21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S

have a young child of your own, then perhaps (hopefully) you have had the chance to lose yourself with them by engaging in their play. Or perhaps the children of friends afford this opportunity. There comes a point of course where this is lost — or at least set aside — for more ‘grown-up’ activities and concerns. Some adults though, never seem to be able to go back. They fear looking silly or being considered strange if they indulge in ‘childish’ behaviour. People’s reactions to opportunities for playful behaviour say a lot about them. If you haven’t played for a while, maybe it’s time to give it a try! Eloi Leclere tells us that for Saint Frances of Assisi, salvation meant ‘enchanted existence’, whilst Meister Eckhart speaks of ‘living without a why.’

Perhaps there is something else, a bit more subtle, that is going on. It seems sometimes that our culture is very mundane — not given to much flamboyance, exuberance or public displays of emotion. Occasionally however, there occur strange outpourings of celebration or grief that appear incongruous with the pervading culture. There seems to be an element of this in the binge drinking culture discussed above. Our need for celebration is being frustrated and is driving us to neurotic behaviour.

Matthew Fox addresses this in his work Original Blessing. He says:

‘Another sin of omission…is the sin of limiting, always guarding or policing, pleasure. This sin of omitting Eros or love of life from our lives expresses itself in a preference for Thanatos, love of death. Thanatos represents the

144