'Thinking Hurts' - John Dos Passos

From a 54 year old interview with a 73 year old thinker, an excerpt.

"Interviewer: Incidentally, what is your opinion of the students of the New Left? 

'Dos Passos: Many of them seem to be going through something rather like a tantrum. An odd paranoia sweeping the country, I don't know exactly why . . . a mass hysteria . . . a combination of the St. Vitus's dance of medieval times and the Children's Crusade . . ." "

~~ John Dos Passos, "The Art of Fiction",  The Paris Review, Issue 46, Spring 1969

'St. Vitus's dance of medieval times' is a reference to the saint who was known to have relieved people suffering from neurological disorders including loss of emotional stability and voluntary motor control. Outbreaks of dancing and mania and other delirious behavior struck Europe during the Middle Ages. The symptoms of those afflicted with such disorders during medieval times mimicked the movements of a bizarre dance, thus the linkage to Vitus and his dance.

The Children's Crusade consisted of sincere children taking vows with the intention of marching to Jerusalem during the summer of 1212 to convert the Muslims who held the city at that time. Their efforts failed, they never reached the Holy Land, many of them were sold as slaves, some returned home, some died along the way. Passionate and full of sincerity, they followed foolish leaders to a disastrous end. Bitter failure.

If you live long enough you learn that history does indeed repeat itself. There are human behaviors which are predictable in particular circumstances. Political forces incite gullible young people - and older people who should know better - into the mass hysteria and paranoia Dos Passos references. Irrationality takes hold because emotions rule the day rather than critical thinking. 

Dos Passos' observations could have been penned today. 

"Tantrum." 

"Odd paranoia sweeping the country." 

"Mass hysteria."

Ring a bell?

Read the news. The author's description fits a certain slice of American life today.

And we adults in the room, like Dos Passos 54 years ago, scratch our heads in bewilderment at the uncalled for hysteria and paranoia sweeping our country, the unrestrained emotionalism. "People must be prodded into thinking. They resist. Thinking hurts." (John Dos Passos)

We are witnessing a certain madness that our logical healthy minds cannot categorize because it is, well, madness. Attempting to rationalize what we witness against what we know to be true is futile. 

We must trust our senses here, our minds, knowledge, and lived experience.

Beyond this, what are we to do?

Observe. Educate ourselves. Fortify our families. Protect our children. Preserve and model our spiritual beliefs and standards. Communicate with each other. Vote for sanity.

Pray. First and last, pray.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." ~~ Ephesians 6:13