The Contemplative Peanuts

Our oldest grandchild smiles with his entire face and he is adorable, as are our other two grandchildren! He has a roundish head which I describe as a "Charlie Brown" head, an image familiar to most of my readers, because of the generation in which the majority of us grew up.

You may be aware that Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts and the familiar cast of characters, including Charlie, had a faith which often showed up in his comic strips. Earlier in his life he taught a bible class at his church and could be described as orthodox in his Christian beliefs. A Charlie Brown Christmas from 1965 is overtly Christian at its conclusion, which was a bit controversial, even then.  As time went on that changed and eventually he held to a more universalist spirituality. There are actually books on the subject of the spirituality of Peanuts, as there are of The Simpsons. 




I came upon an article in the New Yorker by Nicole Rudick called How “Peanuts” Created a Space for Thinking: Charles Schulz’s beloved comic strip invited readers to contemplate the big picture on a small scale. 

In her essay Rudick observes "The thoughtfulness with which Schulz examines humanity does not expire and does not cease to provoke astonishment..." I had never really considered Peanuts as a portal into the contemplative life -- who expects that of a comic strip? -- but it is thoughtful and persuasive piece. This means, of course, that Schulz was a contemplative of sorts, which is certainly evident in his work. 

We live in a time of miniscule attention spans and far more emphasis on reacting rather than contemplating the world and universe in which we live. I like the notion of Charles Schulz as an unlikely mystic. I may add him to my list of contemplative favourites. 

Comments? 

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-peanuts-created-a-space-for-thinking?mbid=social_twitter&utm_social-type=owned&utm_brand=tny&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter