From Medieval Thieves to Modern Minds: What Medieval Satire Reveals About Our Spiritual Blindness
If something is enchanted, everything is.
In most Soviet movies that make fun of God and religion, there’s a somewhat silly character (usually a criminal or a priest) who invokes the name of God before committing a crime. They might make the sign of the cross, say a quick prayer, or kiss the cross around their neck. And then off they go to rob someone. The ironic effect is striking.
There’s a French medieval song called “Quant voi la florete” (The Song of Thieves) in which a bunch of thieves discuss their plan to kidnap a nun from a convent. Ironically, by the middle of the song, they call upon God to help them carry out the scheme.
The song is meant to be a satire — what can be more silly than to invoke God’s name before committing a crime? Hardly anything. And yet… some scholars suggest that the point of the medieval song is actually different. The idea is that as we laugh at the silly thieves who invoke God too much, we might recognize ourselves who invoke God too little.
If the medieval mind is often too supernatural, the modern mind is often too mechanistic. They believed nothing happened by itself; we believe everything happens by itself. They believed God was behind everything; we believe God is behind nothing (well, almost, except in church).
They saw the vertical dimension everywhere; we see the horizontal dimension everywhere. For us, all processes are natural; for them, all processes were supernatural. For us, getting up in the morning is a matter of the pituitary gland spurting cortisol into our bloodstream. For them, getting up in the morning was like resurrection from the dead.
The silliness of the medieval mind may seem less silly when contrasted with the silliness of the modern mind that divides everything into the sacred and secular. If some areas of life are purely horizontal, mechanistic, and non-spiritual, then everything is. If we allow some things to be devoid of spirituality, eventually everything will become so. But this division exists only in our minds.
Dallas Willard said,
“There is no division of spiritual and secular except in our minds. We should not think of ourselves as human beings seeking a spiritual experience but as spiritual beings experiencing what it means to be human.”
G.K. Chesterton said,
“If God is anywhere, he is everywhere.”
If we exclude God from something, we exclude him from everything. As foolish as medieval thieves might seem, they at least had someone to thank for waking them up in the morning. We have no one, except the pituitary gland. Why? Because we believe that everything happens by itself, naturally.
By losing the ability to see God in everything we lose the ability to see him in anything. The zone of the non-sacred grows and becomes too wide. Wonder goes. Awe goes. Connection goes. We are disillusioned, disenchanted, and disconnected.
C.S. Lewis said:
“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.”
Everything is sacred, enchanted, and connected. The division exists only in the mind. If something is enchanted, everything is. If we can encounter God in one square inch of the universe, everything else will become spiritual in an instant. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, we will recognize the sheer beauty of waking up, and the sound of the boiling tea-pot will be music to our ears.
Our society is just as silly as theirs - it's like looking at a reverse mirror image. I think we are beginning to see beyond the rational - I think people are starting to see that there are things science cannot explain and seek their answers elsewhere.
It was funny, about the pituatiary gland))
I do believe though waking up is a miracle-I've quite a medieval mind, in this sense.
They say that sleep is one seventieth part of death, and maybe it is so, even though I don't know how they put together the numbers-but I'm bad at math, all numbers are miracle to me too, just an exhausting one.
Thank you for the post!