One final bunch of observations on Come Back, Little Sheba:
The violent climax of the film (which I won’t spoil for anyone who might want to see it) is a perfect example of “something bad” which happens to Lola, thereby snapping her out of a stupor. If it hadn’t happened, perhaps she would never have been able to stop grieving for the lost souls in her life or to begin taking care of the souls that were still hers to tend: her own and that of her husband.
Instinctively, she knows what to do. She doesn’t drag her husband off to couple’s counseling or fling herself full-scale into excessive religiosity. She doesn’t decide to take up scuba diving or rush headlong into the next big thing. She starts small. She spruces up the kitchen, she puts on a fresh dress. She prepares something to eat. It isn’t about whether her role in life is fair or if she’s grabbing her share of the pie in the world. It isn’t about feminism. It isn't about sex, body, or gender at all. It’s all about soul.
Back in 1992, I picked up Thomas Moore’s Book Care of the Soul. I read it and appreciated it, making lots of notes in the margin. Then I had a baby in 1999 and realized I hadn’t looked at the book since. Come Back, Little Sheba prompted me to pull it off the bookshelf again this morning. I found these points pertinent.
· Care of the soul begins with observance of how the soul manifests itself and how it operates.
· Tending the things around us and becoming sensitive to the importance of home, daily schedule, and maybe even the clothes we wear, are ways of caring for the soul.
· Care of the soul is not primarily a method of problem solving. Its goal is not to make life problem-free, but to give ordinary life the depth and value that comes with soulfulness. In a way it is much more of a challenge than psychotherapy because it has to do with cultivating a richly expressive meaningful life at home and in society.
And the kicker:
· It requires imagination from each of us.
It wouldn’t seem to take much imagination to clean a house or fry up an egg, would it? But I think to do so day-in and day-out, imagination helps enormously, whether it’s a case of plugging the work “into the bigger picture” as Miki once said or feeling solidarity with past humans or losing oneself in the deliciousness of history, tradition, or foreign lands--this sort of thing lends itself especially to cooking, but I’m only beginning to see how it enters into cleaning as well.
Now sometimes I just want to get the job done, as quickly and as efficiently as possible, there's no doubt about it, but when there's no rush and I'm borne along by my own thoughts, how much happier I am.
Conclusion: I have a child and have finally figured out that education and imagination, or more importantly, the educated imagination (coupled with certain ideals) is probably his surest path to worldy happiness. Instinctively, I'm sure I knew this, but how valuable it seems to get my thoughts, based on my own experiences, sorted out on the matter.
As for things that will deaden his imagination, I'm on heightened alert.
1:08:32 PM 
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