Practical, Therapeutic, Theological Thought

Dear Reader

by Penrod

Motto: “Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar.” Sigmund Freud

Dear Reader:

God has answered my prayer. As usual, it has not been answered as I anticipated.

God made it clear to me that neither you nor I know enough about the game to be ready for play-by-play. There is more theory to talk about. Now I know, dear Reader, that you want to quit talking and start playing, and we will, but do not think you deserve to feel sorry for yourself. Multiply by millions the moments kids have spent sitting on the side of the court or in the bleachers listening to a coach drone endlessly, postponing forever, it seems, actually playing the game. There is probably enough pent-up energy available right this moment, could it be collected, in the gyms, on the football and soccer fields, the ice arenas, the tennis courts, etc., across the nation to move the earth. The point is that the portion of this pent-up energy that you and I are experiencing is slight compared to the total. We do not suffer alone.

Your pent-up energy is real, however, and it is useful to allow yourself to be aware of it and, especially for you adult readers, to remember times as a kid that were like this for you. At such times, we are alive with energy and anticipation; our goal is singular, to get out and play. Preparation-which is really providence—and the postponement of action which preparation entails seems to take forever. Even when the coach stops talking, it may be to let you run wind sprints and to do drills for who knows how long before finally getting to play.

Of course the precise nature and meaning of this experience depends upon the sport. For example, the above generalized description applies to basketball differently than football. Rarely does a basketball player want to get out of playing. If he or she does, it is probably because of lack of energy, laziness, or fear of loss, embarrassment, injury, or the like.

Football is different. Once the season begins, practices include actually playing football less and less. Drills, windsprints, learning plays, and the like dominate practice as the season advances. Players, not exactly excited about these activities, often hope the coach will keep talking. If he or she talks long enough, you might escape wind sprints or miles of jogging or getting out on a frozen football field to hit one another. Sometimes the personal position and activity needing game analysis that we are playing in life is like that.

This reveals the general truth that the particulars about any situation or game are vital and also that the value of this generalized truth or theory, though very important, is limited. Immanuel Kant said, “Concepts [general theory] without percepts [particulars] are empty, percepts without concepts are blind.” The particular structure of a game sets the necessary limits and creates the framework through which the action must flow. A sonnet is 14 lines. A beautiful sonnet is made possible by the sonnet form. The goal lines on an American football field are 100 yards apart. Basketball is played on a court with rectangular boundaries and 10-foot-high baskets. Lacrosse as played by American Indians, as I understand it, used natural limits as the boundaries. Because its limits were so malleable and its rules of conduct almost nonexistent, it approached war. A game like capture the flag can be played in the same way with much less risk of injury.

The limit of space allotted to me in this publication forces a close to these considerations. But consider this. If you have been thinking of organizing your finances for the purpose of creating a realistic budget and have not gotten to the work of digging out the bills and the check register and punching in the numbers, you are probably in a position similar to the football player who hopes the coach will keep talking all day so that he will not have to get out on the field. The matters we are talking about, however, are matters of provision, of the provision necessary for playing our position. The coach talks about providence and, thus, about matters of the utmost practicality.

For the past two issues, Penrod has sent his stuff without either a heading or a motto. This leaves the editors in a quandary. You, too, have probably noticed that he changed the motto from “All therapy ends badly” (a statement that he attributed to Sigmund Freud) to another remark attributed to Freud: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” The change is obviously a response to the letter to him from Dennis Moon (Summer, 1994) in which Moon takes Penrod to the mat. We do not know what these changes mean. However, it is clear that Penrod reads his mail. Even though he has submitted material a second time without a heading, we have decided to continue to call it “Therapeutic Theological Thought” until further notice. Perhaps Penrod’s confidence in fulfilling the task suggested by his heading may be waning or, perhaps he is reluctant to use a quotation from Freud without knowing the actual reference. There may be other explanations as well. What do you think? Maybe Denny Moon can supply the reference for the cigar motto and put us all more at ease. Ed.