Yes; with joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation, says Isaiah; an affirmation of enhanced living, drawing refreshment from an unfading source. I contrast this with my continued reading in Julian Barnes' Nothing to be frightened of''. ( I'm furthering last Sunday's blog theme here). To be honest, this book has become something of a chore, given that the author, distinguished though he is, has completely dissed the idea, the reality of God; this is not a book in which I could find wisdom to help me through life, let alone face death.
If he thinks I am deluded, and pities me as a believer, then those feelings of delusion and pity are mine also for him. The book is not a source of wisdom for me, but more a series of interesting, yes, but dusty apercus; a measured, sometimes wry family memoir; witty, knowing, vignettes on how death and dying might be approached from the views of those who have committed their thoughts to paper. Two hundred and fifty pages of carefully collated, meticulously researched and stylishly-written (as far as the chunks about death and dying are concerned) junk.
The book leaves me weary; I shall finish it, but not count it as as one of the great reads of the century. I come back to the reality of a present experience, indeed a continuing experience of joy, refreshment, and hope. This has sustained me a person of faith since my teenage years, and I see no reason, can imagine no experience, why it will not continue to sustain through dying and death. Deluded I may be in the eyes of the London literati , but I continue with joy, to draw water from the inexhaustible and real wells of salvation.
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