Blood Meridian vs Lilith

I listened to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian via audiobooks recently. Then the very next book I went through by the same route was George MacDonald's Lilith. Could two more antithetical books of fiction possibly be read in sequence? I struggle to imagine what they would be.

Blood Meridian is dark. Dark. Did I mention dark?

Lilith is hopeful. Hopeful. Did I mention full of hope?

Here's my two cents: Both books are extreme, and at least one of them certainly wrong. Dead wrong. That would be Blood Meridian.

These books have been around for long enough that I probably don't need to say this... but... Spoiler alerts ahead. Stop reading now if you don't want them.

The last sentence in Blood Meridian reads, "He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die." After reading these words, one could be forgiven for wondering if I accidentally got things flipped around. This judge sounds like a delightful person.

Ummm. No. The judge we speak of here is powerful. Evil beyond words. And immortal, to boot. It's hard to imagine a worse combination: Power, Evil, and Immortality. Judge Holden seems to possess all three.

That's why Blood Meridian is wrong. Dead wrong. It's just fiction, but Cormac McCarthy clearly had a poor grasp of reality. I'm not sure I'll give this author another reading. I might yet read, "The Road", but I'm inclined to take a pass. I prefer to drink from the wells of those who offer more wholesome water. This man seems to be caught up in a great and terrible lie: The lie that evil shall prevail. Having also seen No Country for Old Men, I can see that this wasn't a slip of the pen. McCarthy's Anton Chigurh is just as evil as Judge Holden, and seemingly just as immortal. McCarthy knows what he means to say. The problem is that he's wrong. Evil shall not prevail.

If there is one thing I am sure of in this universe, it is that God is real. And God will prevail. In short, I believe that Power, Goodness, and Immortality reside in one being. Meatloaf may have felt that two out of three ain't bad, but in this situation, McCarthy has demonstrated that in some situations, you really need to get all three right—or just go home.

Moving on to Lilith, we run the risk, if it were possible, of erring just as wildly in the opposite direction. George MacDonald's Lilith presents us with a world where God's goodness is so great, even the most evil creature created is eventually redeemed and won over to love. If Blood Meridian's Judge Holden is the devil incarnate (and that case is not difficult to make), George MacDonald proposes in Lilith that even Holden will come around one day. Even Judge Holden will one day bow the knee to God eternal and embrace all that is good.

NGL, that's pretty hard to swallow. But the difference is this: At least MacDonald's proposal sounds nice. It's something to hope for. Because God is Good. If the redemption of every last thing in creation is possible, then God would surely do it. Whether that's possible is a open question, but it's at least something worth hoping for. At least MacDonald is pinning his hopes on a good outcome in the hands of a good God.

I'll be reading more MacDonald.

Greed for M___ (Fill in the blank)

I write this one with no research, so perhaps this isn't a new thought, but it's certainly new for me.

It struck me today that I have, for most of my life, been a slave to greed. Greed for m___.

For what? Not money. (Nor mammon, in case you were thinking this was a trick question.) No. Greed for memory. And just as Paul noted regarding money, I find that my love for memory has been a root for a number of evils in my life.

Obviously, memory is a necessity in life, and money proves pretty useful, too. These are neutral things, to be used well or poorly. What occurred to me this morning, however, is that there are dynamics at play with both that are worth examining.

To start with money, it can be gathered and then used profitably for the kingdom of God. But if hoarded, money is a curse and a prison. And in the end, it will be taken away. If not by the circumstances of life, then by death itself. We shall (!) be parted from our money.

Interestingly, memory is similar in at least a few respects. We can gather memories and use our memory profitably for the kingdom of God. But if we memorize for personal gain—and, most notably, for reasons of pride—memory is a curse and a prison. And in the end, it will be taken away from many of us as we approach death. Many of us lose the capacity to form new memories and keep them.

Where am I going with this? Well, those of us with good memories tend to take pride in such things. We remember trivia. We remember things so as to flaunt how much we know. Some people drive flashy cars. Others flaunt the wares they house between their ears.

But if we are in the game to flaunt our memory, then we are no better than those who flaunt their wealth. The same pride issues beset both crowds. It's just that the former like to think they are more refined.

For me, it occurred to me that all my googling on silly questions is too often chasing after the wind. I should be careful which topics I allow to consume my time. The facts I hoover up in life should preferably be of the sort that help me advance the kingdom of God. Raise up the poor. Love my neighbor.

Probably best to stop here. This reflection is not meant to be overly negative. It's fun to learn things. It's fun to know things. And there are ways to use the assets between our ears in ways that please Jesus.

But let this be a word of caution to self. Don't forget that greed for m___ can be unhealthy, and there are several ways to finish that M word.

The Fifteen Trillion Dollar Piano

Donald J. Trump lost an auction in 1988 for a 58-key piano used in the classic film “Casablanca” to a Japanese trading company representing a collector. The following year, Mr. Trump went on television to call for a 15 percent to 20 percent tax on imports from Japan. 

That was then. Fast forward forty years to now. Trump has finally has his revenge on that event. Collateral damage be damned, he got his tariffs.

Let us calculate the cost of that piano, now that we know the role it played in this debacle. I'd estimate it at about $15T.

Yes.

Donald Trump has shaved about $15T of value off world stock markets (perhaps more) because some Japanese collector outbid him at auction. For a piano.

If anything about this situation seems strange? Congratulations. You're sane. That's an increasingly rare state of mind to be in, BTW.

Try to hold onto it.