The Lost Ideals of Calvin and Hobbes.

John Calvin (1509-1564)  wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion which reformed the Protestant Church he was a part of. He was an apologetic and his works are still regarded as critical texts for those who enter theology. John Calvin challenged the Roman Catholic church which he was a part of prior to his conversion to being a protestant. 

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was considered a founder of the modern political philosophy, which refers to a general view, or a specific ethic, political belief or attitude, about politics. Hobbes wrote Leviathan which served as the foundation for most Western political philosophy. These were his biggest contributions, however, he also contributed to history, geometry, physics of gases, theology, and ethics. 

Calvin had to be the originator of Hobbes, thought him up, for his modeled character died 24 years before the birth of Hobbes. These are my interpretations, for the reasoning given in The Calvin and Hobbes tenth anniversary Book does not give this level of insight. Both had a significant impact in their fields, with Calvin being of primary importance to Religion as the Western World knows Christianity now, and Hobbes being more significant for political structuring and ideology around such a topic.

Passive-oppression is what society introduces with its norms and values promoted keeping us in line and pigeonholed into comfortable roles. These same roles are like a noose tied around some people’s necks where they were meant to do great things, but cut short by the apparent standards of society and them thinking they had to, “fit in.” Calvin and his tiger Hobbes from the beloved comic titled after their names was exactly what the world says it desires, but at the same time, despises in people. Conforming is similar to a death. Jesus did not conform, prophets, philosophers that we study centuries after their passing were not conformers. The musician who does not have a lot of sales in records but a message in his lyrics is not conforming, or if they do, it is obvious. Conforming and adapting is taught as what to do, or rebelling, actively going against for no other reason than to, are what we learn. Yet, what about those who are naturally rebellious based on what they believe, what they think is right, despite what happens to them in the process? 

Calvin’s environment oppressed him and his tiger, only because defiance itself provokes aggression, a scary topic for some. The teacher, Calvin’s Parents, his babysitter, Moe the Bully, all were the world telling him that he was out of line. Like any great philosopher there has to be no line, only where the mind is driven. There cannot be a footing on comfort for ideas to advance. A spiritually driven person will naturally be driven where they need to go as long as they follow what they believe. I believe atheists and those who turn from God in a demanding way will never fully advance for they hold on to their physical restraint of apparent disbelief, when inside, when they are honest, when they are living in truth, they know the truth. It takes up effort to continue to deny, when the truth comes honestly, reality will smack a person in the face if they remain complacent, but to avoid reality, to duck and cover, well, that involves effort. Effort the people of the world engage in thus deeming the philosophers, or, our hero Calvin and his friend Hobbes such oddities. 

They did not desire to follow, which made them unique, made their story worthy to tell. They were honest, consistent, and stood up for their convictions, this is what a hero looks like. A person bending to the whims of others, no matter the consequence isn’t anything but  another person grounded in the world, for which that is something we all know plenty about within our own selves. No matter the consequences, someone who stands for their principals is of the highest caliber, more so than this world deserves. For that reason these people’s lives are often cut short, for people get uneasy, they turn to hate, for they are challenged. Nobody, no industry, no current way of doing things, accepts change easily, that is what put them where they are. When they are challenged, all stops are pulled, all logic eradicated and this person, their logic will be demonized, cast away like some juvenile delinquent. 

"Norms," are what we call them. How we “normalize” things in other words. If a child talks of their thoughts or beliefs and they are askew from what society deemed as "normalized," even if their behaviors are of no actual cost to themselves, they will be pressured to conform. Despite the fact that an outlier is exactly what people want to be, society tends to eradicate them, pushing them into the general consensus. Calvin went against these norms as well as the imagination portrayed as Hobbes. This boy and his tiger were more significant because at their foundation they never tried to be, they just were. 

Certain strips indicated Calvin’s need to be significant or how he seemed almost confused by societies way of doing things. He was significant by simply being, versus what was expected. His questioning of God in one strip by throwing out an absurdity in what appeared to be defiance, of Him being a chicken, is closer to truth than a Christian whom follows the religious laws without applying love. To question is to invest. To blindly rebel or protest is to remain ignorant. I feel as though a true philosopher, a person of change is not reveling as much as presenting their truth, again, a truth others will not like or feel safe with. A truth that other people will deny or find fault with the man versus the words he uses.

