Towards the end of the nineteenth century Émile Zola wrote
an interesting novel about Lourdes, the claimed miracles, the character and visions of Bernadette Soubirous and
the huge pilgrimage site Lourdes became. He wrote the novel through the eyes of Pierre Froment, a priest struggling with his loss of faith.
The passage below shows how in Zola’s view confusion can be
a vehicle for human hopes and passions even when faced with the stark realities
of death and incurable disease. Over two centuries earlier Baruch Spinoza saw confusion as the essential element of misguided human thought. Whatever one thinks of the Lourdes phenomenon,
it is very far from being the only area where confusion has bypassed painful or
inconvenient realities.
Pierre had now begun
to understand what was taking place at Lourdes, the extraordinary spectacle
which the world had been witnessing for years, amidst the reverent admiration
of some and the insulting laughter of others. Forces as yet but imperfectly
studied, of which one was even ignorant, were certainly at work —
auto-suggestion, long prepared disturbance of the nerves; inspiriting influence
of the journey, the prayers, and the hymns; and especially the healing breath,
the unknown force which was evolved from the multitude, in the acute crisis of
faith.
Thus it seemed to him
anything but intelligent to believe in trickery. The facts were both of a much
more lofty and much more simple nature. There was no occasion for the Fathers
of the Grotto to descend to falsehood; it was sufficient that they should help
in creating confusion, that they should utilise the universal ignorance. It
might even be admitted that everybody acted in good faith — the doctors void of
genius who delivered the certificates, the consoled patients who believed
themselves cured, and the impassioned witnesses who swore that they had beheld
what they described.
And from all this was
evolved the obvious impossibility of proving whether there was a miracle or
not. And such being the case, did not the miracle naturally become a reality
for the greater number, for all those who suffered and who had need of hope?
Émile Zola – Lourdes (1894)
6 comments:
My parents went to the pictures whatever was on, it saved on coal. So I came to see the film "The Song Of Bernadette". On balance I enjoyed my hernia operation a lot more.
Demetrius - "The Song Of Bernadette" sounds grim.
I think it would be a whole better world if everyone stopped thinking about things that are outside the human experience.
I am sure there are many areas of society held together by nothing more than a tenuous faith. A kind of snuggling up to share warmth and smell - like pigs in a litter. Not to snuggle means an unprotected and rather uncomfortable life - but a free one. Truth is not always welcome or useful.
Forces as yet but imperfectly studied, of which one was even ignorant, were certainly at work — auto-suggestion, long prepared disturbance of the nerves; inspiriting influence of the journey, the prayers, and the hymns; and especially the healing breath, the unknown force which was evolved from the multitude, in the acute crisis of faith.
But never affording one a pat, final answer yea or nay.
Henry - I agree, but it seems to be part of human nature.
Roger - if only people were more choosy about their snuggling.
James - yes, that's the point he's making.
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