Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Sole to Soul?

Georg over at Running Scared posted a link to In-Souls, which are (xtian) inspirational shoe inserts. That's right, we're talking Dr. Scholl's for your soul:
In-Souls™ inserts are designed to provide a tangible support to assist Christians to literally "walk in the word of the Lord." Worn in the right shoe, each one provides a related scripture and affirmation. To enhance the spiritual walk with God, the inserts help one to "stand" on His Word, meditating on it day and night. Inserts may be alternated daily to help cultivate the word of God in your life. Look for other In-Souls sets to cover a variety of topics – from trust, obedience, patience and redemption to marriage, work and body image.
"Worn in the right shoe..." Hmmmm. Can't exactly "walk in the word of the Lord" if your left foot is left to wallow in a secular shoe all by its lonesome, can ya? Maybe you're supposed to hop on one foot? And what about left-handed people -- most left-handed people are also left-legged (er, left-footed), so I don't see how this insert -- which is focused on the lefties' non-dominant foot -- would really help them.

Ooooooh. Monogramed, too!

What's really funny is how much this reminds me of the ritual of boku-maru from Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle:

John found his room to his satisfaction, but the bathroom lacked toilet paper. When he wandered about the empty embassy looking for a chambermaid, he came upon two workers sitting on the ground with the soles of their feet pressed together. They begged him not to tell anyone because they would be punished with the hook. John had come upon the Bokononist ritual of boku-maru. [Cat's Cradle, Chapters 56-72]
Ahhhhh, yes. I remember it well. Lovely, lovely boku-maru. You see, Bokonists believe "it is impossible to be sole-to-sole with another person without loving that person, provided the feet of both persons are clean and nicely tended." "Sole to sole, and soul to soul," I think there is a Bokonist calypso like that. I cannot find a link to support my fickle memory. But I did find the following links to entertain you (in case you have never read Cat's Cradle):

2 comments:

georg said...

It's called the Christian *Right* for a reason. We don't want those liberal leftist feet to even think about God. After all, in some places and times before the renaissance, being left-handed was a sign of belonging to Satan.

/sarcasm mode off. Although, the thing about being left hand dominant was really true. It was a witch and/or vampire finder thing.

Brainwise said...

Another friend made the humorous comment: "yeah, no lefties ... figures."

I had forgotten about left hand dominance being an indicator of something ... well, something less than positive.

Here are a few interesting links on the topic:

Handedness (summary from Answers.com)
Left Handedness: Curse, Blessing or Anomaly of Nature?
Left-Handednes: Does It Mean Anything?