A Kurt Vonnegut Midrash
In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.
And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man.
Mud-as-man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud-as-man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.
"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
"Certainly," said man.
"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.
And He went away.
posted by DYM @ 10:05 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Nah, I think Vonnegut could've made a great chassid!
well it's a bit of a stretch granted. :)
but to me it's the emphasis on how each individual is unique, and has intrinsic
worth no matter how depraved, lowly, or
uninteresting he may seem (esp. in "Good
Morning Mr. Rosewater).
there are also very strong themes of
selflessness in his books, and even this
midrash i think would make a great
chassidic story -- with the moral being
that perhaps man ought to not let
deep contemplations of the higher realms distract him from focusing on improving his own self and his relationships with others.
of course, Vonnegut did say that he was
going to sue the tobacco companies for false advertising -- he says he's been
trying to kill himself by smoking for decades, but he remains alive. i'm not sure if that's really a proper thing for a chassid to say :)
"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
"Certainly," said man."
"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God."
I think, being One, He got lonely.
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