For many, and indeed a rising attitude of mind, Good Friday signifies just another holiday, a welcome extended weekend before the onset of summer, good in the sense that it enables more time spent in the bosom of the family and perhaps some relief from the daily commute to work. For others, it is just another hum-drum day that has lost all meaning and significance, making them wonder why this particullar Friday is called 'Good'.
Given the prevailing zeitgeist, I am reminded of TS Eliot’s words in East Coker (1943) written and published during the darkest days of World War II:
The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
And quake in frigid purgatorial fires
Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.
The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood –
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.
Eliot started writing East Coker in 1939, with a focus on life, death, and continuity between the two. In the poem humans are viewed as disorderly, with science seemingly unable to save mankind from its flaws. Rather than harmonious coexistence, science and reason are seen as leading humankind into warfare, therefore humanity must choose to become humble to escape the cycle of destruction.
This scenario resonates as strongly in 2017 as it did between 1939 and 1943. While atheists and agnostics abound in 21st Century society, Eliot was himself religious but eclectically so. In terms of describing his understanding of the divine within his poems (East Coker is one of four works published collectively as the Four Quartets), Eliot blends his Anglo-Catholicism with mystical, philosophical and poetic works originating from both Eastern and Western religious and cultural traditions.
Although primarily, Eliot is saying that to be saved, people must recognise Christ as their savior, as well as acknowledging their need for redemption.
In essence, the need to resort to faith in a higher power is stronger than ever, an omnipresent pillar of strength in the desperate escape from advancing chaos. Above all enabling universal mind to collaboratively learn the true lessons of bloody history and restore moral order before it is too late, as humankind teeters (from Old Norse titra 'shake, shiver’) once again on the lip of the abyss.
The Crucifixion ... an icon from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai
