Essays in Idleness

In fact one needs the love of God, and fortunately one has the love of God, through all of the attempts we make to lose it. I do not know about Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell, except what the Church has told me, and in some locations is telling me still. Not being resident in any of these places, in my biological form, I cannot provide the kind of “on the ground” report that I can from this place, which I will continue today.

Human neediness is traditionally the province of girls. Boys are as likely to share it, but it was traditionally the male “rôle” to conceal neediness, in conceits of masculinity. The girl who doesn’t need, at least the protection of boys, has abandoned the conceit of femininity; whereas, the boy who is needy is a real wuss. This is however a general observation, which subtleties might amend.

Need for what? — the general reader might ask. In our girlishly sensitive modern language, we tend to assume some psychic, emotional need, as opposed to the practical need for food, clothing, shelter. We begin, for instance, with companionship, which we call “love” and reconstitute as a right (to be easily withdrawn). People have a right to entrap each other in a quasi-marriage, for instance; and the right to casually negate this artificial bond; it is what happens when marriage is based on “neediness” instead of the needs of children. (They have real needs, the adults have needs that are mostly fake.)

What children and adults have in common is the need to be lied to. Young children of both sexes, more than any other generational cohort, have the ability to see through lies, and to distinguish fantasies and fallacies from reality. As we grow older, we lose more and more of this natural gift.

This is especially a problem in politics. By voting age, the majority of people have developed an acute need to be lied to. This is why governments, media, businesses, &c, have developed the habit of lying. Their best argument is the classic one for laissez-faire: they are just giving the public exactly what it is asking for.