A book I found perusing the “c” section of the library. Willa Cather writes about the wild west, pretty much. This book seemed incredibly tame, until I got pretty far into it. It was about civilization, and set in a college town. How could you get more civilized than a university?<\/p>\n
But as I read on, it seemed to be talking about science and striking it rich. That was part of the old west. What is a gold mind but a process using physics?<\/p>\n
And what is the railroad all about but science?<\/p>\n
Here is a quote, the only one we get from the Professor’s lecture:<\/p>\n
“No, Miller, I don’t myself think much of science as a phase of human development. It has given us a lot of ingenious toys; they take our attention away from the real problems, of couse, and since the problems\u00a0are insoluble, I suppose we ought to be grateful for distraction. But the fact is, the human mind, the individual mind, has always been made more interesting by dwelling on the old riddles, even if it makes nothing of them. Science hasn’t given us any new amazements, except of the superficial kind we get from witnessing dexterity and sleight-of-hand. It hasn’t given us any richer pleasures, as the Renaissance did, nor any new sins–not one! Indeed it takes our old ones away. It’s the laboratory, not\u00a0the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. You’ll agree there is not much thrill about a physiological sin. We were better off when even the prosaic matter of taking nourishment could have the magnificence of a sin. I don’t think you help people by making their conduct of no importance–you impoverish them. As long as every man and woman who crowded into the catherdrals on Easter Sunday was a principal in a gorgeous drama with God, glittering angels on on side and th shadows of evil coming and going on the other, life was a rich thing. The king and the beggar had the same chance at miracle and great temptations and revelations. And that’s what makes men happy, believing in the mystery and importance of their own little individual lives. It makes us happy to surround our creature needs and bodily instincts with as much pomp and circumstance as possible. Art and religion (they are the same thing, in the end, of course) have given man the only happiness he has ever had.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
The Christian theologians went over the books of the Law, like great artists, getting splendid effects by excision. They reset the stage with more space and mystery…With the theologians came the catherdral-builders; the sculptors and glass-workers and painters. They might, without sacrilege, have change the prayer a little ans said Thy will be done in art, as it is in heaven<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Professor’s House<\/em> by Willa Cather<\/p>\n
Interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A book I found perusing the “c” section of the library. Willa Cather writes about the wild west, pretty much. This book seemed incredibly tame, until I got pretty far into it. It was about civilization, and set in a … Continue reading