The Crossing--How to Know the World

"He told the boy that although he was huérfano still he must cease his wanderings and make for himself some place in the world because to wander in this way would become for him a passion and by this passion he would become estranged from men and so ultimately from himself. He said that the world could only be known as it existed in men's hearts. For while it seemed a place which contained men it was in reality a place contained within them and therefore to know it one must look there and come to know those hearts and to to do this one must live with men and not simply pass among them. He said that while the huérfano might feel that he no longer belonged among men he must set this feeling aside for he contained within him a largeness of spirit which men could see and that men would wish to know him and that the world would need him even as he needed the world for they were one."
--from Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing

This is by far one of the most beautiful passages of literature I have ever read.

The beauty is possessed in the writer's understanding of how the world really works. His words completely changed the way I looked at the world. There are three basic gospel truths to be found in this passage.

First, it is so easy to view the world as a giant sphere, or space, or crowd, and each of us merely one tiny individual--one speck among countless others. What significance could the life of one tiny little speck possibly have? And in viewing the world in this manner, it is easy to become discouraged, to feel worthless, to feel that we don't matter, that we don't make a difference. These feelings may lead us eventually to become reclusive, to separate ourselves from the world, to "feel that [we] no longer [belong] among men".

But we must "set this feeling aside" because the world is not a place that contains men. The world is "a place contained within them". Within their hearts.

You see, the world for me is a vastly different place than it is for you. Though we may have grown up in the same city, attended the same schools, shared similar experiences, still your world varies from mine.

Second, this passage teaches how we can come to know the world, and thus gain part of God's knowledge. That is done simply by coming to know the hearts of those around us. The only one who can truly know the hearts of all men, and therefore the world in its entirety, is the Savior Jesus Christ. But we can seek to know the world around us by coming to know the hearts of those around us. To do this we "must live with men, and not simply pass among them." In other words, we cannot be content to simply go through the motions of everyday life, we must extend our reach to those around us, and know them. We must know their joys, their pains, their successes, their failures. In so doing, we not only come to know the world around us, we become more like the Savior, we know what He knows, and thus we come to know Him.

The third beautiful truth taught in this passage is our divine heritage. The old man tells the boy that he "[contains] within him a largeness of spirit which men could see". Each of us has this same largeness of spirit. We are spirit children of God, and as such we possess the potential to become like him. We are more than just specks on a little globe wandering around trying not to get crushed by life. We are beings of immense possibilities and capabilities. Our largeness of spirit is evidenced in our lives everyday, we just need to look for it.

As we grow closer to our Heavenly Father, and our largeness of spirit increases, men will "wish to know" us, and the world will come to need us, and we will need the world, for we will be one. Christ is one with the world, he knows every individual's heart. We become more at one with Christ as we gain a knowledge of the "personal world" contained within the hearts of the people around us.