The natural response to an environment hostile to one’s creativity is to create—and yet, the creation is strained, limited to bemoaning the wasted remains of one’s subject matter, one’s spirit and drive. Bad times make us narcissists.
And there is a certain tragedy to that; one of the few instances where a call from youth’s cloud kingdoms of idealization seems the only move to make, and a healthy reconciliation with a necessary reality. Yet the fact seems to be that there is a point of suffering where we are unable to transcend ourselves. And that is…what? Sad?
Yet there are gems in the jam. How about this: the fact that suffering impedes transcendence of one’s concrete situation, of one’s very self, implies that if transcendence follows upon normal, healthy conditions, then transcendence is part of the proper functioning of the human being. And of course this is no necessary conclusion, folks, but as long as I’m preaching to an empty auditorium, I can relinquish academic neuroticism.
And here we have Exhibit A versus Exhibit B, optimism versus pessimism: for to many embittered brow-beaters out there, a concentration camp entails the negation of faith, grounds for eternal expulsion of optimism or hope. That’s a plausible inference—more of an emotional reaction, though. The problem of evil in this guise means for many that if there is any situation that temporarily precludes faith, then faith can never be. It’s a delusion, a wet dream, a perfect example of someone who is more clever than himself.
But why, the writer begs, is this a necessary conclusion? What is so wrong with saying that we live in a tragic world, deal with it?
Well, perhaps God, if he existed, could have made a non-tragic world. I have never been fully affected (relative to the normal reaction) by this argument. And why? Because hope endures all things, my friends, and after all these considerations the question remains the same: do you choose to believe even still that God is? Because come on, folks, this little argument from evil couldn’t have been your first bitch-fit with the world—and if it means your fall from faith, I smell a little intellectual pretense.
To recognize the human condition at its most basic is to realize that we know almost nothing, and that things are not always as they seem. If this does not allow faith in the presence of evil, then I’m out of suggestions.
And by the very bootstrap act of creativity here performed, I have proved myself wrong. Thank you.
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