Counterfeit Compassion
".....Camus' hero cannot accept the divinity of Christ, because of the massacre of the innocents. In this popular pity we mark our gain in sensibility and our loss in vision. If other ages felt less, they saw more, even though they saw with the blind, prophetical, unsentimental eye of acceptance, which is to say, of faith. In the absence of faith now, we govern by tenderness. It is a tenderness which, long since cut off from the person of Christ, is wrapped in theory. When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror. It ends in forced labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber." Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners, p. 227
That's all very well for the intellectuals among us but you can't dismiss tenderness like that, Ms O'Connor, nor can you claim that a total dearth in empathy is an indication of your greater vision or faith or whatever you wanna call it.
ReplyDeleteEarlier ages were brutal and you may say we are still so; but now I believe it is the exception, not the rule, to be brutal. You will not find villages turning out to watch a hanging for fun, nowadays. Average people experience empathy. You may find massacres; but they will be greeted by outrage, by people rushing in to help; by popular struggle to come to terms with its cruelty.
But the apparent increase in empathy is the subject for a discussion on its own. Meanwhile, the more I know of Miss Flannery O'Connor, the more I think I might fling one of her short stories across the room, if I had one.
I do not find tenderness to be wrapped in theory; absolutely the opposite. Tenderness is feeling for the other, irrespective of theory. And yes, in point of fact, tenderness leads to many a battle with Scripture, and lots of inner conflict, if you have even half a heart!!
I think suffering should awaken compassion in any person with a human heart. If I could watch pain for entertainment or amusement, or see it and not be moved by it, I would think there must be something wrong with me. I don't think a total dearth of empathy is an indication of great faith, or anything else that is good or positive. What does the empathy move me to do, and why? I think that is the question Flannery is getting at.
ReplyDeleteWhat grounds my empathy and gives it direction? Is it free-floating? Is empathy a norm unto itself?
I think Flannery's fiction, letters and essays show remarkable empathy and compassion, as well as a deep understanding of human nature. Her letters and essays are a helpful stepping stone to her fiction, which is easily misunderstood.
I probably should not have quoted her out of context, or have explained the context better. She was writing about a three year old girl who had a inoperable tumor that covered the side of her face. "Introduction to A Memoir of Mary Ann" is the title of the chapter in the book I quoted from. I reread it from time to time, because I get a lot out of it.