What Pillars of the Earth tells us about our species and our future

“Star” by Kiwi Tom is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Recently, I finished the book ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follet. It’s about the fictional village of Kingsbridge that undertakes the building of a cathedral in 1100’s England. Truthfully, such a subject isn’t one I normally would be curious about, but Pillars is really a tale about the ruthlessness of politics, the will to power, the technical challenges of the age and the perseverance to overcome these. And it made me think about the architecture of today. Our modern society has significantly more resources, technology and materials to create buildings of such magnificence. But we rarely do. So how is it that a village of half-starving peasants managed to create something so grand, and we, with all our abundance choose not to? It’s because we lack something they had, something humans need, and without it, our future on this planet will be very bleak.

According to Britain Magazine, Britain is home to 42 cathedrals, a little more than 10% of the 3,400 or so cathedrals worldwide. The lion’s share of them were built between the years 1100 and 1500 AD. Each cathedral project spanned decades; the typical gothic cathedral was fifty years.  These projects required a team of specialized workers, including, according to Wikipedia:  hewers who cut the stone, the posers who set the stones in place; and layers who cemented the pieces together. These craftsmen worked alongside the carpenters who built the complex scaffolds and models and were led by a master mason. These people typically worked six days a week, from sunrise until sundown, except Sundays and religious holidays.

It was no smooth sailing either, sustaining the project required resourcefulness in finding enough money, materials, and staff to finish it, and just as challenging, was the architectural challenges to overcome in order to keep pace with the ever-changing aesthetic preferences demanded by the patrons. What good is a beautiful cathedral if it falls down after a strong chorus from the choir?

So, what was it that drove these impoverished, medieval people to commit their lives so ardently in pursuit of something so challenging, when many would not live long enough to see it finished?

Inspiration.

They were inspired by their love of God to create something worthy of Him. Now, of course, some did it for power and prestige, and some with the notion that their patronage would help gain them a better foothold in the heaven, but that would not explain the beauty and majesty of these buildings. Even today, with a world full of art and distraction, we recognize their distinctiveness, over 11 million people visit them in Britain each year!

Yes, castles are beautiful, they are architectural marvels sure, but they lack the magnificence of cathedrals, and this contrast illustrates the difference between the type of things that skilled people build vs the types of things that truly inspired ones do. Cathedral builders were inspired to transcend their humble lives by aiming for something much greater – a good beyond earthly bounds. If you believed in something so pure, so divine, and so deeply, would you create something mediocre? No. Something to tick the box? Of course not! You’d be inspired to build something that pushed you beyond your creative limits even, something worthy to stand the test of time, something that was worthy of the greatest good. But as the curtain closes on western Christendom, so too does this source of inspiration and that leaves us with a profound question.

Yes, castles are beautiful, they are architectural marvels sure, but they lack the magnificence of cathedrals, and this contrast illustrates the difference between the type of things that skilled people build vs the types of things that truly inspired ones do

What is the idea that will bring us together like the fictional citizens of Kingsbridge? One so powerful that it will inspire us to transcend our limitations? And should we find it, what will it compel us to eventually build? Or will our hubris drive us to erect a spire into the heavens on shaky foundations?

One thing is certain, and that is, humanity must orient itself towards the good, and be inspired to attain it, lest the bad ideas overwhelm our civilization. Our sophisticated weapons, increasing computing capacity and advancing abilities to manufacture virulent biological agents and corrosive industrial pollutants, make each bad choice potentially more devastating, so much so, that we can’t afford to make to many before we are wiped out.

Pillars of the Earth tell us of the human condition through the building of a cathedral and the inspiration that fortified its patrons and builders.  And also, that finding that kernel of inspiration is a necessity as humanity reaches a pivotal age where we have the capacity to heal our planet, perhaps even settle the galaxy, or alternatively, destroy ourselves in the process.

I, like you, am motivated by challenge, but the question is, are we truly inspired to see it through?