From the Archives: Famished Craving Pt 1

Gil utilized a number of stories written by Flannery O'Connor in the late 1980's including 'Revelation', 'Parker's Back' and 'The Displaced Person'. I hope to return to those at some point but for now a change of pace...

With the end of the 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' series our next selection comes from 1995 and is entitled:

Famished Craving

the attention of others,

the fascination of the famous

and the need for faith

The title comes from the T.S. Eliot poem Gerontion

Think now
History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors
And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,
Guides us by vanities. Think now
She gives when our attention is distracted
And what she gives, gives
with such supple confusions
That the giving famishes the craving

Here is what Gil wrote introducing this series:

It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.

With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.

Using this survey as a backdrop we will rethink today's social and psychological presuppositions and ponder anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.