CDHS

Celebrating Bob Blank's 90th Birthday

This is the recap by Dick McMahan, of a talk given at the July 9th, 2006 CDHS monthly meeting.

Our July meeting provided a treat for the 70 CDHSers and guests who gathered to celebrate Bob Blank's 90^th birthday and delight in his reminiscences and reflections on a remarkable life well lived.

Bob is a rare find. It is unlikely that any of us will ever encounter a fellow human who has traveled as extensively, read as widely, become engrossed in music as deeply, experienced such extremes of great love and devastating loss, and thought as penetratingly about all of this - and who retains such total recall of all this experience - as our own Renaissance Man, Bob Blank.

There is no way we could adequately report here the full breadth and depth of Bob's discourse. What we can do is offer a few nuggets from his comments - a Bob Blank sampler - and several selections from literature and poetry that he cited as influential in his thinking about "this strange interlude" that is a life.

Further, we can report that our sound system was functioning well so that Bob's remarks were audio taped. Cassette copies are available for loan; contact the editor.

On ultimate things

"I'm going to talk about ultimate things. When I indulge myself in this enterprise I like to think of it as coming to terms with existence, because it is to me an enduring wonder and mystery. . . I have always had a sense of surprise at being alive. . . I am so glad to have encountered people who have fashioned my mind," such as Ernest Becker (The Birth and Death of Meaning, The Denial of Death, and Escape from Evil); and Edward O. Wilson (books on sociobiology and human nature, leading to Consilience) "Wilson made evolution very clear to me" (see page 8).

During his remarks, Bob mentioned, and in many cases quoted from, many other authors whose work has influenced him, including Santayana, John Dewey, C. Wright Mills, David Hume, John Updyke, Lincoln Stephens, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, Upton Sinclair, and Walt Whitman.

Travel

Bob traveled widely with his wife, Jeanne, developing "a love affair with Western Europe, the seat of Western Civilization." Became very interested in Gothic and Romanesque architecture, and paintings of the Renaissance. Renaissance churches offered "insight into the pre-scientific mind. . . . You've got to know the New Testament to appreciate Renaissance art."

Since Jean's death, Bob has visited Turkey, China, India, Shanghai, South America and the Caribbean, Mexico. Now, "I no longer have a sense of wanting or needing to see more."

On religion and humanism

"I disliked Judaism from the beginning - so lugubrious and unpalatable But I like Yiddish culture."

"I have read the gospels. . . . I do appreciate the wisdom books of the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes, Job, and perhaps Psalms can be read as literature."

"I was a Unitarian in 1964, because all the Unitarians then were humanists. Now, too many have gone off the trail, talking about transcendence . . . But they have an advantage: they have endowments, structures; they can bring their children to "religious education" classes confident that there will be no indoctrination - they won't be harmed or frightened by what they experience."

"My humanism is really atheism, which is absolute - it is my faith. People ask me why not 'agnostic?' - it is a cop-out. . . . I do not flaunt (my humanism) . . . muscular humanism has its place, (but) you're not going to convince anyone with the Humanist Manifesto. To proselytize is a fruitless enterprise."

"I fear for the country. Our civil religion is being perverted. . . . The public is being manipulated dangerously (with a) Wizard of Oz as Chief Officer. . . The Christian right has been elevated to a position of power that will be difficult to overcome."

On Music

"Music is so very precious to me. . . . I know the symphonic repertoire quite well. . . (but) now I prefer the smaller music (sonatas, quartets, chamber music)." He referred us to Millay's On Hearing a Symphony of Beethoven.

On loss

Bob lost a daughter (in 1987 when she was 39) and his wife of 55 years (in 1997), both to cancer. These events "were body blows." He cited several works of poetry that helped him through very dark times:

Remembrance by Emily Bronte;

Without by Donald Hall;

Stanzas For Music, There's Not a Joy the World Can Give by Byron.

On death and dying:

"Now, death is never very far from my thoughts. . . . To contemplate your death objectively is one thing, but to try to experience it as it exists is quite another." Here again, Bob cited a number of authors whose work has aided such contemplations:

Dirge Without Music by Edna St. Vincent Millay (see below)

Aubade (Song of the Dawn) by Philip Larkin, "England's bleakest poet".

Mortal Questions and The View from Nowhere by Thomas Nagel.

A tape is available

For a tape of Bob's remarks, contact Dick McMahan, mcmahanrichard@msn.com.

Go to top of page

Send website comments to webmaster@humanistsociety.org

Return to CDHS Home