James Bond - The Proper Function of Man

"The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time," is a quote from Jack London which I came across in the last James Bond movie No Time to Die, the last installment of the Daniel Craig series of James Bond movies. Normally James Bond movies yield to easy entertainment. But The Daniel Craig series of James Bond movies have provoked me to ponder deeply.

The classic James Bond, as depicted by actors from Roger Moore until Pierce Brosnan, were defined by their guts, glamor and the girls. It followed an usual formula the Bond girl usually died, the Bond took revenge, but suffered little emotional pain. The Daniel Steele Bond replaced the superficial suaveness by a deep sense of loyalty. In the classic Bond movies, if anyone died it was the Bond girl, but never James Bond. But the Craig Bond reverses the formula. James Bond, for the very first time, ends up dying in the movie trying to save his woman and his daughter.

M in eulogizing the death of Bond, reads this quote from a book by Jack London, "The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." To live is to pursue a clear purpose that transcends mere existing. To exist is to exist for the sake of existing without any regard for the bigger sense of purpose.

James Bond of the old in a sense was existing, entertaining his appetites whether of Martini or women or glamor. The new James Bond feels deeply and lives for a bigger purpose and dies for a deeper purpose of love, of his woman and his child. Mere existing may be entertaining but ultimately empties our hearts of verve. On the other hand, living with a clarity of purpose gives the heart dangerous energy. This is why G.K.Chesterton said the most dangerous men are ones who have a singularity of purpose.

To exist is not just to seek one entertaining experience after another. To live is to be driven by and drawn to a bigger world than oneself - the world of love. So one's life is not about oneself, but about the other. David Brooks wrote a book called the 2nd Mountain which is about how the first mountain of life is about the accomplishment of the self. The 2nd mountain is the harder one, which is about not about self-gain, but about self-giving. Christ of course is the epitome of this kind of self giving (Philippians 2:6-8).

In the classic Bond movie, the bond girl died, but James Bond survived. In Craig's Bond, the Bond girl lived, because Bond died in her place, thus becoming the Christ figure. David Brooks goes one to say that ultimately it is the people on the 2nd mountain who have tapped into a deeper form of joy which the people in the first mountain haven't a clue about. This is why the James Bond of Daniel Craig is more human and joyful than the James Bond of Roger Moore ever was. The Moore Bond existed to entertain, the Craig Bond lived to point us to the deeper way of love, the Christlike way of self-giving love which is the proper function of a man who lives a life worth living.