This past week I went home for a few days and while there I offered to take my mom's Kindle for the purpose of downloading various free books and the like since she was unsure as to how it was done. Luckily I found the process rather simple. Additionally, I have delighted myself in taking advantage of having the Kindle and have begun reading "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton (yes, it is a free book!).
Chesterton is a delight to read, even if sometimes just a little over my head. His sarcasm mixes beautifully with his arguments and startling defenses. I am still working my way through (and most certainly am taking my time to ensure I grasp all that he is attempting to convey), but already I have been struck by one of his claims. Chesterton argues in favor of imagination and the need for it. Chesterton claims that it is the artist that seldom goes insane and the chess player that most certainly loses his sanity.
He makes it clear that he is not attacking logic and reason, but merely stating that logic and reason alone will drive one to insanity. It is the beautiful, healing remedies of the imagination that keep one sane. It is fascinating that our culture drives one to either be a dreamer or to be logically, but not both. Fairy tales and folk lore should stir us to think and to see what is around us for as Chesterton once said elsewhere among his writings "In fairy tales, apples are made of gold so as to remind us of the reality that they are in fact green; rivers run with wine so that for a brief moment we remember that they actually run with water."
Music has long be thought of as a remedy to the soul (as well as a corrupter thereof), and it is through poetry and imagination that we can go beyond the shackles of mere reason and live fuller, happier lives. God is the God of logic and reason, but He is also God of the aesthetic and of imagination.
If God desired that spiders could live unbound by gravity and fly in their already given state in spite of the
lack of a logically explanation as to how they are flying...He could. However, in His being true to His own nature and being loving and merciful He (most appreciatively) chosen not to give spiders flight, though sadly he has given a certain strain of the species known as "snake" the ability to do so...at my dismay.
May we learn to appreciate not only the intellect and ability to reason that we humans have, but also the gift of imagination that allows us to create poetry, music, novels, and the like.
Peace be with you,
Stephen
"The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits." -G.K. Chesterton
He makes it clear that he is not attacking logic and reason, but merely stating that logic and reason alone will drive one to insanity. It is the beautiful, healing remedies of the imagination that keep one sane. It is fascinating that our culture drives one to either be a dreamer or to be logically, but not both. Fairy tales and folk lore should stir us to think and to see what is around us for as Chesterton once said elsewhere among his writings "In fairy tales, apples are made of gold so as to remind us of the reality that they are in fact green; rivers run with wine so that for a brief moment we remember that they actually run with water."
Music has long be thought of as a remedy to the soul (as well as a corrupter thereof), and it is through poetry and imagination that we can go beyond the shackles of mere reason and live fuller, happier lives. God is the God of logic and reason, but He is also God of the aesthetic and of imagination.
If God desired that spiders could live unbound by gravity and fly in their already given state in spite of the
lack of a logically explanation as to how they are flying...He could. However, in His being true to His own nature and being loving and merciful He (most appreciatively) chosen not to give spiders flight, though sadly he has given a certain strain of the species known as "snake" the ability to do so...at my dismay.May we learn to appreciate not only the intellect and ability to reason that we humans have, but also the gift of imagination that allows us to create poetry, music, novels, and the like.
Peace be with you,
Stephen
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