a return to the literary days

Psalm 42:11 reads: Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countanence, and my God. It appears that in this passage, the realities of disorientation and fragmentation are faced by the psalmist, made more hopeless by the use of rhetoric. However, he then transcends the situation through an answer that comes from another source altogether.

Absurdity is made clear through the tension, hilighting the darkness of the situation. In the first two questions, the self is talking to the self- which brings about the question as to who then is talking to whom. There appears to be a separation of the senses, much like the postmodern despair today. The self is fragmented, and there is no need for coherence. There is no salvation, nor hope of it. Thus, there are potentially unanswerable state(s) of being. The psalmist recognises at least two states of being with him, perhaps the strong and weaker, or the senior to the subordinate. This hirerachy is brought out through the use of rhetoric, as the psalmist exercises his right to question unidirectionally. Yet, this hirerachy offers no answer, as both states of being appear quite hopeless. The psalmist has no answers, and therefore resorts to pleading with a soundless soul, while the other self is clearly morose. Thus, we have the clueless and the disheartened, one at odds with the other, and no sign of an answer.

However, and fortuntely, both states are eventually called to one Being. To the disheartened, God be hope. To the clueless, God be the answer. The fragmented self is incapable of providing an answer, no more able than a ripped shirt to sew itself together. The answer to the self and soul's call has therefore to come from another source, one that is whole. Even then, not just whole, but a whole source that has the power to heal beyond itself.

In Christ our various selves find an Integrator, and Redeemer of fallacies. We return to a dialogue with our Creator, and begin the process of healing. No wonder then the psalmist calls God "the health of my countanence". With such an understanding, we can with the psalmist question the soul's cause to be "cast down" or "disquieted" with a stirring answer. For God is still on His throne, He offers hope, He is worthy of praise.