 I BELIEVE LORD Jesus said to him, “If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” - Mark 9:23-25 (NRSV) In any good story told or read, even watched; the storyteller depends upon the reader to suspend their sense of disbelief. We do this with books, movies, and digital media. When was the last time you enjoyed a really good book or movie, like the latest Star Wars, Captain America, or Marvel Comics movie? In 1817 the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. It is another type of literary device. Most of us have read or seen The Lord of the Rings trilogy and enjoyed those stories for exactly what they are, a wonderful, wonder filled fantasy adventure. I have read them ten times or more; I’ve lost count. We enter the story completely, so engrossed and involved in the tale. It becomes true for us. The people, places, and time are real. We live in Middle Earth; we eat in Middle Earth; we dream in Middle Earth; we become the characters in the story, and we walk away from our experience much richer. J.R.R. Tolkien knew these stories would capture our imagination. He knew they would transcend belief and unbelief, and we would enter them in magical ways. Middle Earth fills our minds with myth, mystery, metaphor, allegory, life lessons, spiritual and human truths, and esoteric qualities that point us towards a greater mystery dwelling within and a part of us. The stories make us wonder and stretch our imaginations. They expand our imaginations. And we discover a great value in this wonderment that takes us beyond, in letting our imaginations move us beyond a point, to a new knowingness. It does not matter if the story is factual or not, or made up from someone’s imagination. We enter the story and are possessed and transformed by a deeper truth that like a Buddhist or Hindu Sūtra, threads its way all through the story. We understand intuitively that the story does not need to be factual, or literally true, for it to have this value, or to unveil and reveal a divine truth. The story becomes a revelation, an epiphany, an advent, a new creation, a quality that all great literature contains. When well-written and highly imaginative, such stories transform and transcend, unveiling a deeper truth. Poetry and stories of sacred literature from many faiths, fill us with heroic wisdom. They fill us with wonder, and provide an inward view as contemplative poets, thoughtful, pensive, meditative, reflective. Ah, but is it also something more too, the poet within and my imagination wonders? Is it part of the Divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit, actively at work within the world, inspiring us? I think that it is, certainly. However, you may understand the Spirit at work in your own life. The word inspired means to be: aroused, animated, or imbued with the spirit to do something, by or as if by supernatural or divine influence: an inspired poet or storyteller. J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were certainly inspired storytellers who wove their Christian faith into the stories they wrote, The power in Sacred Scripture & Story is in how it inspires us to become connected with and to one another, creation, and the Divine Ultimate Mystery of God. The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom Choices We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable. The True Master The man who is awake Shines in the radiance of the spirit. A master gives up mischief. He is serene. He leaves everything behind him He does not take offense And he does not give it. ART: Ballantine's 1965 The Lord of the Rings – Cover Art by Barbara Remington |
Publisher's BlogRON STARBUCK is the Publisher/CEO/Executive Editor of Saint Julian Press, Inc., in Houston, Texas; a poet and writer, an Episcopalian, and author of There Is Something About Being An Episcopalian, When Angels Are Born, Wheels Turning Inward, and most recently A Pilgrimage of Churches, four rich collections of poetry, following a poet’s mythic and spiritual journey that crosses easily onto the paths of many contemplative traditions. Archives
August 2024
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