Philosophy in Children's Books 20: Momo on Time
A riddle from "Momo" by Michael Ende:
All dwelling in one house are strange brothers three,
as unlike as any three brothers could be,
yet try as you may to tell brother from brother,
you'11 find that the trio resemble each other.
The first isn't there, though he'11 come beyond doubt.
The second's departed, so he's not about.
The third and the smallest is right on the spot,
and manage without him the others could not.
Yet the third is a factor with which to be reckoned
because the first brother turns into the second.
You cannot stand back and observe number three,
for one of the others is all you will see.
So tell me, my child, are the three, of them one?
Or are there but two? Or could there be none?
Just name them, and you will at once realize
that each rules a kingdom, of infinite size.
They rule it together and are it as well.
In that, they're alike, so where do they dwell?
Momo, how does an Oracle begin?
This is a favorite riddle to me, in Michael Ende's book 'Momo'. What no-one seems to notice is the whole story, is an eternal origin story, of the beginnings of an Oracle.
Think carefully about how Momo answers the question of how old she is: As far as I can remember, I've always been.
Beppo der Strassenkehrer: when he tells Momo about seeing her and himself in another time.
When the words grow in her, so that she can sing.
In reply to Momo, how does an Oracle begin? by ERIC MOHL
Momo
Believe it or not, when I was a teenager I was the pianist at a children's theater camp; one of the other counselors wrote a stage script based on that book, Momo, and I composed music to play along with the performance. So that is a story I know well, or did once upon a time! Sadly my piano playing skills have in the meantime atrophied to a state of non-existence.
In reply to Momo by Peter Adamson
Interesting summer camp,
An interesting and pleasant memory to be sure. This book was the first book I was able to read completely in German, it took several tries. I got the impression that most who read it only see one layer deep, there is a lot more depth in his ideas, and I don't see any indoctrination here.
In reply to Interesting summer camp, by ERIC MOHL
Trinity Training
Sounds like a way to prime young minds for indoctrination into a belief in the Holy Trinity. Many children’s stories of old were very creative, albeit thinly veiled, attempts at controlling behavior and ensuring compliance… #FreeYourMind!
In reply to Trinity Training by Emily
Everything comes to an Ende?
I don't know that much about Ende to be honest, so out of curiosity I checked his Wikipedia page to see if he was a religious author at all (like CS Lewis who you might be thinking of); it seems not. In fact he was in a humanist civil rights organization in Germany. His main influences were apparently artistic movements like surrealism and Dadaism.
And now that I come to think of it past, present and future would not be a great image for the Trinity since they cannot exist together!
In reply to Everything comes to an Ende? by Peter Adamson
Endeless Love?
I guess their co-existence depends upon your view of reality and theoretical physics - two areas upon which I hold a barely tenuous grasp. Thank you for the info on Ende. Loves me some Lewis and see the two are not parallels - no one could accuse C.S. Lewis of religious subtlety. But interestingly, some find Ende’s work informed by Christian symbolism. And Ende himself fesses up to being Christian-ish. I looked it up and found a (poorly?) translated German interview from 1983 …
http://www.a-e-m-gmbh.com/andremuller/interview%20mit%20michael%20ende…
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Time, past present future?
Time, past present future?