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C.S. Lewis

John Muir—Loren Eiseley—Annie Dillard Playfulness—Bio-spirituality

Posted on June 26, 2019 Leave a Comment

One of the primary reasons that John Muir, Loren Eiseley and Annie Dillard were celebrated as major mentors in the Biodesign Class was their respective genius in describing playfulness as a quintessential component in the biology of Planet Earth.

Dillard described dolphins frolicking in the water around the Galapagos Islands. I suspect that she would ascribe the same term to the 1000s of dolphins that demonstrate their propensity of playing by body-surfing on the bow-waves of ocean-going ships.

In an early morning, chance-born event, Loren Eiseley put an old chicken bone in his teeth and tumbled in the grass with a fox cub. He later described the experience as: “The gravest, most meaningful act I shall ever accomplish, but as Thoreau once remarked of some peculiar errand of his own, there is no use reporting it to the Royal Society.”

Muir’s splendid description of an event that he and his wonder-dog
“Stickeen” shared on an Alaska glacier, revealed the dog’s huge capacity for play. The account is widely considered one of the greatest man/dog adventures ever told. I read the story annually and every time I expect “Stickeen” to leap off of the page, onto my lap and begin licking my face.

Thoreau’s mention of the Royal Society refers to the inability of hard-wired (left-brain-dominant) scientists to identify or explain the reason for playfulness. There is simply no scientific model that will work; no pragmatic or utilitarian facts exist. Darwin’s theory is useless. Millions of plants and animals have survived for billions of years without playfulness, so what value is it? Or perhaps more importantly, where did playfulness come from?

If scientists have utterly failed in this regard, many theologians and religious leaders haven’t fared much (if any) better. In fact, many may have made matters worse.

Buddha described the human condition as “inherently miserable.” For over 2000 years of Christianity, there have been overt and subtle ways of observing the pathetic aphorism, “smite thyself thy wretched worm.” John Muir’s father epitomized this twisted logic by daily whippings of his son to beat him into memorizing the Holy Bible. It is no small miracle that Yosemite and the mountains healed Muir’s emotional wounds. “The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal ere we are aware,” JM. It is an even greater miracle/irony that Muir emerged with such a playful soul.

I am certainly not a Bible scholar, but in nearly 900 pages of the Old Testament there is a paucity of references to playfulness.

Zechariah 8:5. “The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

Jeremiah 30:19. “And thanksgiving and [the] sound of merrymakers will come out from them, and I will make them numerous, and they will not be few.”

Jeremiah 30: 4. “I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful” (playful).

Psalms 104: 25-26. “There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.”

I am somewhat more familiar with the New Testament, however, Google does not show any teachings of Jesus or St. Paul that could be considered playful. The only example might involve Christ’s first miracle at Cana. Did he turn water into wine because he was concerned about the wedding guests losing some of their jocularity (playfulness)? Or is this what he meant when he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”?

And then C.S. Lewis appeared. In his wonderful series; The Chronicles of Narnia, written for children from 5 to 95; he wrote in: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe:

“’Oh, children, said the Lion, ‘I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began.”

Although Lewis does not invoke the word playfulness, he brilliantly infers that it is an essential part of the Creation Story.

He seems to suggest that if God truly made man in His image, playfulness must be a part of the equation. And just maybe, that is the crux of our dilemma? Many African cultures seem to understand this concept by exclaiming (when they experience extraordinarily tragic or joyful events); “God is playing with us!”

However, I doubt that less than one in a million people (regardless of race, religion or creed) would include playfulness in God’s job description. If so, citing C.S. Lewis, it would be a very sad commentary on the human experience.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: C.S. Lewis, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir vision, Loren Eiseley, playfulness

Champagne-Bubble-Bursting-Moments of Discovery

Posted on October 15, 2014 Leave a Comment

Hi Dina,Screen shot 2014-10-15 at 6.14.33 PM

You gifted me with a perfect, champagne-bubble-bursting-moment that was more valuable than a Ralph Lauren tie. I don’t know what is more extraordinary; the fact that 35 years have flown since Biodesign ’80 graduated or that many of my memories of your class remain as clear as if they happened yesterday.

