Secular Symposium: Meaning Without God

Last updated on: February 4, 2016 at 3:38 pm by Martin Hughes

Secular Symposium: Meaning Without God 2016-02-04T15:38:35-06:00 Martin Hughes

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John R.

Through the novel Finnegan’s Wake I am reminded of my sort of mythical quest to be a better person as I carry on with my life. I understand how someone can have a similar experience with the Bible, although my experience is without some promise of supernatural reward.

I create meaning in my life around a core mythical literary structure. I have, quite by chance, settled on one very complicated book and have studied it for years, as a Christian Scholar might do with the Bible. Since “Bible” simply means “Book,” my Bible is a cryptic dream novel that has been called unreadable by many. The book is James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake, and it isn’t entirely “about” anything; instead, it is a dense puzzle book with double and triple layers of meaning at every turn.

The novel is designed to represent the nighttime experience of its hero, just as Joyce’s much praised (and little read) “Ulysses” represents the daytime experience. The book is very abstract and it encourages me to think in abstract ways. It also challenges me in very concrete and rational ways.

One of the main themes of the book is the idea that the dreamer has fallen and shattered into two different people as he sleeps. These two different people come to represent two polar opposites, or two general approaches to life. Basically, one character is clearly a bitter, liberal member of the intelligensia, and the other is a very no-nonsense man’s man who take charge in life, is very financially successful, and operates with no real sense of self-awareness or reflection. As the novel progresses, the two characters battle with each other, then become confused with each other, and eventually resolve back into the dreamer as a more complete and mature person.

As all of the ideas, symbols, and passages in the novel float around in my head, I challenge myself to see the good and virtue in those who I traditionally would have dismissed and see the failure of some ideas that I have traditionally been quite comfortable with. Just as the phrase “tip tip tip” in the novel’s dream connects to the sound of a tree-branch banging against the window of the dreamer’s room, I see connections between the symbolism of the book and my life everywhere; through the book I am reminded of my sort of mythical quest to be a better person as I carry on with my life.

I understand how someone can have a similar experience with the Bible, although my experience is without some promise of supernatural reward. I simply prefer the template that this book provides to me and feel good about having found it on my own, without the assistance of a large and powerful institution.

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