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Quote of the Day: Restore My Soul
Lord Peter Wimsey to the Vicar, Mr Tredgold in Dorothy Sayers’ Unnatural Death.
“S’posin’ one knows somebody who’s very, very ill and can’t last long anyhow. And they’re in awful pain and all that, and kept under morphia — practically dead to the world, you know…Well supposin’ somebody…was just to give ’em a little push off so to speak — hurry matters on…it doesn’t do the person any harm does it?”
“We can’t answer that,” said Mr Tredgold, “without knowing the ways of God with the soul. In those last weeks or hours of pain and unconsciousness, the soul may be undergoing some necessary part of it’s pilgrimage on earth. It isn’t our business to cut it short.”
As a society, we rarely consider the soul anymore. Even in the midst of the current scandal in the Catholic Church, we hear of justice, charity, faith, and financial considerations. But what about the souls of the wronged and the souls of those who committed the evil acts?
Souls can be lost. We have to make sure we allow for healing of our own souls and for those of others. That healing can look like/be sacrifice and suffering. God gives us what we need.
Published in General
This quote is so profound that I must refrain from the usual sales pitch.
Thank you @vectorman. I enjoy all the Wimsey mysteries, but this really struck me as something much more important.
The Vicar is a very important recurring character in the series. He often has important things to say – succinctly. Thanks so much for highlighting this example so well.
“Absolutely spiffin’ post,” as Lord Peter himself might have put it.
Yes. People don’t think nearly enough about the state of their souls, particularly during their lives. In the foxholes at the ends of them, perhaps some of them reflect a little more, if they’re lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity. But whether it’s because of the abundance of selfishness, ingratitude and just plain bad behavior we see all around us, or because many people seem to think that being ‘saved’ is a one-shot deal and what they do from that point on in their lives, to and for themselves and each other, just doesn’t matter, or if it’s something else, we don’t think nearly enough about it until it’s almost too late, and some of us never do.
In general, when I’m in the dumps myself, I find it’s best to remove my head from whatever orifice it’s parked in, and reflect upon the needs of others. That may not be exactly “knowing the ways of God with the soul,” but it’s a start.
Thank you @she. I was reading some Russian short stories and nearly every one of them mentioned the soul in various ways. For example, one that struck me was (paraphrasing), ‘he entered the town where he didn’t know a soul.’
I don’t think people use those terms anymore. We have lost the idea that we are more than just what looks back at us from the mirror.
Dorothy Sayers is my favorite mystery writer. What a wonderful life she led as well. From advertising to mystery novels which feature a lot of vicars (her father was a vicar) to writing about theological matters. It’s unfortunate that no one has done a good job with reenacting this on television. There was a BBC production ages ago (they’re on Youtube), but it didn’t do Lord Peter justice. They also didn’t do my favorite – Busman’s Honeymoon.
Quite apropos, @juliana, as I’m framing prayers “for all those involved/impacted”. Thanks so much!
Wonderful quote, @juliana.
If the soul/spirit is the one thing that lives on as many believe, only makes sense its preservation/care should be a high priority with human beings. Even if one doesn’t believe in life after death, there’s no denying its importance to soul/mind/body connection.
Dorothy Sayers is a new author to me, but sounds interesting. Any suggestions for where to start reading her books?
Thank you @mim526.
Dorothy Sayers’ first novel is Whose Body? But the first one I read was The Nine Tailors and I was hooked. I’ve not read them in chronological order, but she wrote eleven novels featuring Lord Peter and they do follow one another. There are those who like Bertie Wooster’s Jeeves, but I’d bet on Lord Peter’s Bunter any day. They are great English mid-wars (between WWI and WWII) mysteries.
Dorothy Sayers also wrote poetry, short stories, and a translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_L._Sayers
There seem to be two main ways to approach a writer of book series. Since I am somewhat obsessive, I like to start with the first and go on chronologically. (Easy to find the order on search engines.) Others may prefer to start with the best or most popular ones. I do not often read these mysteries but listen to them as performed by skilled actors on Audible. I like Sayers a lot. And Ngaio Marsh. But my favorite of the great British ladies of the Golden Age is Margery Allingham. She has something playful in her nature that appeals. Josephine Tey is also very good: her Daughters of Time was voted best mystery ever by the other mystery writers.
Now, Allingham’s first novel with Albert Campion was rather tedious but I am glad to have read it if only to see the improvement made so quickly. BTW, Dorothy Sayers was also a Dante scholar.
Another Allingham/Campion fan, here…I have to admit, Peter Davison and the superb cast of the BBC adaptations drew me to the books. Spiritual themes here, too, if one is looking for them.
Me, too, although I confess to not having read Marsh. I think I’m bothered by not knowing how to pronounce her Christian name.
I see that you have peeked into my Kindle! Discovered these authors years ago and they have given me hours of enjoyment. I agree with you about Allingham–she has a hidden wit that sneaks up on me. I suddenly find myself laughing in unexpected places.
How in the world is it possible to know the needs of others? There souls are different from you and people don’t communicate what their souls are. How do you figure it out?
We are what sees behind our eyes as the song lyric has it.
So a couple of months ago I believed that I had a soul. I was previously agnostic on the subject. I still find the new belief discombobulating.
Sounds like C.S. Lewis. His first 30 yrs or so are chronicled in the autobiography “Surprised by Joy”. He went from atheist/agnostic to writing Chronicles of Narnia fantasy series and books like Mere Christianity.
I wish I did know exactly the “needs of others.” Life would be so much simpler! I was speaking more generally. It’s easy to get lost in self-pity and lose sight of the fact that there are others in the world fighting their own battles and doing their best. Looking outward and coming to terms with the fact that it’s not all about me helps me re-center and put things in perspective. And, if others are telling me their needs (which does happen), or if their needs are obvious (which they sometimes are), or even if I have to guess some, then I think doing what I can for them is good for my soul, at least.
I do think, by the way, that there are people whose souls shine through, whether for good or ill.
I think it is very difficult to define the soul, and therefore to believe it exists. One of the things that gives me a clue about the soul is music. Your entire being can soar while listening to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, or be brought to sadness on hearing Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor. You can try to explain it intellectually or emotionally, but there is something more – something that has been given to us to truly feel, beyond human explanation.
The next step is to find and use those feelings for others, using the grace God gives us to try to keep ourselves beyond human feelings (which are essentially selfish), to sacrifice and suffer for our good and the good of others. To look at the awesomeness of creation, look at a star in the sky and reflect on how small we really are, but yet how much we have been given and how it will not end with the death of our body. This life is but dust and ashes compared to what God has planned for us if we but have faith and love. And to achieve that which is planned, we need to keep our souls clean and open to grace. (The nuns would call sins ‘black spots’ on our souls that we had to confess and do penance for in order to repent, or re-clean our soul.)
One of my favorite poems from one of my favorite poets, poor, mad, William Blake, from Fragments from Auguries of Innocence:
Also, 1 Corinthians 13.