Truth, Outsiders and Spiritual Struggle?
The Monseigneur, the Misfit and YOU!
Debut is wondering what she might know. She is puzzled since she feels so very new in her presence in the world. She is shy and careful and just wants to look and read what comes next.
Debut’s boss wants to know, too! BUT…don’t worry, with patience her boss will get something together…some knowing that puzzles and presents the human condition.
Don’t hope. Hope is rooted in expectation which leads to disappointment and suffering. Keep this in mind. It will serve you well, if you ABANDON HOPE.
I promise nothing. I am relieved to see Debut gives sound advice regarding hope.
I am going to offer from Les Mis encouragement to each one who reads this 162 year old story. This piece is a beginning.
Right at the beginning of the novel, Hugo writes about what he calls:
A GOOD MAN
This GOOD MAN character is 162 years old give a take a bit of time. That is, the GOOD MAN character is 162 years old in history. He represented a particular type of character in history. He is a man who has lost his family, his fortune and his footing in the world. The loss comes from a violent revolution in his country. Upheaval in his homeland led him to become an exile.
After his exile, this GOOD MAN returns home as a priest. A significant change?
Contemplations
What are YOU inclined to do? If you lost your family, your fortune and your footing right where you are, would you be a GOOD PERSON? Would you enter silence, solitude and spiritual practice?
What are your natural tendencies?
Do you act from selfishness or generosity or surrender to a divine source?
Look at your disposition when your life becomes difficult.
71 YEARS AGO from 2024 and 91 years after the publication of Les Mis in 1862, Flannery O’Conner wrote a short story, titled: A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND.
Ah ha! Our Southern jewel wrote about a GOOD MAN but she declares such a person is hard to find. Not so for Hugo. Before we go any further, consider reading her work.
A Good Man is Hard to Find was written in 1952, 71 years ago…a time of recovery from WWII. Some of us were not even born.
To read her story click the link: A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND by Flannery O’Conner
I will leave it here for now. Keep in mind how you respond to the history, the different time frames and the differences in story line.
Has anything changed? Does history merely repeat itself? Or are both stories untrue, invented, imaginary? What about YOU? How do you see yourself? THAT is key for your practice. What story do you tell yourself?
