Wednesday 24 March 2010

We

I've been reading Yevgeny Zamyatin's wonderful, 'We'. The book is a fantastic otherworldly, vision of a future planet where the laws of nature, God and love have been replaced by equations and mathematical laws. The book apparently inspired George Orwell to write, 1984 and Aldous Huxley to write, Brave New World.

In it the central character, D-503, begins to rediscover what life is meant to be. Through a series of experiences his horizons are broadened and what he once took for granted becomes confusing and meaningless.

There is a section of the book where a seemingly great rebellious act has taken place against the Benefactor (the ruler of the land). D-503's world is thrown into further turmoil as he struggles to know who to identify with. At one point he writes in his journal,

"I'd long ago lost track of who was they and who was we."

D-503's dilemma speaks into questions I have about identity, about what it means to be church, about what it means to be in community. I need to spend some time dealing with this, but not yet. I need to finish reading the novel first.

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