To be honest, I don't know if I'll ever finish reading Don Quixote. Somewhere just shy of the halfway point I got lost in long monologues from secondary and secondary to the secondary characters. I know Cervantes was inventing the novel, but someone should have invented a #(@*&#&$^ editor. At least then, I'd be able to review the dang thing.
All things being equal, I've found a lot to appreciate and admire in this novel so far. I recently looked through the underlined parts and found myself laughing a bit. It's worth a read, from time to time.
As a quick synopsis, Don Quixote is a wealthy nobleman who reads too many romances and decides he must be a knight. He invents a lady to fight for whom we never see. In one of my favorite parts, he constructs a helmet, tests it and in so doing reduces it to a few pieces. He quickly constructs a second one and decides it's okay without testing it.
This is the danger, especially when I'm juggling too much at once. I don't have time for tests, so why can't I just be certain of my own certainty?* At no other time does ignoring reality seem so tempting.
Is there a time to stop testing and turn in faith? Of course, but I'm convinced cardboard helmets don't count. God gave us brains for a reason, and attacking windmills with swords was definitely not one of them.
Yeah. That part was funny, too.
*The movie "Doubt" touches on this theme as well. I'm still thinking about it, so I'd say it's an effective film.
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