Christo-Pythonism

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 17 September 2007 22:10:40

My true religion.

It was said by Chesterton that 'When a man stops believing in God, he doesn't believe in nothing. He believes in anything.' And so it was for me. Around the same time that I decided God didn't exist (aged approximately 11), I was introduced to Monty Python. It was love at first sight. I spent many years drinking draughts of this elixir from a variety of means; and gradually I began to worship. I was a follower, skilled in the liturgical responses demanded of Pythonists - an ability to produce an apt Python quote to every situation and every conversation.

And as with much religion, what starts off as a induction into its external forms gradually takes deeper root in the psyche. I progressed to the level of understanding where I saw the world in a Pythonesque way. The revelation dawns that you can scratch the surface of anything and see its absurdities, which are innately funny. Or you can look at something from a totally different angle, and again find the humour. Therefore every conversation, every interaction, every Thing, is full of comic possibilities. Nothing should ever be taken completely seriously.

But then... a seismic shift occurs in my story. Christ comes in, and a pure light shines. I am encouraged to take every thought and make it captive to him; I am encouraged to put off the Old Man (which had ceased to be). And in my fundamentalism of the time, that even meant putting off the 'It's..' Man, the Gumby Men and the housewives who were really men. It was personality suppression in the name of sanctification.

As the years have gone by, I have realised though that both religions have combined in me. In the same sort of way in which paganism and Christianity combined to produce Christmas.

For all that I probably bore others with my incessant quotes, I'm ok with that. I must admit, I rather like it. I get to see the world through Christ's eyes: a world of great beauty and infinite possibilities - in rebellion and decay yet being redeemed. And I see it through Python's eyes: a world of beauty, stupidity and infinite comic possibilities. These religions are complimentary, not contradictory.

Blessed are the Cheesemakers. Amen.