by George Saunders
I felt a new and powerful truth being beamed directly into me, by a vast, beneficent God, in the form of this unyielding directive:
Comfort
Comfort, for all else is futility
This is a story of a spirt sent to guide a man, a remorseless oil Barron, into the afterlife.
I read Saunders because his essay "Though Experiment" sent me down a path of exploring radical but active non-judgment. From this I've read Simone Wells, Camus, Murdoch, Foucault and others.
Saunders would call this elevation. AI says elevation is a movement towards moral, emotional and spiritual clarity-- rising above habitual pettiness, fear or self centeredness.
Vigil explores this idea though fiction. How does one deal with the challenge and problems of being elevated? Especially with someone who has lied to and hurt many others. You can't be passive here. And, you can't let those with (perhaps rightful) judgements run you over.
Elevation assumes that who we are is hard to change. Many of our choices are driven by our background and opportunities. Our ability to change ourselves is very limited and our ability to change our ability to change ourselves is even more limited. You didn't choose to come into this earth. You are inevitable.
All we can do is accept people for who they are. Comfort them. Build relationships with them. Everything else is futility.
Part of me worries that, taken to an extreme, this approach looks passive. I have a cousin who is a police officer. I would love to see how she responds-- there are people in this world who are violent and dangerous. We need to take action to protect ourselves.
Having said that, the more I explore elevation, the more I realize the truth in it, that there is very little we can do to change people. In adversity, we can stand our ground, look at the facts of the situation, and decide our actions on that.
Perhaps a hurricane is good metaphor. Of course I have to take action to mitigate the destruction of a hurricane. But, becoming angry or being afraid of a hurricane... that is waisted time and energy. Instead I must respect the hurricane and deal with it as it is.
