by Loren Logsdon

Dr. James Canada is a distinguished professor of health science at Heliotrope University. He has an international reputation and is loved and respected by almost everyone at the university for his knowledge, his compassionate demeanor, his even-handed treatment of colleagues, and his boundless energy. His wife Mary proudly proclaims that Jim is the only professor on the Heliotrope campus who has ideas the instant he awakens in the morning.

Last year Dr. Canada was chosen to give the annual Dean’s Lecture at Heliotrope, a prestigious honor named after Dr.  Elihu Hypotenuse, an early president of the university. To be chosen to deliver this annual lecture is the highest recognition a faculty member at Heliotrope can receive. The chosen one is given a golden chair for the academic year and is relieved of all committee assignments in order to be available to speak on philosophical, religious, economic, political, social, aesthetic, and scientific issues in the academic community, the larger local community, the region, the nation, and the world.

Dr. Canada’s Dean’s Lecture was entitled “The Transformations of Faustian Man: The Source of All Post-Modern Confusion, Existential Angst, and Physical Illness.”  The central idea of that lecture, in Dr. Canada’s own words, follows.

“Good evening everybody, I am grateful to be chosen to speak to you ON this occasion to honor the memory of Elihu Hypotenuse. I will dispense with formalities and cut to the chase. To begin, I need to remind you of the Faust legend, the defining story of unlimited human ambition.  Faust was a man in the Middle Ages who sold his soul to the Devil in return for the knowledge that God possessed, the secrets of life that could be used for personal power. Faust was a dynamic manifestation of god-like ambition, but perhaps an even better example is Merlin of King Arthur’s days.

“Merlin was one of those alchemists who were searching for the elixir of life, the philosopher’s stone, and the talking bronze head. The objective of the search was for knowledge, not to be shared with other humans and dispersed throughout the world, but rather to be hoarded and guarded and used to give the owner personal power. People feared Merlin because he possessed knowledge they did not have and could not get. In fact, Merlin’s power had the aura of magic about it. But it was the knowledge itself that was important because it had coherence, meaning, and power. Faustian Man was seeking knowledge of the secrets and meaning of life.

“With the Industrial Revolution, Faustian Man underwent a remarkable transformation. His ambition was not so much for knowledge as it was for wealth and political power, in other words the treasures of this world. Technology gave the Neo-Faustian Man the means to amass wealth and power. Examples are the robber barons in America in the latter part of the 19th century. These were not men of learning, but men of ruthless competitive spirit and greed, driven to amass great wealth and justified by the idea of Social Darwinism. But something important was lost: any coherent notion of meaning for life. As American poet Edwin Arlington Robinson expressed it, ‘Modern man is lost in a spiritual kindergarten, trying to spell G-O-D with the wrong blocks.’

“Currently we have the Post-Modern Faustian Man in the guise of a television advertiser whose goal is knowledge of our inner desires and fears. Like a magician of the Middle Ages, the Post-Modern Faustian Man enters our minds to discover our inner most secrets, and then sell them to us in the form of products. Again, there is no coherent meaning to life. As Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote, ‘The best lack all conviction, and the worst are filled with a passionate intensity.’ Consequently, as the rampant use of sex in advertising, especially the Cialis commercials, reveals, the goal of many humans is to swing like Howler monkeys. Ironically, Cialis is the Post-Modern version of the fountain of youth. But without reasonable limits and any coherent view of life, we find ourselves like Edward G. Robinson, who plays the gangster Rico in the movie ‘Little Caesar.’  Rico is asked what he wants, and he is at a loss to answer the question. Finally, Douglas Fairbanks tries to help him by saying, ‘It seems that all you want is more.’ Rico agrees, excitedly, saying, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want. I want more.’  Without any coherent view that gives human life meaning, all we can want is more. Thus the transformations of Faustian Man have led humanity to a dead end, wanting more but to what purpose?”

As a result of the lecture, Dr. Canada was awarded a ten million dollar federal grant to undertake a world-wide search for the philosopher’s stone, the elixir of life, the fountain of youth, the Seven Cities of Cibola, the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, and Atlantis.

Dr.  Logsdon is the much-loved English professor who has inspired students at Western Illinois University and Eureka College for many years. He lives in Eureka with his wife, Mary, and writes a weekly story for the Woodford County News Bulletin.