People of the Lie

Today I began reading a book title "People of the Lie" by Scott Peck. I have to admit that in preparing myself to read this book I did not expect to encounter much of an interesting topic, but this guy seemed to captivate my mind as a continued to read through page by page unable to stop. This title "People of the Lie" is referring to those people who are in essence a reflection of human evil. A biblical example of this human evil that Peck is talking about in his book is the Pharisees in the New Testament. The Pharisees had become a group of intelectual pompous religious gurus that thought they had it all together, and apart from themselves there was no one of equal stature. This sets up the perfect example for what Peck is trying to explain to his readers. In his book Peck encounters a family of four, two sons, the mother and a father. The eldest son had previously committed suicide leaving them with no evidence as to what it was that drove him to do such an act. Well, life goes on of course, but the parents didn't assume anything to be wrong with their other son, assuming that through this whole traumatic experience he'll work things out for himself just fine. With this uneducated mindset the parents found no harm in giving their other son the gun that his brother had killed himself with for Christmas. Insane,... Right? I couldn't wrap my mind around this. Well, the parents didn't have enough money to buy him an actual present for Christmas, so they thought that he might want a gun, and the gun they had was the one their other son had committed suicide with. Not much thinking there, right? Just as the author posed that he was rather uncomfortable hearing this from the kid, I found it completely insane reading it. The implicit message they were sending to their other son was that he wasn't worht much and that he could go kill himself like his brother did. Does this not cross a person's mind in the least bit?
Peck considers these parents to fall into the category or diagnosis of human evil. Peck is really pressing the point in this book that evil should be another diagnosis for mental illness, just as bipolar and obessive compulsive are. These "people of the lie" have so far lied to themselves that they believe of themselves to be good people, this would be considered narsissitic tendencies. These people are in love with themselve to the point that they don't understand self-reflection to be of any benefit, they believe themselves to have everything within them to do right and be what is needed. Although these people lack the desire within themselves to do good, they do however desire to look good to people. The essence of human evil is found directly in a persons inability to cope with their sinful nature in an attempt to escape the reality of themselves being flawed. These kind of people have ingrained so far within their being the instinct to excape guilt that they no longer can acknowledge the existence of any such feeling. Human evil lacks the ability to relate to people on an emotional level. The root of this evil is directed from a sense of pride in oneself in an act of narsissism.
I really enjoyed Peck revealing his conception of Psychological gargolyism as he puts it. Gargoyles were created in the early church to be evil creatures that warded off greater evil from entering in. In this comparison Peck expresses that often times children act out in evil ways because their parents are evil. They are simply acting out in such ways to protect themselves from their parents. This is the case with the parents of the two boys. According to society the young boy acting out needs the psycological work, but really the root of the problem lies in the parents inablity to see the flaws in themselves, creating within them the presence of evil. This evil is what triggers the boy to act in such heinous acts. Interesting idea.
Lastly, Peck finishes chapter two by expressing that there are two options that we have in life. People long to have this freedom they talk about, but really there is no true freedom as Peck explains. You must choose either to be enslaved by a higher power than your own, or furhter be enslaved by your own self. As Christ said, "you must give up your life in order to gain it".

A Heap of Broken Images

The great poet T.S. Eliot once wrote:

"What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water"
(The Wasteland, 19-24)

This second scene that Eliot creates in his first section "The Burial of the Dead" depicts a scene of unknowing, or the inability to understand truth. Eliot expresses that as humans, we "know only a heap of broken images". This idea of "broken images" deals with the incapacity of the human brain to comprehend within itself the true nature of Truth. The human mind has been corrupted in a way that created within in us the inability to truly understand Truth. Although we may see glimses of good within the world of knowledge and philosophical thought, as humans we always fall short of complete Truth. As we go about our days our mind is constantly being constructed by waht we see and hear; we only know what we see and experience. These ecperiences form understandings of the world that create premises within our being that may be truth, or may lead us astray. Eliot stresses on the idea that within human nature lies the inability to cope with truth. Eliot was a Christian, so his interpretation of the world is expressed through the lens of Adam and Eve eating of the fruit in the Garden of Eden. The fall of mankind in this sense is the premise in which Eliot develops this theme of "broken images". Eliot also weaves in the theme of there being some sort of hidden and prominent Truth that allows us to find some sort of understanding within the reality that we live.
I find it interesting looking into the world through the lens of T.S. Eliot and his notion of "broken images". I find myself constantly trying to find truth and good in every situation, and often times I come to the understanding that their is not always a right and a wrong, a definate and an indefinate truth. In every decision that I make there always seems to be good and bad woven amidst it, so what is right? This constant chaotic trance that my mind seems to have the inability to break continues to control and drive my head often times insane on a day to day basis. There is beauty woven into the things of this world that is so often times blinded by the reality of evil. Evil has corrupted our human minds so far to the point that we can't even see the true beauty and nature of the goodness of God in all His glory. This is the downfall of mankind. We can strive so hard to seek out the good in this world, and in doing so seeking the Lord, but evil will always create conflict within our fallen minds. With this knowledge at hand as humans we can begin to truly take heed of our thoughts, focusing them upon the Kingdom of God with the knowledge that everything else in perespective has no relevance. This is the only truth that we as humans can rest upon, everything else will conitnue to send our minds and hearts down a path that only hinders our ability to find Truth.