Time only gives man, a sinful creature, an opportunity to make a mistake. With time people can be founded to be whatever anyone wants to interpret them as. In one article I read about a sort of, “secret life” of C.S. Lewis where at one point he was listed as a sadist and spanked people at parties. Admittedly so, Mr. Lewis admitted he was an atheist in his early years, spending so much energy on denying truth rather than living it, his ways were not perfect. However, this does not mean that the message was any less significant. This does not indicate that a smart, insightful, deeply understanding man was anything less for his juvenile actions. When a philosopher was ten were they as mature as their adult versions we remember? Is Calvin a prophetic man in the making and we have the early opportunity to see the growth of such genius? Or, does the comic stop short of earth’s turn on him, cutting him down in the prime of an authentic self? Does the life people followed for 10 years have to stop, for like all of us at some point, the dreams stop? The slowest and most painful deaths of all.

Maybe Calvin did have the ability to be, untied to the ground of earth's demands, but head in the heavens looking at everything as it is, temporary and askew. Maybe, as an audience, we were able to witness the makings of greatness and this child turned man could have done great things within his life that others would have naturally craved. Maybe he would have conformed too. Maybe the ways he chose, the path he was following, the ideas he had were all cast aside and he was given medicine to help him conform. Maybe the presentation we witnessed for ten years was a homage to his potential, which now, is only significant because it’s gone. 

Does Hobbes die in the end? Did Calvin as we knew and loved him turn out to be another cog in the machine? Did that part of all of us that we wanted to indulge but were too scared, leave him, squashed by the demands of society or the lust of adolescence and the disdain Suzy had for Calvin’s imagination? Did it all go away, leaving us with one last image of hope as a child and his imaginary friend drift off into the sunset assumed unchanged? 

I would hope not. For the sake of man, I hope there are more Calvin’s and less teachers. I hope there are more people willing to follow their principals, their convictions, despite what may happen to them. There will be oppression to anyone willing to stand for their beliefs. There will be convictions handed out to reform the model of society as society feels comfortable with. Rebellion is allowed, for the world will also see their assassination as an example. Go ahead, look to the rebels as the closest thing to authentic, a person going against, now look further, into them, their life, their sponsors maybe? Oh, yea, we all have to have money to live, “I am just trying to make a living too.” This is what Calvin didn’t have. This is what the old philosophers didn’t need as much of. This is what writers and authors from before may have struggled without thus giving them the creative platform and no other distraction to be the persons they were meant to be, fulfilled potential. 

What about Calvin however, what about his imagination, the only indicator of Hobbes? What about the environment all of us live in and the fear we all experience from time to time when the idea of change comes up. When a topic is discussed that we ignorantly bat away as though we are the judge in the case. Homosexuality, transgender, drugs, abortions, for the Bible does talk about these things, and there is more wrong in change than right, however were great minds meant to waste their energies on a façade of judgement, as though our OPINION matters? God is Love, for that is a noun and a verb, it is what we were meant to mimic as well as meant to do. Love means to do exactly that, without a contractual agreement, without a promise of things going the way we like, without anything, other than love. Calvin Loved, he was authentic, there is no way to not love when you don’t waste your time on matters that you have no say in. Hobbes loved, for his friend, Suzy, his parents, love was apparent in the midst of authentic behaviors, one might deem as a rebellion.

For one to engage in philosophical idealization one has to be safe enough to do so. On Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, food, safety, water, adequate shelter, are necessary for any deeper insight or, self-actualization, to occur. Calvin as a child has this more than an adult would. As adults things are not given and without employment we lack the resources needed to provide, therefore, fear for our safety. As children we are not so invested in this world and our survival is based on minor things, that as adults we think are necessary. Status, significance, love, all things we try for, when as a child they exist passively. A child depicted of the adult philosopher John Calvin because an adult representation would have been too invested in this world and it’s hierarchy. Therefore the modern philosophers are those who are not tied in, children.

The end quote taken from the Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Edition written by Bill Watterson. 

More insight, regarding a completely different barrier. I was was Pigeonholed by my own Body Image Disorders, Click Here.