about Jesus meeting a woman at a well. When he asks her to draw him some water, she balks. Why are you, a Jewish man, even talking to me, a Samaritan woman? It was perhaps the first mention in the Bible where Jesus revealed to the public his true identity as God incarnate. That should tell us something about gender, ethnic, and racial equality, at least in the eyes of Jesus. So-called Christian nationalists please take note. Read and try to follow the New Testament.
