Food for Thought

So I noted in my profile that John Eldredge's book Wild At Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul is one of my favorites. I love this book because it validates so much of me that is human, that is real, that desires. So regardless of the theological and personal criticisms I have heard (from people I respect) regarding John Eldredge, he's certainly got it right about some things. Some would say, "A broken clock is right twice a day." Here's an excerpt from Wild At Heart to demonstrate those things I truly connected with . . .

"Why is pornography the most addictive thing in the universe for men? Certainly there's the fact that a man is visually wired, that pictures and images arouse men much more than they do women. But the deeper reason is because that seductive beauty reaches down inside and touches your desperate hunger for validation as a man you didn't even know you had, touches it like nothing else most men have ever experienced. You must understand this is deeper than legs and breasts and good sex. It is mythological. Look at the lengths men will go to find the gold-haired woman. They have fought duels over her beauty; they have fought wars. You see, every man remembers Eve. We are haunted by her. And somehow we believe that if we could find her, get her back, then we'd also recover with her our own lost masculinity."

Interesting, no? Seems there is something deeper going on in the midst of our very real attraction to the opposite sex. Bruce Marshall (1945) in The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith writes, "The young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." (p. 108) (This quote is often attributed to G.K. Chesterton, but The Chesterton Society can only trace it back to Marshall.) Nonetheless, I do indeed believe that "the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." And I suppose, so is the 30-something year old woman thumbing through the pages of a romance novel at Half Price Books. ;-D