Utopia...
It seems that bad habits are easy to slide into, but good habits are just as easy to slide out of...argh. I'm so out of the groove in blogging, that I hope you'll bear with me (if anyone is still reading this thing) as I try to get back on my blogging feet. In other words, what follows for this and the next several (probably) posts might not be as stunningly coherent and insightful as usual...or...um...maybe moreso, not sure...
Anyway...deep breath.
I was reading the other day (okay, I was skimming) an old H. G. Wells book called In the Days of the Comet.
Here's a link to the full text:
And a link to the Wikipedia entry:
Okay, back in the day (like, when this thing was published, a hundered years ago) were I alive, I would have snapped this thing up and devoured it over a couple days. I don't find Wells super accessible (I HATE first person narrative - I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!!!!) and the themes are a little thin now.
Basically, Wells paints a picture of
a corrupt and oppressive world of evil industry. It's a fairly hopeless world - portrayed by the hopeless state of his relationship with Nettie. He plots a murder suicide...but he's interrupted.
You see, there's this comet that has been streaking through the sky. For, like, a long time. And now, suddenly, it's hitting the atmosphere and this green fog rolls out across the planet - everyone falls asleep for three hours and when they wake up, the change in the air has caused htem all to become...um...completely...no, perfectly rational beings. Thus, from the day of the comet, life becomes a utopian paradise. The bonehead protaganist (William...sigh...of COURSE his name is William) even reliquishes his love interest to the guy who stole her away. And they all live happily ever after.
So, really, it reads (okay, skims) like a socialist/communist commentary on the industrial revolution and the early 20th century industrial age.
Unless you're me, of course. Okay, yeah, I rea...skimmed it that way too. But I was also struck by the notion of how Christian - or at least some stripes of Christian - this whole green fog, utopian dream is.
Can it be read as the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven? Think about it. A sudden change (can we call this the rapture) in which people all fall asleep (not all of us will sleep, but all will be changed) and wake up transformed and living in...the love of neighbor for self... I mean, even the imagery of the drivers of busses, etc. falling asleep while, with their hapless passengers (also falling asleep), they crash into all manner of obstacles. Thief In t
he Night and Left Behind - dudes, you're almost a century late to THAT party.
Ah, THAT'S a utopian fantasy...
We all want the magic bullet, don't we? Well, maybe not
EVERYBODY - but it's common enough. Wouldn't it be best if God just zipped us (the "us" varies - but is usually dependant believing the right thi
ngs - and it always includes ME - but I'm not sure about YOU) out of here and let the sinners all just destroy themselves and then God can remake this all to that we (me and mine, of course) are happy and content for eternity?
Yeah, that was a bit tongue in cheek. But... Don't you think God prefers that we not wait for the magic bullet, the green fog, the trumpet call, and that we would actually start living this Kingdom of God stuff in the here and now?
Ah, THAT'S a utopian fantasy...
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