INTO
THE VOID
The
Crown – Moondust S3 Ep7
In an episode of The Crown from season three entitled “Moondust”, Prince Philip was facing something of a crisis of faith or at least an internal struggle as he searched for meaning and purpose. This he believed was accomplished through great acts. The antecedent of this search may be a result of the passing of Prince Philips’s mother portrayed in episode six, and who had admonished Philip to “find your faith”. He found himself affixed and inspired by news coverage of the Apollo moon landing in July of 1969. "Great accomplishments such as these give a man a sense of purpose, and to life, meaning, not the simple navel gazing of Philosophers and Theologians" which he feels accomplishes nothing of any great value.
Prince Philip had felt that attending church
every Sunday had become "tedious and a waste of time," at which point he determined to "spend that hour being more productive." The
Queen undertook to search for a new minister. The new minister paid a visit to Prince Philip with a request to utilize
one of the vacant buildings at Windsor Castle as an academy for spiritual growth. In general, the new minister stated that, “you
get to a certain age when you hit a ceiling, a crisis, you lose perspective,
the same is true of clergymen”. So, the
academy would be for clergymen to recharge, reflect, “to improve their
game”. Prince Philip inquired as to how
exactly this would be accomplished. The
new minister replied, “talking, thinking”.
Whereupon Prince Philip stated that his whole approach was flawed,
arguing “You don’t raise your game by talking or thinking, you raise your game
through action”. At which point the
prince references the accomplishments of the men of the Apollo moon landing.
Nevertheless, at the request of the new
minister, Prince Philip reluctantly accepted his invitation to speak to the
group of clergymen who had gathered. His
comments to them were less than flattering. He accused them of being "pretentious, full of
self-pity," essentially "catatonic," arguing that “action is what defines us” and
to "get out there and do something." Again,
he uses the astronauts of the Apollo moon landing as an example. They were out there doing something, not "sitting around like a bunch of naval gazing, under achievers infecting one
another with gaseous doom."
For the momentous accomplishment, the astronauts
of the Apollo moon landing, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and “Buzz” Aldrin,
were invited by the Queen of England, to visit Buckingham Palace. Prince Philip requested a private audience
with the astronauts in hopes of learning what insights, if any, the three men may
have discovered on their voyage and what walking on the moon was actually like,
nothing of any significance was realized as the result of the venture. Surely there must have been something after
so great an accomplishment, but there was nothing. No deep insights, no profound contemplation
of the universe and our place in it, nothing.
Dejected, Prince Philip returned to speak
with the clergymen and confessed that the astronauts with whom he spoke found
no sense of fulfillment in what they had achieved. He confessed to them that he was in something
of a crisis, admitting that during such times people will resort to different
things to deal with that crisis. At
which point he mentioned his mother’s passing stating that, “she saw that
something was amiss” in him – that something was missing, “faith”. He admitted to them that he had lost it. Some, writing on this same episode, have
argued that Prince Philip was going through a mid-life crisis. I believe there was something more going on,
and Prince Philip said as much, it was a crisis of faith. Regarding faith he stated simply, “without
it, what is there?”. He goes on, “the
answer is not in science or achievement, it’s wherever faith resides, the head
or the heart”. He had come to those
clergymen that time with respect and admiration and “in desperation to ask for
help, help me”.
Blaise Pascal has made reference to “a
God-shaped vacuum” or void, which exists in each of us. Into which we are prone to pour whatever we
can find to fill it and satisfy our restlessness, as Prince Philip himself
observed. Augustine of Hippo has stated,
“Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find
rest in Thee”.[i]
It comes to all people sooner or later, the
larger questions of life and its meaning, and what happens when this life is
over. These questions are asked by
princes and paupers alike. In that
respect, the Duke of Edinburgh was not alone.
In
memory of His Royal Highness Prince Philip 1921 – 2021.
[i] Augustine
of Hippo, “The Confessions of St. Augustin,” in The Confessions and Letters of
St. Augustin with a Sketch of His Life and Work, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. J.
G. Pilkington, vol. 1, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
of the Christian Church, First Series (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature
Company, 1886), 45.
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