On Irony, Cynicism, and Good Cheer

-An excellent essay on earnest vs. comic irony, and the effect of their adoption on the human soul.

-And why not read some Chesterton? Wine, and Solemnity or Comedy?

As a Christian, I spent years sweating over the salvation of souls, mine and others', without a really clear concept (short of going to heaven and being perfected someday) of what was being saved and what that salvation entailed. I just thought it meant that I would sin less and draw closer to God--so that's what I focused on.

One can, of course, do this and still be a miserable human being, quite lonely, merely by keeping all neighbors at a safe distance from one's true self, avoiding all unmanageable temptation, being devoted and dutiful, and having an utterly flavorless, controlled and moral life where one takes no unmanageable risks of love or hate and generally is a hermit fixated with making sure the goats give milk and the crops produce and nothing wrong or sinful has been done. Mostly at the cost of never confronting any aspect of one's self that cannot be predicted and controlled, stifling unfiltered desires and creativity, and generally losing your zest for life. And...your soul while you're at it.

All while having dotted the "i's" and crossed the "t's" on the standard Christ's Plan of Salvation. And never having touched the sheer terror of loving his neighbor or himself.

So your soul can be a miserable, pathological wreck...but saved? Is this what it's saved to?

Now I find it very important to think long and hard about my soul and the vitality thereof. What is it? What are its pathologies? What is it supposed to look like? Can the things that are obviously bad about my soul, my unique yet ever-changing personality, be made right? What, indeed, are the processes of saving a soul?

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"But neither nature nor wine nor anything else can be enjoyed if we have the wrong attitude towards happiness, and Omar (or Fitzgerald) did have the wrong attitude towards happiness. He and those he has influenced do not see that if we are to be truly gay, we must believe that there is some eternal gaiety in the nature of things. We cannot enjoy thoroughly even a pas-de-quatre at a subscription dance unless we believe that the stars are dancing to the same tune. No one can be really hilarious but the serious man. “Wine,” says the Scripture, “maketh glad the heart of man,” but only of the man who has a heart." --G.K., Heretics, Chapter VII.