FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - God’s Imaginarium

Rant Number 371 11 November 2009

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus is the imaginative title of director Terry Gilliam’s latest, gloriously zany movie. Parnassus is a thespian magician a bit like Shakespeare’s Prospero. His wacky travelling theatre invites you to pass through a mirror – the Imaginarium - and enter the world of your dreams. Well, almost. And it depends...

Some horny middle-aged ladies are lured into Parnassus’ fairy tale world. Once inside, the first is rowed away by a gondolier. She comes back later in an ecstasy which tells it all. Other excited women rush in. They too emerge back rapturously contented. Gigolos galore waited for them in the Imaginarium, obviously.

A would-be rapist follows Parnassus’ pretty teenage daughter into the imaginarium. Stunning landscape, a sort of kitschy arcadia in fairy-tale, sickly colours. But the object of his lust eludes the beast. At last he sights an alluring motel. His tongue hanging out, he runs in. Boom! He is blown up. Serves him right! It seems Dr Parnassus’ theatre obeys a kind of moral sense, after all.

Terry Gilliam is a genius. But his hugely enjoyable plots are also esoterically dense and very convoluted. (I still wonder what the stupendous Brazil is about.) We learn of Parnassus’ dark side. Way back, he made a deal with the Devil. Parnassus got the coveted girl his Imaginarium could not yield, but at the cost of promising Old Nick his future, beautiful daughter, Valentia. And the Devil is powerful. He can frustrate the Doctor, manipulating events inside the mirror – the bastard!

I guess what drew viewers to the film was actor Heath Ledger. His last movie, literally, because he died during the shooting. RJP. But Ledger does not interest the priest. Rather the Imaginarium does.

The ideal world. That is, your world. The alternative reality you occasionally fantasise about. Children do it all the time. Adults aren’t supposed to but...ever heard of the inner child? Admittedly, a rather intellectual child...

An atheist’s Imaginarium. Say Dawkins’. There will be no God there, of course, just like, for him, there is none in this world. Above all, there won’t be this strange mania, this sickness, this delusion called religion. So, no temples, no churches, no mosques, no synagogues, no priests, rabbis, monks, imams, none of those votaries of unreason. Evolution, science are what people believe in. Rationality, cool, mathematical reason. Two plus two makes four. What else? So Dawkins rejoices. At long last, he has got rid of them. What a relief...wazzat? A call from the ministry? The government wants scientists to teach phlogiston science. Or Dr Lysenko’s Lamarckian genetics. Like under Stalin’s Soviet Russia. Or, say, Ron L. Hubbard’s dianetics. Dawkins is indignant. How dare they? But the cops pick him up. He has gone.

You see, in the atheist’s Imaginarium religion is no more. But it doesn’t follow evil is at an end. Communism too was anti-religion. Of course, communism has vanished but another, subtler, more insidious system of unreason could be round the corner – maybe it is here already. The point is that an ‘ideal world’ may not be all that ideal, after all.

The philosophical theist’s imaginarium. Say a world in which there is a knock-down rational proof that really convinces people that God exists. Like the hoary ontological argument. A theologian’s Eldorado. You follow the proof’s steps and the conclusion strictly, logically follows, ergo, there is a God. Jones, formerly a sceptic, listens and agrees: ‘Yes. I see now. You are right. God exists. Fine. Now let us go and have a drink.’ The believer is perplexed. Nothing seems to have changed in Jones. He does not make for the nearest church spire. What’s wrong? He is logically convinced, yes, he simply lacks that special, wonderful thing, faith. Too bad.

For Muslims, here is a reality in which Islam has triumphed worldwide. Allahu Akbar! Everyone has converted, apart from a few, obstinate dhimmis. And the Jews have cleared out of Palestine. Great. Huh! What’s that noise? Shias and Sunnis slaughtering each other? Blowing up each other’s mosques? Rulers like Sultan Hakim, Saddam, Mubarak – all Muslims – are still causing havoc. And there are plenty of nationalisms, too. Turks fight Arabs. Arabs fight Turks. Persians clash with both. And so on. It is a Muslim world OK but strife goes on. Innocent blood is shed, groan...

The evangelical Christian’s Imaginarium. Muslims worldwide have embraced Christianity. Believe in Jesus, God’s only Son. Flock to churches in millions to be baptised. Praise the Lord! A miracle! Yes, real good. But, wait a minute. The clergy tremble. Millions of fervent, devout and prayerful worshippers are pouring into their churches. Anglican vicars go pale. Quiet life, adieu. No more wishy-washy sermons about ‘caring and sharing’ before scattered, drowsy congregations. Tea with old ladies. PCC meetings discussing the lead on the roof. The keen new Christians demand total commitment. Changing society. Making Christianity impact on politics. Banning abortion, drugs, immorality...ye Gods! Bishops are terrified. This is too much religion. Fundamentalism has won. They’ll be out of a job soon. Why, o why, o Lord, did you make Muslims into Christians?

The racist’s imaginarium. All Africans, Asians and dark-skinned persons – why stop at that? Even East Europeans - are deported from Britain. The BNP has won the elections. Britain now almost looks like what it was 50 years ago. Perfect. So the racist chap goes out to work. The tube station is shut. Tube can’t run without immigrants. No coffee shops and restaurants either. Building sites are deserted. Service stations are closed. Roads are unswept. Rubbish is not collected Professionals are short too. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, nurses, hospitals...and so on. You get the picture, I think.

I don’t evoke the imaginariums of people like Gary Glitter, sadists and rip-off city bankers because it would be unsavoury. The question is: is there a right reality?

Long ago, a great mind called Leibniz wrote about this world being the best of all possible worlds. It has got to be, despite appearances, because it is God’s world. And God, the supernal Goodness, the All-Benevolent, the Omnipotent, brings about only the best. Scumbags like Voltaire mocked Leibniz in Candide but intellectually the German could have eaten the Frenchman for breakfast. Leibniz’s arguments are tough, rational and unsentimental. Less brilliant minds will always carp at them. However, they appear to me rather admirable.

Conclusion: God’s imaginarium is the true one.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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