Between Something and Nothing

"Be transformed by the renewal of your mind." -- Romans 12:2

There surely is an intersection in the cosmic world entitled Something and Nothing streets. It would surely be the road to explaining the objective use of others in a "screwtape" sort of way. But in the "everydayness" of our lives we often find that a utilitarian attitude is most often what we are rewarded for: what we produce matters more than what we use. And in rewarding our production, the beneficiaries simultaneously acknowledge their use. They use our minds, our bodies and our labor to produce what is benefit to them. If if does not serve any other good, so be it.

As author C.S. Lewis wrote, some will subvert others to the thing of their choosing. The novel, The Screwtape Letters centers around a soul snatching demon and his apprentice. What the author intends is to unmask the soul snatching techniques of the Demon and the ways in which he retains those persons for his own use.
Many times we read Lewis' words and we laugh in recognition. It seems a lot of us love 'our favorite sins' and the devil we know just may seem better than the ones we've not met. As for Lewis, what becomes clear from a study of his writings is that he held a conception of the sanctity of personal liberty. Writing about the values of freedom, he stands then as something of a Libertarian.

In western philosophy there is a distinction between positive and negative freedoms. Notions of freedom held by most of the classical liberals (early modern thinkers) are typically thought of by modern political scientists as negative due to the view that freedom was defined as the absence of coercion by individuals against one another.
John Locke (1632-1704) as one example, in his Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690) argued that liberty means to be "free from restraint and violence from others" and "not subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man."

 Adam Smith (1723-1790) writer of the The Wealth of Nations (1776) recorded, "All systems either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus taken way, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord."
For those who viewed freedom as a sort of contract, such as Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and John Locke, freedom is a natural right--all men are created free--deistic beliefs, with intrinsic value.
Both strands of classical liberalism define liberty in absence of the power of persons to benefit from their freedom.

For example naturalists such as John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) and Adam Smith, the arguments for freedom were teleological and usually agnostic, so freedom is valued as merely instrumental.
And now we return to the modern view of the utilitarian attitude, one who sees others for what they derive from them in a consumeristic mind set. This is the more modern of views.

"Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful, pure—
Such marks in pleasures and in pains endure.
Such pleasures seek if private be thy end:
If it be public, wide let them extend
Such pains avoid, whichever be thy view:
If pains must come, let them extend to few."
--Jeremy Bentham

Sukkot, The Festival of Booths

"The etrog is the original fruit in the garden of Eden."  Why Hebrew Goes Right to Left --by Ronald Isaacs

In his interesting and useful book about all things Jewish, author Ronald Issaacs notes that it was the etrog, a citrus fruit, not an apple that was the fruit eaten in the garden of Eden. At one time in history it was customary during the Sukkot festival for women to bite off the top of this fruit and spit it out, thereby symbolizing their resistance of the Evil one. This year the festival commences at sundown on September 30.

While many are familiar with the Jewish YomKippur and the occasion of Rosh Ha-Shonah, beyond Jewish circles, it is the joyful and less known Festival of Booths, Sukkot, that occupies this article today. The Sukkot is an ancient harvest festival celebrated annually at a time determined by the full moon in the Hebrew month of Tishri. A sukkah booth or tabernacle is built in a characteristic three sided form and traditionally occupied in a celebratory fashion by adherents. The structure is often made with local materials, easily available. Here in the United States, corn stalks are a favored material. In other areas tree branches or palms are equally favored. The festival dictates that one spend considerable amount of time in their booth, eating, socializing, napping, singing or other activities. However at the most basic, constructing and eating meals within the sukkah satisfies the ancient tradition.

Its spiritual significance is related to the Biblical story of the 40 years of wandering in exile in the desert; the structure like their faith sheltered the people through many years of uncertainty. Each home may construct a Sukkot; often communities will construct a larger shelter for a festival celebration. It is traditional to refrain from any labor on certain days of the eight day festival and to enjoy sweets such as fruits. When eating a traditional meal in the sukkah, a prayer is recited which perhaps speaks to the heart of the observance:
Blessed are you, G-d our Creator of time and space, who enriches our lives in holiness, who commands us to dwell in the sukkah.

Explore one tradition of rejoicing in the harvest season with a sukkah. For those in the southern hemisphere, the festival occurs at the earliest of spring time. Still it remains an agricultural festival to be appreciated.