Guest blog from Norman Moss

Dear Peter,

 Oh, no. Do not give up on the big questions. Please. That is not you. Take a break, as one takes a break from great literature by reading thrillers or from philosophical speculation by cheering a football team uncritically, or allowing oneself to be carried away by romantic songs. But do not renounce the other as a way of life.

 You are not J. Alfred Prufrock, who shrank from facing the "overwhelming question". (There are a few other lines later on that are pertinent, but somehow I cannot transfer them.)

I am no prophet—and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,

Yours,

Norman (and TSE)

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I am much cheered by this response, having — to be honest — felt quite depressed at the thought of not discussing the big questions at all. After all — for better or worse — these are topics that I constantly turn over in my mind. Moreover, it is no exaggeration — and no boast — to say that I have been reading books about philosophy, religion, and psychology for half a century. None of this has been ‘water off a duck’s back’, and if I can surprise readers with ideas and connections they have (perhaps) not thought of, then why should I not? Certainly, I have periods of loss of confidence. However, as Harry Williams has pertinently observed, confidence is not like money in the bank, where you can always reassure yourself by checking the balance. We are creatures subject to doubt, and sometimes find ourselves in the wilderness. However, Norman has made it perfectly clear to me that — in between more ephemeral subjects — I shall still be rolling you ‘towards some overwhelming question[s]’!  

Caspar David Friedrich, Moonrise over the Sea, 1822, oil on canvas
Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin