Thinking About House of the Spirits
I haven't finished it yet, and I know that it is old news, but Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits evokes thought similar to those of all works of magic realism. I'm not sure House of the Spirits qualifies for the genre in the classic sense; however, it certainly partakes of the atmosphere that lends Latin American Fiction a perfervid clarity and brilliance lacking in nearly all other fictions of the time. There are exceptions, but they are few.
It strikes me that there would be a certain physical satisfaction living in such a metaphysical reality. The scales of karma would be immediately visible and you could watch as they tip. You would see the realities of spiritual laws clearly delineated in the physical world. Many people do not believe in spiritual laws, but I am certain beyond possibility of conviction that they are real and operative here and now. Enlightened self-interest suggests that "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is the only viable way to live a life. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," is an absolute immutable reality and we experience its truthfulness in our recidivism as we head to confession. How often do we find ourselves confessing exactly the same sins that we committed the previous week? That recidivism is a sign in concrete reality of what happens in the spiritual world when we hold on to our grudges and hatred, we drag about a huge stone that serves only to roll down and crush us at intervals. Believe it or not, that too is God's mercy, a continual reminder of what we must confess and lay before God before it is too late, and a constant reminder that we are forgiven in the measure that we forgive.
