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Moreover, these gods\/superheroes\naffect the world around them by leaving pieces of their power behind, whether\nwe mean Zeus\u2019s super-human children, or Thor\u2019s hammer, which might be stolen by\nthe right person. In such a universe, then the divine is part of a\ntechnological kind of reasoning in which we can seek power and control by\nmanipulating the world. Our protagonist is always on a quest to collect the\nproper people, artifacts, and rituals in order to wield them at the proper time\nto effect a desired (although always limited) effect. The story continues beyond any particular\nengagement, bringing new battles for power and control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In such a world, ritual is\nreally magic<\/em>. It is the means by\nwhich the powers of the world are controlled for particular results. How we\nmake things happen in a messy world. You need to find the seventh son of a\nseventh son of a seventh son, and travel with him to a particular thin place in\nthe world to find the talisman which allows you to pass through the veil to\nfind the technology that allows you to achieve your desired result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s another narrative world\nthat we carry around, which I\u2019ll call the \u201cthe Deist Imagination\u201d (though I\u2019m\nless happy with that title.) Here, the world\u2019s beginnings may be a question of\nspeculation or disinterest (God might have made the world \/ or it might be an\neternal thing itself \/ or it might be an accident \/ or something else). If God\nexists, he is absolutely separate from the creation and does not interact with\nit. But the world is accepted as a coherent whole on its own \u2014 or all that can\nbe known to any useful certainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this world, meaning is\nflattened to either a kind of \u201cwhat we make of it\u201d or \u201cwhat we impose on\nit.\u201d Ritual might be useful for us, but\nonly because of our own need for beauty and meaning. Our engagements with the world might operate\non two levels: a level of technology and a level of beauty. Beauty might be\nrecognized in order, or in complexity. But it doesn\u2019t really point beyond\nitself in any meaningful way, except \u2014perhaps\u2014 to us. What we derive from beauty\nor from ritual, is a kind of feeling of transcendence that\u2019s good for us. But that\u2019s as far as it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clearly, neither the superhero\nimagination, nor the deist one is sufficient to the Catholic engagement with\nthe sacraments. And yet, they\u2019re both\ntempting. We want to view the liturgy as a beautiful experience from which we\nderive inspiration, or a sense of the sacred, or which reminds us of the divine\nin all things. This isn\u2019t enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor should we let ourselves be drawn into the Superhero universe. The sacraments aren\u2019t special matter with special properties that let us control the world using God\u2019s power. That would be magic. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Deist World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Next time…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n