| James Vincent McMorrow – We Don't Eat Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I think that this song is from the perspective of somebody that had a Christian upbringing, but fell away as he got older. As he began to become less naive to the suffering and troubles of the world, he started to question the plausibility of religion. Yet despite this, he is drawn back. "If this is redemption, why do I bother at all There's nothing to mention, and nothing has changed Still I'd rather be working at something, than praying for the rain So I wander on, till someone else is saved" He feels as though worship is empty, without meaning. He has nothing to 'mention' to God in prayer and sees no result from his attempts at it. He'd rather try to make his way in life by his own effort (wander on), and won't trust in God unless he sees some grand miracle or effect in some other religious person (someone else is saved). "I moved to the coast, under a mountain Swam in the ocean, slept on my own At dawn I would watch the sun cut ribbons through the bay I'd remember all the things my mother wrote" He isolates himself by going out to nature in order to clear his head and think, without all of modern life's distractions. The religious upbringing from his mother starts to come back to him as he is struck by the beauty of nature. Hans urs Van Balthasar comes to mind here (a theologian). He wrote about how man can come to God through Beauty first, and then to the True and the Good hopefully (these are the three transcendentals of being). "That we don't eat until your father's at the table We don't drink until the devil's turned to dust Never once has any man I've met been able to love So if I were you, I'd have a little trust" The chorus has beautiful imagery. Eating is one of the most basic ways people sustain themselves. But even this is not possible without our God ("father at the table"). In traditional monotheism, God is the first cause in an essentially ordered series - that is, the entire universe is sustained by him here and now. Drinking, particularly alcohol, is a symbol of celebration, of joy and pleasure. Until one has "turned the devil to dust" - has overcome their temptations and sins, and placed their life with God - they cannot be joyful. Finally, no human is capable of pure love, as love is of the divine. A love that seeks only the good of other cannot be achieved by humans, whose intentions are always mixed with some self-interest. Yet, we see in our lives moments of love, however broken, that point us towards a pure love. Despite all of the ills of the world that make religion so difficult to come to, he is finding there is no other satisfying explanation for the strands beauty and love in the world. So he has trust, despite the things that don't make sense - in a way, he throws up his hands, unable to understand God's inscrutable will, but unable to abandon God. "Two thousand years, I've been in that water Two thousand years, sunk like a stone Desperately reaching for nets That the fishermen have thrown Trying to find, a little bit of hope" Strong biblical allusions here. In the Gospel (Matt 14:25-33), Jesus walks on the water and calls to Peter and the disciples who are on a boat. Peter initially is able to walk on water towards Jesus, until he sees the wind and becomes afraid, starting to sink before Jesus catches him. The narrator feels as though in his own spiritual life he sank into the water, but was not rescued, falling to the very bottom. "Am I an honest man and true Have I been good to you at all Oh I'm so tired of playing these games We'd just be running down The same old lines, the same old stories of Breathless trains and, worn down glories Houses burning, worlds that turn on their own" He wonders here why he has not been 'pulled up from the water' by Christ, so to say, questioning why he is is unhappy or why the circumstances of his life have come about. Has he been a bad person? Has he offended God somehow? He can't reconcile his troubles, and others' suffering as well, with a God who is supposed to be all-powerful and loving. The final chorus repeats the main message: We don't really have another option but to trust in God despite our inability to understand. To expand from the song a bit; we are led to God in many ways: metaphysical arguments, beauty and love in the world, existential considerations. When something devastating happens (a school shooting, a loved one dying of cancer, prolonged depression) these can seem like little support. We question God, and finding his response absent or inadequate, may leave behind religion as merely wishful thinking, something we can no longer believe now that our eyes have been opened to tragedy. Yet, the best we can do as humans is to continue to trust in God, for He is the very ground of our being. |
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