The Realm of Reason

"In the vortex of this debate, once the battle lines were sharply drawn, moderate ground everywhere became hostage to the passions of the two sides. Reason itself had become suspect; mutual tolerance was seen as treachery. Vitriol overcame accommodation." - Jay Winik, April 1865

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Favorite Quotes from Harry Potter, and Why Like Them


“There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.”

These words were written at the conclusion of the scene in which Harry and Ron save Hermoine from the mountain troll in the women’s lavatory.  I enjoy it for a few reasons.  Chief among them is that in it I see the divine principle that serving another person in a meaningful way bonds you to that person in ways that few other experiences can.

I’ve found this to be the case in my life.  I can go about interacting with a person over the span of years either at work, socially, or even in my own family.  And, in those interactions, there can be a degree of bond developed.  But more often than not, when the time comes that I evaluate the status of this relationship, or that, I tend to put these folks into the category of “associates”, rather than friends.  That is not to suggest that we are not friendly – we certainly are.

But friendly (or, civil) interactions do not account for what Aristotle would call “complete friendship”.  The type of friends who do things for each other for the other’s own sake – and for no other reason.  Harry and Ron didn’t run into danger to save Hermoine from the troll because of self-interest.  They did it because something in their character compelled them to.  And, in responding affirmatively to that good impulse, they bonded with Hermoine in a way that no other interaction could.

I believe that the spiritual laws of the universe dictate that when we serve another person, we are bonded to them.  And the more selfless that service is, the more pure and strong that bond is.

I have experienced this in my own life, and can attest that it is true.  When I have served someone selflessly, I have felt a special bond with that person.  My wife chief among them, but also my children, and a handful of friends who’s times of need happened to correspond when I was standing around and had nothing better to do than recognize they needed something I could give. 

What I don’t know (and have always wondered about) is whether the person who is served feels that same sort of bond.  One for the ages.

“We’ve all got light and dark inside us.   What matters is the part we choose to act on.  That’s who we really are.” – Sirius Black

Harry was struggling with the literal voices in his head, and fighting impulses he had to quickly turn to anger and impatience.  He was wondering if he were somehow broken, or otherwise doomed to become like Voldemort.  Then Sirius laid this truth upon him.

I feel akin to Harry in this respect.  Not that I feel tied to the Dark Lord (I’m more a Lord Vader kind of guy), but that I have impulses and what sometimes feels like an irresistible and unrelenting pull toward things that my better self know are unwise.  I think we all probably have this inner battle going on.

But that there is an inner battle tells me that I/we do know better.  Something inside us, something bred into our spiritual DNA informs the difference between right and wrong.  And that is reassuring to me.  The difficulty for me is not discerning between right and wrong, in most cases.  It’s making the decision to always side with the right, despite the rationalization that my creative mind (and the world around me) comes up with to go the other direction.

As Sirius said, “what matters is the part we choose to act on.”

“This mirror gives us neither knowledge nor truth.  Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad.” – Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

The first thing I thought of when Albus said this of the Mirror of Erised to Harry was television.  Then I thought of youtube.  Then I thought of more unsavory things “men” tend to waste away in front of on the internet.  And while I do consider that unsavory viewing habit of many men to be to the spirit what meth is to the body, it’s so unsavory, I don’t want to dwell on the topic any longer than I already have.

But how much time do we (men and women) spend in activities or entertainment that yield us neither knowledge nor truth?  How much time do we spend wasting away.  Another quote from another movie (but, delivered from the same actor who played Sirius): “How much of human life is lost in waiting?”, asked Professor Oxley at Indiana’s wedding ceremony in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I think we are beings who were created and designed to act.  To make proactive decisions, to work, and to exercise our agency.  Sometimes, interestingly, I think there are times when we should affirmatively decide to wait.  But it’s important that we make the decisions that affect our lives, rather than allowing the outside world happen to us like we’re some sort of rock waiting for another outside force to bump into us and knock us downhill toward a river that will sweep us away.

Now, by this point, the irony of pulling this nugget of wisdom from something that I effectively watched on a television is not lost on me, nor on you, my fair reader.  So, it is important for me to say that there is nothing wrong in taking in a little entertainment, from time to time.  We can unwind, decompress, or even possibly learn from good forms of entertainment.  But I think entertainment can easily overwhelm us, and waste away what is otherwise a perfectly serviceable soul.

“Well, if I were You-Know-Who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else.  Because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.” – Luna Lovegood

This one fell on my mind like ton of bricks.  I like to think of myself as a fairly self-sufficient guy.  In many parts of my life, I like to think that you can metaphorically throw me out of a helicopter over a wilderness, and I’ll do just fine.  And in most cases, that is the case.  I have proven it to myself and to others.

But somewhere along the line, I learned a few hard lessons.  First, when I am so self-sufficient that I don’t need help from anyone else, I short circuit the opportunity for others to serve me and bond with me in the special way described above.  I served people, but wouldn’t allow them to serve me.  Relationships that are worthwhile are relationships that are truly two-way. 

And it’s not a matter of doing an equal number of things for each other.  My wife and I, for example, don’t keep score on who takes out the trash or washes the dishes more often.  We each do what we can when we can.  When one needs more help, the other steps up and does it knowing that the other will do the same when the time comes.  We grow stronger together when we do this, because we are serving each other.

Secondly, the trouble with trying to do it (whatever “it” is) alone is that sooner or later your spirit suffers (as mine has when I tried this), and in the face of that suffering your brain translates the spiritual suffering into anger and resentment.  Harry was angry with some of his classmates, partially because he didn’t think any of them understood what he was going through.  He had the good fortune of stumbling into Luna who understood him better than he expected, and had the kindness to offer him the perspective that he needed to sort of reset his mind.

We all, in the trials of life, feel alone.  I don’t know why we do that.  I think it’s because it’s hard to know who around us are the Luna’s in our lives, and do actually know what we’re going through.  I think, however, if we do pay attention, and are open to being helped, we will find that we are not alone, and, with our "complete friends," can overcome that which afflicts us.