Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy (b. 28 May 1916 – d. 10 May 1990) is an amusing and profound mock self-help book. It was first published in 1983.
As a matter of taste, this book will most likely appeal to those who do not think highly of self-help books. Either way, although it is a mock self-help book with its corresponding parodic and satirical approach and mildly cynical tone, the subject matter is nonetheless serious.
And what is the subject?
The title pages list five alternative titles that somewhat tell the reader. Below is one:
How you can survive in the Cosmos about which you more and more while less and less about yourself, this despite 10,000 self-help books, 100,000 psychotherapists, and 100 million fundamentalist Christians
There are also four additional sub-titles. Below is one:
A preliminary short quiz which you can take standing in a bookstore and which will allow you to determine whether you need to buy this book and proceed to the Twenty Questions
In other words, it is an exploration of the problems of the “Self”. It should be noted that Percy was an M.D. who studied to become a psychiatrist. He was also Catholic although the text does not exclusively assume that position even if there is clearly an influence.
The first section is the short quiz. This is comprised of six questions spanning about nine pages. The questions describe a scene or situation or concept followed by a question about what the reader thinks of it.
The next section begins with the first of the aforementioned Twenty Questions. These are more elaborate than the above but are fundamentally similar. Each question is basically a chapter which begins with a description of some scene or situation or concept followed by at least one multiple-choice question and concludes with a thought experiment.
Each question explores an aspect of the Self. Below are three chapter titles and sub-titles as examples:
(1) The Amnesic Self: Why the Self Wants to Get Rid of Itself
(2) The Self as Nought: How the Self Tries to Inform Itself by Possessing Things which do not Look like the Things They’re Used as
(9) The Envious Self (in the root sense of envy: invidere, to look at with malice): Why it is that the Self—though it Professes to be Loving, Caring, to Prefer Peace to War, Concord to Discord, Life to Death; to Wish Other Selves Well, not Ill—in fact Secretly Relishes Wars and Rumors of Wars, News of Plane Crashes, Assassinations, Mass Murders, Obituaries, to say nothing of Local News about Acquaintances Dropping Dead in the Street, Gossip about Neighbors Getting in Fights or being Detected in Sexual Scandals, Embezzlements, and other Disgraces
After question 12 is a section on semiotics, which “might be defined broadly as the science which deals with signs and the use of them by creatures”. This section is about 40 pages.
The author admits that it may be too technical for some whilst not being technical enough for expert semioticists. I think the author has managed a good balance, explaining the concept step by step with the use of diagrams.
In short, there is a distinction between a signal and a sign. To a dog, “ball” is a signal to go get it whereas to a person, the word “ball” is a sign of a round thing. As for the latter, there is a distinction between the sign (signifier) and the referent (signified). Therefore:
The signal-using organism has an environment. The sign-user has an environment, but it also has a world.
By “world”, the author means a world of signs. Related to the subject matter, the problem or question is how one sees the Self, what sign to use for oneself.
You are Ralph to me and I am Walker to you, but you are not Ralph to you and I am not Walker to me. (Have you ever wondered why the Ralphs you know look as if they ought to be called Ralph and not Robert?) For me, certain signifiers fit you, and not others. For me, all signifiers fit me, one as well as another. I am rascal, hero, craven, brave, treacherous loyal, at once the secret hero and asshole of the Cosmos.
The author notes there are three traditional modes of self-placement:
(a) “Totemistic”—the Self equates itself to a sign such as an animal or zodiac or profession.
(b) “Eastern Pantheistic”—God is everywhere including the Self so God is found in the Self also.
(c) “Theistic-historical (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)”—the Self is a distinct creature in which God is the Creator of the Cosmos and all creatures.
However one sees itself, the Self tries to escape a “disappointing world” through “transcendence”. This can be achieved, particularly in this era, by joining the scientific community (either by becoming a scientist or by reading up on it). This can also be achieved through art and literature. There is more to it but those are some of the key points.
After this interlude on semiotics, about halfway through the book, it resumes with the questions. Question 13 and so on continue to examine the transcendent self. Having achieved “orbit”, there is the potential problem of “reentry”. For example, reentry can be accomplished by anesthesia (such as drinking) or travel (geographical and/or sexual) or even suicide.
Initially, one may be tempted to think that the Twenty Questions form merely one section of the book but at this stage, one may think that as part of the author’s approach, it is most of the book with a short concluding section.
That is not quite the case. The Twenty Questions is essentially the book, concluding with two parts: A Space Odyssey (I) which is question 19 and A Space Odyssey (II) which is question 20. Both examine a hypothetical scenario.
The first part is that humans leave Earth to explore and come across another intelligent but unfallen (innocent) civilization. They are skeptical of humans and so ask questions to determine their status. Are they unfallen or fallen? If the latter, do they know they need help?
The second part is that humans leave Earth, find nothing and return home to a desolate planet with few survivors. How do they deal with the situation?
Overall, it is easy to read and so comes across as shorter than its 262 pages. It is easily accessible partly because of the author’s sense of humor but also because he appeals to commonsense and common experiences within modern society. It is entertaining as it is profound and even provocative. To quote Homer Simpson: “It’s funny ’cause it’s true.”
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Peter Kreeft, amongst his many lectures, has one about this book available on his website at https://peterkreeft.com/audio/13_lost-in-the-cosmos.htm.
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