Laughter in the Dark

In his book, Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov brings to life a detailed portrait of a life gotten off track.  Really, one need only read the opening two sentences which set the stage for the unfolding of a tale too commonly seen throughout history.  Such a story was seen in the garden, in Shakespear’s Hamlet, in Hollywood today, and in the lives of too many around us every day.

Laughter in the Dark begins with these tragically pregnant words,

Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus.  He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster.

We all know the rest of the story.  That one decision, which in reality was a decision to make many bad decisions, led to, and always leads to the demise of an otherwise decent life.  Adam and Eve, allured by the potential (a false potential, a lie) to become/experience something more than they were allowed, gave up everything.  In return, they enjoyed the pleasures of guilt, shame, deceit, and separation from God and one another (emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise).

Such is life beyond the boundaries of God’s agenda.  Life was meant to experienced as the Giver of Life has intended.  When we get it in our heads that we have a better idea tragedy befalls us.  The records of divorce courts around the globe testify to this.  The counseling records of therapists confirm this reality.  And the emotional, psychological, and physical pain of countless human beings tells the truth of this tale as well.  Separation from God’s best for us leads us to a tailspin misery, myth, and mediocrity.

What was true for Albinus is true for you and I; we find ourselves only when we find ourselves in Him.  What St. Augustine suggested centuries ago remains true today, “Our hearts shall have no rest until we find our rest in Thee.”

We aspire to and crave many things; sexual thrill, chemically induced “highs”, physical beauty, success, prestige, power, control, respect, knowledge, degrees, fame, … never realizing that behind all of it is a desire to know and be known in the most intimate of ways.  This “knowing and being known” which we desire at our most basic level, was put there by our Creator in order that we might be drawn to Him.  In finding ourselves in Him we are given the resources needed to lead the kind of life God promises us.

We will never attain the kind of life we crave so long as we seek to find it in created things.  The beauty around us, in the landscape and in human form, are there to bless and thrill us, but fundamentally to point us to a Creator.  The majestic view of a mountain, and the captivating curves of a woman’s physique (or a man’s if you are a woman), are to be enjoyed, but ultimately, they are to remind us of the One behind all the beauty we see in all its diversity.  When we worship the mountain, or misuse the body, however, we twist the intention and obscure the real blessing.

The food we enjoy, and the artisans who are able to create culinary masterpieces for our enjoyment are to be appreciated.  Yet, when the food becomes our God and our focus, and begins to consume us, we lose sight of the Creator and make an idol of the created.  Gluttony, like all other sin patterns, amounts to a misplaced affection upon something which was intended to bless us.  In our cursed pursuit of our misplaced appetites, we lose the blessing and are taken captive by what should have been a hint of God’s grace to us.  This is the nature of addictions to sex, wine, power, money, and a host of other entrapments.  Many if not most addictive patterns are a result of our pursuing, beyond reason or intention, that which God offers to us in His measure and for our good.  As has been said before of marriage and monogamy, “The problem is not that God has given us one woman to love, …had he given us one hundred we would have wanted one hundred and one.”  This issue is what lurks in our heart–the desire for MORE.  Like Adam and Eve, we want to define our lives.

Find your place in the heart of God, find your rest in Him, enjoy the world around you according to His plan, and live the life God offers you.  As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”  There is no other pursuit which will quench the longings of your soul.  God, and God alone is “more than enough”.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

This entry was posted on 18. February 2008 at 11:55 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.