TRAGIC DESTINY
Sir,-Your editorial (February 5) is full of interest. Lord Boyd Orr says that chemists are now experimenting, with hope of success in the near future, to "produce food without agriculture." This e___CVw3sM"-_--
may pave the way for the "chemical concentrate pellets" you mention, and so for the discarding of the human stomach. Alas! for my. sensitive palate and tongue, a tragic destiny indeed. But I shan’t be here five million years hence, so why worry? ; Your reference to the "tragic view of human destiny that supports all religion and most philosophy" reminds me that I recently came across some striking thought bearing on this: "The inner tragedy of the love felt by God for His other self," and the allegedly God-given freedom which "has become the source of man’s tragic destiny and that of history with all its conflicts and horrors." I am unable to imagine how a finite human mind could penetrate into the mind of God (assuming Him to exist as a person with a mind), and discover his longings or that He has an "other self." But accepting the traditional view of God as creator of the universe and all in it, we may logically suppose that if God is trapped in tragedy, all His works are too, and when we die we shal! not go to a paradise of bliss but-if we continue to exist after death-just carry on the tragedy. For God is said to be the same yesterday, today and forever, so that there can be no change from our tragic destiny to that of a paradise of unending and unalloyed bliss. This picture of eternal joy and happiness must be written off as wishful thinking. To me the prospect of death ending all and my returning to dust to suffer whatever tragedy dust may suffer, is a more comforting prospect. But then, nobody knows whether death does end all.
J. MALTON
MURRAY
(Oamaru).
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540219.2.12.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 761, 19 February 1954, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
322TRAGIC DESTINY New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 761, 19 February 1954, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in