I’m re-reading one of my favorite novels, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and I thought this exchange between Samuel and his wife embodies some of what I feel when confronted with superstition:
The cooing of pigeons brought memory into the procession. Dessie remembered how her father had said, sitting at the head of the table, “I told Rabbit I was going to raise some pigeons and—do you know?—he said, ‘No white pigeons.’ ‘Why not white?’ I asked him, and he said, ‘They’re the rare worst of bad luck. You take a flight of white pigeons and they’ll bring sadness and death. Get gray ones.’ ‘I like white ones.’ ‘Get gray ones,’ he told me. And as the sky covers me, I’ll get white ones.”
And [his wife] Liza said patiently, “Why do you be forever testing, Samuel? Gray ones taste just as good and they’re bigger.”
“I’ll let no flimsy fairy tale push me,” Samuel said.
And Liza said with her dreadful simplicity, “You’re already pushed by your own contentiousness. You’re a mule of contention, a very mule!”
“Someone’s got to do these things,” he said sullenly. “Else Fate would not ever get nose-thumbed and mankind would still be clinging to the top branches of a tree.”
And of course he got white pigeons and waited truculently for sadness and death until he’d proved his point.
And yet, as Dessie realizes, “Sadness and death… you just have to wait around long enough and it will come” — white pigeons or gray ones.
Matt: I find it very interesting that there are so many people out there with such sad lives as to sit... 
Tyrrlin: Wow… I’d like to buy apostrophes for most of those commenters. Apparently belief in a... 
Mathurine: I’m not so sure that they wouldn’t have. The father in the case is... 
JonJon: I agree. 
Siberia: That’s a question I always ask myself, though in other contexts, would I still be me if I’d... 
Mark Mukasa: I love the Paine pun. xD Awesome article. 
mikespeir: Amen, and amen. 
nomad: “Which is really unexpected and fascinating, when you think about it.” And don’t forget... 
24 Comments
Fate should be nose-thumbed and yet even though mankind is not clinging to the top branches of a tree, we remain chemical scum on a tiny ball of mud floating around a typical star in a typical galaxy but one in a vast sea of uncountable galaxies…
Some good thoughts. There is so much hopelessness in many of these comments. Makes one wonder if life might not be better to be “pushed around by fairy tales” and enjoy a happy life (especially if this is all there is to it and nothing to look forward to afterward) than to be so “noble” and miserable in this hopeless existence.
And then, of course, there exists the possibility that the “fairy tales” are true in which case, the one “pushed around by them” ends up twice the winner. Filled with hope and expectation in this life and filled with joy in the one to come. Whereas the other is twice the loser – miserable here in this hopeless, futile existence and filled with eternal remorse once their foolishness is unveiled and they discover they did not, in their short span of years, discover all there is to know.
Rick – no one will ever discover all there is to know. Wouldn’t it be more of a loss to live your life according to a fairy tale instead of staring reality in the eye? the life we have now is not something to be discarded as trivial compared to the afterlife…although an afterlife of bliss does make this life more bearable for many.
With all respect, please spare us the clichés about the sad, angry, miserable atheists and the happy, fulfilled believers. Life is a little more nuanced than that. Besides, your statement in its arrogance illustrates that you have no idea what kind of life atheists lead or the meaning we attribute to our lives.
Well, a drunk man is happier than a sober man, too…
Unless you got the wrong fairy tale…
As Vidlord said, nobody knows all there is to know. The joy isn’t in knowing – the joy is in finding out. I’d rather enjoy this wonderful, imperfect world, and learn all I can about it, than live in expectation of a fairy tale ending.
Maybe prince charming is there, maybe he ain’t, but I sure as hell won’t mope and pine for him.
Ooops. Kind of new at this. My last post was intended to be directed to John C
Yet what to do when you find the one true fairy tale? When you’ve altogether lost hope in love? Therein lies the danger my friend, when you’ve so completely grown up that no fairy tale, no matter how wonderful or true can any longer summon the deepest part of you, can reach that locked away place.
It’s quite a high price one pays, quite a gamble, a rather severe and merciless trade off. Maybe that’s why we are cautioned to “above all else, guard your heart , for it is the well-spring of life”. Life, did you hear that? Hmm…and isn’t that what we all want, what we lost somewhere along the way? Now, if I can only find the path again, the way, please neighbor, wont you tell me the way?
Hmm – I wonder what a “true fairy tale” would be. Is that like jumbo shrimp or military intelligence? By what criteria would you tell a true fairy tale – if there was such a thing – from all the others?
When you have indigestion when you’re reading it, you know it’s true!
Cool story. It reminds me of Confucius, meeting the mad hermit of Chu, who told him it was futile to try to reform society. Confucius told him, “yeah i know it is, but I gotta try anyway.” (sounds better in the original)
You know what’s funny about this? I feel like it is actually meant to paint Samuel in an unfavorable light.
“And of course he got white pigeons and waited truculently for sadness and death until he’d proved his point.”
This is what I used to think atheism basically was (in my younger, dumber, less self-aware past). I still think that from the perspective of those who value spirituality in some form or another, this way of thinking is somewhat appealing. Those who don’t partake in a spiritual understanding of things end up somehow missing out.
Not saying I think that, but I would argue that’s what the passage is leaning toward. YMMV.
I think it’s interesting how many of us who’ve had faith in a supernatural order or a religious organisations in our younger days describe our younger selves as stupid :)
And those of us who never believed know not what we’re supposed to be missing?
I’d go the other way: I was missing the capacity for real analytical thought when I did believe in a creator/deity. And now I’m not missing it any more. In your case, you’ve never missed anything, you were born with it. Grats :-)
*raises metaphorical glass*
I have spent many moons trying to find out this mysterious missing feeling. Then I decided unicorns don’t exist and iron chariots are cool and got over it.
“Stupid”? Dunno… “Intellectually dishonest”, certainly :)
Steinbeck is definitely painting Samuel favorably (as he does in the whole book). Steinbeck was no fan of religion or superstition.
“Sadness and death… you just have to wait around long enough and it will come”
*nods solemnly*
Yup.
I love Steinbeck.
If the only thing you can find comfort and shelter from sadness is a fairy tale, you are a pathetic human being, and that’s just sad and weak.
What makes this world imperfect? I think that our emotions are what is causing our obsession with this world being imperfect. Even more so can perfection truly be defined to anything? Perfect seems so damn subjective.
“What makes this world imperfect? I think that our emotions are what is causing our obsession with this world being imperfect. Even more so can perfection truly be defined to anything? Perfect seems so damn subjective.”
That’s quite correct. We can’t really know what perfect or imperfect are outside our own perceptions.
(sorry, typing from iphone – no reply to comment link in mobile version)
And our perceptions have be shown to be very flawed.
Indeed.
However, they are just what we’ve got, so we’ve got to deal with them.