Related to the previous post and the comfortable ties we have to this world, which perhaps obscure our knowledge of Good and Evil, an image came to mind: In the older world, moral decisions were pictured as homonculi sitting on each shoulder, an angelic and a demonic one, each whispering in our ears. It was still a popular cartoon motif in my childhood.
The homoculi today may not be identical twins, but they are at least dizygotic, chatting over minor differences in ethics. They get along easily and sip brandy now.
I haven't seen that lately, either. Old cartoons, yes. Which may be due to the dearth of cartoon-buying magazines and other outlets, as well as the ones that do being in the eastern & western metropolises which generally ignore religion--devils and angels not being relevant to them.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite mental-junk-food shows is "Supernatural," basically a couple of brothers who go around fighting demons. It's fun to see the scriptwriters struggle with moral relativism. At one point they introduced angels into the story, then gradually began to show them as corrupted. God is, of course, distant and uncommunicative. Some of His creatures, though, keep trying to fight the good fight and do the right thing. There are always innocents to rescue from demons who are unambiguously evil. Courage and self-sacrifice keep coming in handy.
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