Roughly translated to, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” is the famous final line of an inscription read by Dante and his partner Virgil as they prepare to walk through the gates of Hell in The Divine Comedy.
Despite happily giving up my Catholic roots to convert to Judaism, the allegories and metaphors in epics like Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost or The Canterbury Tales continue to resonate with me (as any wayward Catholic will tell you… regardless of what you do or go in life, the stench of guilt and inadequacy never leaves you).
From a historical standpoint, I think these stories give you some idea on the roots of American culture and offers insight on the impact the ideas presented in these stories have had on our society.
Having recently taken a moment to brush up on some of my favorite religious fables, I’m reminded of both how far we’ve come and how far we haven’t, particularly in our ideas about sex, vice and in some ways, politics (the torture ‘debate’ comes to mind… those involved in the Inquisition found little wrong with what they were doing either).
Nostalgia and revisionist history often distorts our feelings about our culture. The constant refrain seems to be, if our government decides to be complicit in allowing ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ to go without prosecution, then America would somehow lose our moral fiber we were built on.
With due respect to that opinion and the overall health of our democracy (all numerous and glaring faults aside) I’m not sure the country that was built on slavery, imperialism, that decimated the Natives, dropped the bomb (twice), and still won’t allow a segment of the population to marry based on their sexual orientation (and let’s be honest, that’s just for starters) doesn’t possess the sort of moral fiber some of us would like to believe we do.
The ultimate question that faces humankind may be this: how do we reconcile what we are, with what we believe we are and what we hope to become?
But alas, I’m getting ahead of myself…
Besides, I’ve likely fried too many brain cells on alcohol and narcotics to even begin to come up with an answer. And Seven Sins, Incorporated isn’t interested in ultimately meaningless philosophical questions.
This space and to a greater extent my life, is fueled by curiosity. For better and worse, I have often made it a point to challenge conventional wisdom about everything from sex and relationships to politics, cultural stereotypes, religion and the rules of aesthetics. Not with the intention of achieving some sort of ‘rebel’ status (not even sure that’s possible anymore) but because I always wonder how certain ideas, opinions and beliefs ended up being the dominant paradigms in our society.
Where did these ideas come from?
Who made this or that rule and why do we feel compelled to follow them (generally without question)?
This space will take you into the experiences and musings of a manic-depressive, misanthropic, anti-social socialite who often lives as if he has little regard for his body or sanity. Someone who has been called nearly everything you can call someone you wish to speak ill of… an asshole, prick, bastard, fag, womanizer, alcoholic, slut, whore, troublemaker, narcissist, etc. Someone who, more than anything else, just wants to entertain himself.
And you…
Caesar M. Schultz
Line up… Roll camera…
No comments:
Post a Comment