Zombies and the Life of the Mind

My assignment is to talk with you about “the life of the mind.”  But to talk about the life of the mind, we must first talk about those whose minds are dead.  That is, we must speak of zombies.

I asked the biology department to help me describe the symptoms by which we can recognize zombies, and here they are:

1   1.      Zombies have bodies but not minds.

2   2.     Their bodies are in a location, but there is no one in the bodies.  There is no “there” there.  The lights are on, but no one is home.

3   3.     Zombies may be on a college campus, but they don’t know why they are there.  They are not there to educate their minds.

4   4.     The don’t know where they came from, and they don’t know where they are going, and that is why there are never where they are.

5   5.     They have one purpose: to consume.  They are devoted to unending, mindless consumption.  Even brains are only for consuming.

6   6.     Even when they are consuming, however, they are just going through the motions.

7   7.     Zombies all act the same.

8   8.     Zombies cannot think; they don’t even know what thinking is.

9   9.     Zombies are not self-conscious; they don’t know who they are.

1   10.  Zombies refuse to die; they willingly, though unknowingly, cannibalize their loved ones rather than face death.

You will find some zombies at North Park; perhaps your roommate is a zombie.  They are not here to discover the life of the mind.  They are here to pass the tests so that they can gain admittance to even better places for more consumption.   

Beware! You, too, could become infected!

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Now I have some good news for you.  While there is no vaccine to protect you from the zombies, North Park has a program that can give you the power to escape the zombies. We call our zombie escape program “the liberal arts.”

The word “liberal” comes from the same root as “liberty.”  The liberal arts are for those who are free, free of the need to roam the earth looking for more to consume.

The liberal arts are comprised of rigorous and disciplined fields of study – philosophy, art, history, and literature; and also mathematics, physics, languages, Biblical literature --  that will stretch and exercise your mind.  They will make your mind so tough the zombies will actually run from you. 

Specifically, the liberal arts will teach you that there is more to life than consuming and more than continuous biological function.  It will teach you that making a life is more than making a living.

Let us look briefly at three examples of what the liberal arts will require you to think about.

First, consider Socrates’ claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates’ point is that some forms of human life are less than what humans should and could be, and that these forms of life are not worthy of us.

But, of course, the examined life is painful.  And Socrates’ fellow citizens put him to death because they wanted to remain zombies, they wanted to go back to sleep, and they saw that Socrates wasn’t going to let them.

As Socrates approached his death, he came to the conclusion that death is not the ultimate evil that everyone thinks it is, and that the fear of death was just another case of thinking you know something when you don’t.  Socrates went so far as to claim that we can practice dying through philosophy.

As a second example, consider the state motto of New Hampshire:  “Live free or die.” This motto, also, claims that we ought to reject some forms of life, even if that rejection leads to our deaths.  The good form of life is the life of freedom, rather than a life of slavery.  

Our politicians appeal to “freedom” whenever and wherever they want to take the nation to war. They never explain what they mean by the term.  And it is not clear that what New Hampshire means by “live free” is the same as what Socrates means by “the examined life”.  Still, New Hampshire and Socrates should agree that unending, mindless consumption is an inadequate view of a good life.

Finally, consider the words of Jesus: 

“life does not consist in the abundance of the things you possess” (Luke 12).   

³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  (Matt. 6)

Jesus is clear:  We will not find the good life in the life of consumption. 

But he too goes further.  “To find your life, you must lose it.”  To follow Jesus, you must take up the cross and follow him to his death, and so also, to your death.

Not every life is a life seeking the kingdom of God.  Again, it is not clear that seeking the kingdom is the same thing as either “the examined life” or “live free.”  But, with Socrates and New Hampshire, Jesus claims that to find the life humans are meant to live, we must face death.

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So, the good news I have for you is this:  you are going to die.

This is good news, because death is better than being a zombie.

Death sets a limit to our consumption, and it forces us to ask what the proper ends of human life really are.  This is why the Psalmist says “Teach us LORD to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

The good news is:  Your time here is limited.  Here on this earth, and also, here on this campus.  If you go through college as if you have an infinite amount of time (and an infinite amount of money to spend on tuition), if you come to your university career as a consumer rather than a student, you will make poor choices about how to live into the limited time you do have.

To conclude:

            If you aren’t chasing the zombies, they are chasing you.

As they used to say on Hill Street Blues:  “be careful out there.”

Teach us Lord to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  (Ps 90:12.)