My electric blanket is not enough

If you ever saw the movie “My Dinner with Andre,” it’s about
two characters who have dinner together.
That’s all that happens in the whole movie. But I loved it. Ebert said it was his favorite movie of the
year.

The Andre character has all kinds of incredible
adventures. He goes to Poland and participates in an
improvisational theatre that takes place in the woods and goes all night
long. He speculates on wild fantasies
and tells stories about his exotic travels.

His dinner partner, played by Wallace Shawn (you may remember him as Vizzini in
Princess Bride), is someone we
could call more “normal.” He likes for
things to be comfortable and predictable.
He says,* “I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than going to sleep on
a cold night with my warm electric blanket.
And to put a cup of coffee out the night before and to know that no
cockroach has crawled into the cup. I
mean, I just can’t think of anything that would be more perfect.”

These guys represent two aspects of our character playing
tug-of-war for our dreams and our time.
Jesus was fascinating like Andre was.
He didn’t have a pillow to call his own.
He wandered about having adventures.
A crowd followed wondering, “What will he do next?”

He continually tweaked the oh-too-serious religious
establishment. His verbal swordplay was
edgy, like a Hebrew Cyrano de Bergerac.

Jesus was a born raconteur like Andre. His stories were provocative, often
unsettling. If he were to walk among us,
we’d be left to wonder what his point was exactly, scratching our heads at its
practicality if we did get the point.

Like Wallace Shawn’s character, having listened to Jesus
spinning tales about this fabulous kingdom
of God, a majority of us
would probably say, “You know, I just don’t get you. Life is hard enough as it is and you’re
asking me to leave my Starbucks and my electric blanket behind.”

And Jesus would say, “Suit yourself; there’s a mortuary
around the corner where they bury dead people.
Go buy your own spot there on layaway.”

*Paraphrase of about five minutes of conversation: Actual dialgue from movie:

Andre:
Remember that moment when Marlon Brando sent the Indian woman to accept
the Oscar, and everything went haywire? Things just very rarely go
haywire now. If you’re just operating by habit, then you’re not really
living.

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Andre:
What does it do to us, Wally, living in an environment where something
as massive as the seasons or winter or cold, don’t in any way affect
us? I mean, we’re animals after all. I mean… what does that mean? I
think that means that instead of living under the sun and the moon and
the sky and the stars, we’re living in a fantasy world of our own
making.
Wally:
Yeah, but I mean, I would never give up my electric blanket, Andre. I
mean, because New York is cold in the winter. I mean, our apartment is
cold! It’s a difficult environment. I mean, our life is tough enough as
it is. I’m not looking for ways to get rid of a few things that provide
relief and comfort. I mean, on the contrary, I’m looking for more
comfort because the world is very abrasive. I mean, I’m trying to
protect myself because, really, there’s these abrasive beatings to be
avoided everywhere you look!
Andre:
But, Wally, don’t you see that comfort can be dangerous? I mean, you
like to be comfortable and I like to be comfortable too, but comfort
can lull you into a dangerous tranquility.

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Andre:
I wouldn’t put on an electric blanket for any reason. First, I’d be
worried if I get electrocuted. No, I don’t trust technology. But I
mean, the main thing, Wally, is that I think that kind of comfort just
separates you from reality in a very direct way.