Where is your heart?

In Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis laments that men are on their way to becoming chestless, without hearts. He is blaming the educational system, but I tend to think of trends being the result of many variables, and am not that fatalistic. Trends do exist and perpetuate themselves, but I think there will always be exceptions to the rule. That is the optimist in me.

I do notice, however, being raised in the 70's, that there was a lot more "heart" in America's self-expression, or at least what was popular in the media. You can hear it in the voices of John Denver, Olivia Newton John, Dan Fogelberg, in Mary Tyler Moore's voice as Mary Richards, and even in commercials like Coca Cola's "I'd like to teach the world to sing". These products of the 70's are enjoying popularity today I think because heart is missing from today's society. It's not totally gone, but it seems best expressed by those of my generation who remember the 70's, but it is diminished. I wont get into modern specific examples but will leave it to individual recognition to see if the producer, writer, or performer is around 40 or above.

I wonder if the reason is that having a heart is painful and perhaps pain has been villified too much. Pain is now associated with abuse and legalism and an expectation that things should be different. We won't have it. If we are hurt, we rationalize how we didn't deserve it and blame something exterior to ourselves. This pawns off the pain to the area of rationalization and intellectualization. Mourning has been classified as unhealthy depression, so it must either be stifled by denial, numbed by medication, or converted into anger. Anger, blame and revenge is much more acceptable than grief. I'm sure there are problems with self-pity, over-indulgent sadness, and wallowing self-centered victimization, but perhaps these are also unnatural and self-protective responses of the heart.

I don't pretend to have the right approach to mourning, as in blessed are they who mourn, or in unselfish, nourishing loving that doesn't lead to possessiveness, but what I notice from the 70's is that people naturally and less self-consciously let it flow out of them. They Let it Be, to quote the Beatles.

There are problems to unihibited letting it be, as the 80's showed us with the outbreak of Aids and STD's, and this probably contributed to the stifling of the heart we see today. Stifling brings to mind why the 70's came about in the first place. The 60's were about breaking out of oppressive rules and codes enforced by guilt and shame. People decry the lack of morality nowadays, but the younger generation isn't moved by this tactic. They've turned to technology to prevent hurting their bodies and their hearts, be it abortion, birth control, medications, cosmetic surgeries, and disposable relationships made so by no-fault-divorce, abortion, daycare, increased mobility, the internet, etc. The '60's waged the war and won over external forces stifling us, and the 70's were a brief window into freedom to Let it Be. Sadly it didn't last.

I believe we are made to freely be, in a carefree state. Somehow we have to guard against carelessness, but the very act of guarding is stifling. This is why I think non-Christians can be funnier and more creative. They don't worry about stifling themselves. It is a state of child-likeness, without which we will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. But back to the 70's artists that I mentioned. They were not immoral. As an aside, we have just discovered Brian Regan, you can check him out on Youtube, he's very funny and has a clean routine, and he's probably about 40. There's an innocence in the 70's though obviously a lot of seedy things happened too. The immoral and the seedy grew up along with it and probably intimidated and seduced the sweet, childlike, natural and free innocence into silence.

I think this is a big reason homeschooling has flourished during my lifetime. Kids are naturally sweet and driven by their hearts, but this will not last if exposed too much to the intimidation of seedy immorality, and many of the parents of my generation have realized this. Let's see what the next generation, who do consist of thousands (at least) of homeschooled, sheltered kids come up with. :)

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.