Is The Little Prince Gnostic?

[Colorad007]

One of my favorite quotes from Antoine de St. Expupery’s The Little Prince is when the fox tells the little prince, “One can see clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

I fear that the quote smacks of Gnosticism. Although I believe that the author was a Catholic, the quote seems to undermine the sacramental emphasis of the Church’s theology.

What do you think?

 

[vames]

I think you’re joking, of course.

The quote “smacks” of kindness and common sense. If you are friends with an ugly or disabled man and others mock you and remind you that he’s ugly or disabled, what is your response? “One can see clearly only with the eyes. Anything essential is perfectly visible to the eyes. You’re right, I shouldn’t have become friends with an ugly man”?

In fairy tales, children communicate with animals, because they look at them “with the heart”, while adults dismiss such things, because they know that animals can’t talk. The Church doesn’t consider banning fairy tales as heretic material.

 

[jmcrae]

One of my favorite quotes from Antoine de St. Expupery’s The Little Prince is when the fox tells the little prince, “One can see clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

I fear that the quote smacks of Gnosticism. Although I believe that the author was a Catholic, the quote seems to undermine the sacramental emphasis of the Church’s theology.

What do you think?

I think it’s a beautiful reminder that the important things are the invisible things - love, friendship, hope, God.

 

[CB_Catholic]

One of my favorite quotes from Antoine de St. Expupery’s The Little Prince is when the fox tells the little prince, “One can see clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

I fear that the quote smacks of Gnosticism. Although I believe that the author was a Catholic, the quote seems to undermine the sacramental emphasis of the Church’s theology.

What do you think?

I think you are overthinking this. In Ephesians 1:18, Paul states that he prays that the “eyes” of their “hearts” be enlightened. What Paul is talking about is spiritual insight and enlightenment, and that is what the fox is saying. The important and essential things are invisible and are understood only on a spiritual level. The Sacraments were given to us by Christ to be a visible sign of an invisible grace, and that can only be understood on the spiritual level. There is no conflict with the Church’s sacramental theology.

 

[globaljim]

I never read the Little Prince but I have a wonderful friend who had read it and shared with
me that it had an enormous impact on his own vocation. And what this man has made of his life is a Christian way of living that everyone who knows him -admires. I guess this is
what you would call the “Proof of the pudding.”