Because You Never Asked

 

 

(5/09, Spain)

 

     (This is the second in a series including the essays “Gonzalo Torrente Ballester”, “GTB Live”, and “Who’s Smarter Than GTB?”.)

 

     How is it that a devout Catholic with an unshakeable faith and sincere belief in God (capital G for GTB); and a hard core, cynical atheist whose scorn for organized religion can almost be called belligerence, can look at contemporary culture and see the same shortcomings and failures, the same wickedness and moral bankruptcy, the same adolescence and foolishness, the same path to destruction? How is it that GTB and PCM can see the same inability to create that harmonious state of existence we might loosely define as happiness, in a way that could be described, in genealogical terms, as identical twins (or, at the least, as siblings with a close likeness)?

 

     For anyone with an intellectual level beyond the multiplication tables, the figure of Jesus Christ and what he (small h for PCM) meant and stood for, would have to make some inroads into your consciousness.

 

     It’s like --- we’ve heard a lot about him.

 

     PCM has always seen his hypothetical life as more a mythical, universal kind of allegory with moral lessons as to Good and Evil woven into the story. The so called life of Jesus Christ could be looked upon as a Greek Passion Play, where the good and the bad are opposed to each other in a way we can learn one from the other.

 

     GTB doesn’t see it that way. He sees Jesus Christ as a direct, Divine source of inspiration, the singular moral compass with which he bases his relations to other human beings upon. He yields cult to Him within the framework of a religious organization constructed around His teachings. For GTB, Jesus Christ walked this Earth, did the things He is said to have done, is Who the stories say He is, including the Son of God legend? fable? allegory? myth? --- or historical reality in GTB’s case.

 

     This is certainly not the space for a profound theological discussion of the life of Jesus Christ and how his message should be interpreted and applied to one’s life. PCM, in contrast to the serious theological formation of GTB, would not be qualified to do so. And yet, if we broke it down into its most distilled purity, both Gonzalo Torrente Ballester and Post Consumer Man would almost certainly agree on the following: Jesus Christ always favored ---

 

     --- the suffering many over the comfortable few; the exploited over the exploiter; humility over arrogance; sincerity over hypocrisy; gentleness over aggression; peace over conflict; the spirit over the material; the other over oneself; austerity over greed; the etc. over the etc.

 

     If the two philosophers of this essay can agree on these basic premises, it begins to become less relevant if one sees this message as an allegoric fable with a moral message to assimilate, and the other sees it as the direct teachings of his God and the religion meant to synthesize these teachings. If the socio-economic reality envisioned by both men turn out to be so similar in spite of the different paths they’ve used to get there, why quibble?

 

     For better or worse, ’til death do us part, it is in the nature of all philosophers to quibble. That is our job, be one GTB or PCM. Regardless of the enlightened nature of one’s moral code, if it is taken from some “Divine Source” operating “above” or outside the family of man, it creates problems. It creates a duality whereby each individual owes their allegiance to their God, rather than each other. This, in spite of the fact that there seems to be a similar concept of morality that runs through all mankind. Feelings about life, death, family, compassion, good manners, hospitality, stealing, and any number of behavioral standards, tend to resemble more than differ from each other no matter where you might be on the globe. Unfortunately, all these gods and the religions they represent drive wedges through what is really a fairly global concept. This idea of god --- your god or the next --- becomes a divisive element. Disagreement. Tension. Conflict!

 

     Try quibbling with that.

 

     So PCM would rather leave god or the ”divine source” out of the equation. He thinks that universal morality he and GTB so fervently agree upon, can best be achieved without the omnipotent word of some superior force who knows better. He thinks our allegiance as human beings should be to each other and not to some dubious, godly patriarch meant to keep us in line. PCM does not need a divine moral policeman in order to achieve his concept of moral behavior because he understands this one basic fact: how you treat others is directly related to how others treat you.

 

     This is a shift from the fear of god towards belief in man made Karma. It is a unifying principle that can be applied everywhere in an understandable way. Contrary to this, religion and god have been such divisive elements in human behavior that even within religions it has caused, and still causes conflict. Creating a moral framework free of religious dogmas and divinities would be easier to apply, and that basic concept as to the reciprocal nature of how we treat others is an element of conscience and punitive deterrence to make it effective.

 

     But let’s not be too hard on GTB, whose faith and religion have at least led him to the proper conclusions. GTB is that rare Christian that actually lives a life based on Christian values, so much so that a great part of his message preached tolerance for other religions and even atheists. This attitude rewarded him, in Franco’s oh so Catholic Spain, with a degree of vilification only the strongest character could endure. Far more important than the source of his inspiration are the conclusions he comes to. PCM and all men of goodwill will forgive him if the source of this inspiration --- his Catholic religion --- has been more detrimental than helpful in creating the moral framework both Post Consumer Man and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester would like to see.

 

     In short, PCM considers GTB an emotional-intellectual brother and knows the vice-versa would apply as well.

 

     It’s time we got to hear from the man himself. If the good reader --- at your leisure, of course --- will proceed to the next essay, GTB’s words and how they relate to the work of PCM will be put in evidence. The essay is entitled, “GTB Live”.