Spiritual Quote of the Day (Carl Gustav Jung, on Rationalism and Values)

“Modern man does not understand how much his ‘rationalism’ (which has destroyed his capacity to respond to numinous symbols and ideas) has put him at the mercy of the psychic ‘underworld.’ He has freed himself from ‘superstition’ (or so he believes), but in the process he has lost his spiritual values to a positively dangerous degree. His moral and spiritual tradition has disintegrated, and he is now paying the price for this break-up in worldwide disorientation and dissociation.” — Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), Man and His Symbols (1964)

Movie Quote of the Day (‘Hud,’ on the Consequences of ‘The Men We Admire’)

Homer Bannon [played by Melvyn Douglas] [to grandson Lonnie, played by Brandon de Wilde, about son Hud, played by Paul Newman]: “Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire. You're just going to have to make up your own mind one day about what's right and wrong.”—Hud (1963), screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based on the novel Horseman, Pass By, by Larry McMurtry, directed by Martin Ritt

Watching Hud again after nearly 40 years, it struck me, in a way it never had before, that the film was, at heart, a struggle for a younger person’s soul, in much the same way that Oliver Stone’s Wall Street was.

And here is what’s dispiriting about how Hud and Wall Street ended up being perceived: The anti-heroes that each movie warned audiences against, in no uncertain terms, were actually embraced by viewers who somehow missed the message. 

There should be little to admire about either Paul Newman’s Hud Bannon—an alcoholic, womanizing, unscrupulous heel—or Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko—a manipulative, ruthless inside trader who, taking a page from the late Ivan Boesky, blatantly announces, “Greed, for want of a better word, is good.”

Yet both Newman and Douglas were horrified to discover that these epitomes of selfishness became heroes of sorts. The actors brought such charisma to their roles that they embodied the glamour of evil for the type of male who values transgression.

I am afraid that America is now at the kind of crossroads that Melvyn Douglas’ principled patriarch in Hud feared. People in public life may disclaim being seen as role models, but they are (and they should stop pretending that they aren’t).

Preventing lying, cheating, greed, misogyny, prejudice, or violence is difficult at the best of times, but it becomes an epidemic when the faults of well-known politicians, entertainers, or athletes are not merely excused but trumpeted as positive examples. Unchecked personal appetites lead, step by step, to unmitigated national disasters.

Quote of the Day (C.S. Lewis, on Friendship and Survival)

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”—British novelist and religious author C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Four Loves (1960)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Jimmy Carter, on the Unseen ‘Guiding Lights of Life’)

“One of the most interesting verses that I know in the Bible, for instance, is when the Romans ask Paul, ‘St. Paul, what are the important things in life? What are the things that never change?’ And Paul said, interestingly, ‘they're the things that you cannot see.’ What are the things that you can't see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love. You can't see any of those. You can't prove they're there, but they're the guiding lights of life.” —Former American President Jimmy Carter, remarks from a 1996 appearance on The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer quoted in Tom Bearden’s report on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Carter, The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, Oct. 11, 2002

Quote of the Day (Simone de Beauvoir, on the Value of One’s Life)

“One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion.”— French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, and feminist Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), Old Age, translated by Patrick O'Brian (1972)