For example: Jeff Rydman and I were hanging around the campfire ring at Mendocino. Out of the blue, he asked, “OK, so who exactly do you think Jesus Christ is?” I encouraged all classes to “question all things (and people)” but this question was truly shocking. I rarely offered my personal opinion on any subject, but deferred to “experts” in their respective field. In this case, I referred Jeff to C.S. Lewis by citing:

“We are faced, then, with a frightening alternative. This man we are talking about either was (and is) just what He said or else a lunatic, or something worse. I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

Conversations like this were rare, but always frightening. I wanted to provide the best answer I could for Jeff, but wondered if by doing so, I was breaching the wall of separation of church and state.

Jeff handled it beautifully. He looked at me intently, smiled and asked, “No door #3?” We both broke into uproarious laughter. It was paradoxically one of the most profound and hilarious moments of my life. His question still remains and it is the sacred privilege of each human to find his/her ultimately personal spiritual path.

The Class of ’80 would be part of a long line of classes that asked me the same question just before they graduated: “Were we the best class yet?” Typically, I laughed and avoided answering, knowing that to do so would be like designating one of our four kids as the most special. Perhaps, what was more important than “favored-class-status” was how each class handled or created extraordinary events.

If I couldn’t choose a favorite class, it was also impossible to pick a favorite story that I included in the book. However, Chip’s Story was so extraordinary that I doubt that any Biodesigner would object or have his/her feelings hurt.

“CHIP’S STORY”

“On a warm spring day after school hours, I was in the classroom grading exams. The door was open to allow for better air circulation.I heard the familiar whine of an electric-powered wheelchair approaching from the hallway. In a flash, a pang of panic surged through me. I instantly knew who it was and what he wanted. The chair motored into the room with its broadly smiling occupant.

Chip spoke very economically, avoiding unnecessary words, and so he went straight to the point.

“Mr. Young,” he said, “I would like to enroll in next year’s Biodesign class.… I promise I won’t be a burden to you,and I am certainly not looking for sympathy. It’s just that my doctor’s prognosis is that I will probably not live much beyond 22 years. Watching the slide shows and listening to your stories made my heart jump for joy. I knew I was taking a big risk by coming here to ask for permission. However, I figured the worst that you could do was say no, and I could handle that.”

What happened that year probably could not have happened in any other “advanced biology” class on planet Earth. When our daughter Maureen was 13, she got to go along on the 1980 trip to Mendocino. She recently commented on Dina Mande’s Fb post:

“You all looked so mature to my younger eyes. I loved the friendship and camaraderie you all shared, not to mention the humor. That was the year the Peanut Butter Song came into my life.”

She was spot on. The love, compassion and camaraderie that they shared was indescribable. They adopted Chip as a brother which involved caring for him in Yosemite, pushing his wheelchair up and down San Francisco’s Nob Hill and pushing him along a 7-mile, disability not approved trail in Mendocino.

In his final paper in June Chip wrote:

“I signed up for the class because I thought it would be fun; I had no idea that it would help prepare me to face the end of my life. Such great feelings of happiness, goodness, and love have filled my heart and warmed my soul. John Denver’s song, Love Is Everywhere, was right on. Love was everywhere; in our classroom circles; at Yosemite; at Mendocino. It was there in the cheers, tears,laughter, hugs, songs, and metaphors. I saw it, heard it, touched it,and felt it. You guys have not only helped me prepare for dying, you have encouraged me to make every living minute count.”

Chip’s doctors were correct. He died in his early twenties, but proved to be one of the greatest teachers I have ever known.

Thanks Dina for conjuring up precious memories of a bygone era.

Lowell H. Young, Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: C.S. Lewis, Chip's Story, Mendocino, Separation of church and state, Yosemite

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