The Eternal Appetite of Infancy
A reflection on Chesterton, my children, and weightlifting
I haven’t posted a reflection-style letter in a little while. I was working hard to publish the symbolic analysis videos of ‘Queen of the Night’. Amidst the private messages between Gareth Boyd, Richard Rohlin, and I preparing for our video podcast, Gareth shared a quote from G.K. Chesterton.
He has shared this many times with me, but after allowing ‘Queen of the Night’ to infuse my thoughts that the quote’s brilliance unveiled in my perception.
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon.
It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
- G.K. Chesterton
When my daughter and I play “baby toss” on our sofa (a time-honored tradition passed down from my father), she insists that I do it again. After each toss she rolls from the top of the sofa to the seat and off the edge into my arms. “Do it again, daddy!” When a story captivates her attention - like our blue VHS cassette of Monsters Inc. - she wants to watch it over and over, everyday for weeks. Why would she want to watch the same thing again instead of moving on to the next new thing?
Grown-ups, especially those navigating the rapids of modernity, ferociously consume the new and the next thing. Why watch the same movie twice? The stream of content never runs dry. There’s always a new Marvel movie to watch.
The older I get the more selective I become. When I find a beautiful story, I hold it close. I steep it like fine loose leaf tea and allow it to infuse my imagination. True, the movie doesn’t change with each time I watch it. I do.
With each viewing, my perspective changes. I see more. I not only know more, I become more.
This is why I watch films like Arrival (2016) many times. It’s why I spend time to write articles and publish discussions with other thinkers. It stretches my understanding to more completely host wisdom.
It’s why I chose to spend so many hours analyzing themes, writing scripts, and editing videos for the ‘Queen of the Night’ - see my YouTube playlist. Yes, I wanted to support my friend’s masterful work. But I recognized a thread of beauty that was worth tracing, one pass at time.
It’s in developing this “eternal appetite of infancy” that we join our Father in saying “do it again!”
Reps & Iterations
Speaking of repetition, I started weight lifting in the gym this week. The practice of doing hard things diligently has a spill-over effect. I am more easily inclined to do other things I thought were burdensome. I “built”(more like assembled, Mr. Ikea carpenter) a bed frame for my daughter, a little red wagon, and a rocking chair - all of which had been in their boxes for months. I went for my first bicycle ride in over 8 months, which is pretty crazy if you know my story - see my convo with Jonathan Ott. I have a “disposition towards action” as Paul VanderKlay says. I challenged myself to “think in scenes” rather than taking the easy path and jotting ideas down. I wrote out several scenes in the fantasy Zombie book series.
Back to the point, it’s amazing how we voluntarily do the same exercises thousands of times. And each time we say, “Yes! do it again!” Why? Because an athlete knows that each monotonous rep makes them stronger. We transform by ritual.
Malcolm Gladwell introduced the 10,000 hour theory, in which mastery of any craft or profession was a matter of accomplishing 10,000 hours of work towards that end. Naval Ravikant challenges that theory. Mastery is a matter of completing 10,000 iterations. You do it again and again. My music producer mentor in Portland called this “rinse and repeat.” You do it. You start it over again with a little more knowledge and experience and perspective. You perform, assess, get feedback, and make the next version incrementally better than the last one.
Random Q: what is your favorite VHS of all time? Do you still watch it, or do you stream it on your laptop because you donated it years ago to a thrift store?
All for now. Until the next one,
Derek
P.S. I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to be addressed like G.K. Chesterton or C.S. Lewis. Does D.J. Fiedler have a nice ring to it? Or did that trend pass by the station long ago?
P.S. I did change the name of this substack to Fiedler on the Roof. Trying it out. I may change it later on if a more fitting title avails itself.
