Guest Book - Leave Your Mark

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Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know

This is a long read, but if you're interested in fairy tales, this has a nice mythic feel to it. By the way, what he says about "myths" in the second paragraph is in reference to "myths" as in Greek Mythology. That is NOT what this blog is about.

When I use the word "mythic", it is in reference to the proportion, immensity, and magnitude of the reality--not an invented story line of purely fictional 'gods.' Parables and Faerie Tales are the best means of conveying Truth to one another and to the younger generation.

By the way, if you only have time to read a little, read the paragraph that I bolded below. Holy smokes.

Introduction to
"Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know"
(I downloaded this book from the Gutenberg Project. The gorgeous picture above is from this gallery of pictures by Inga Nielsen.)

The fairy tale is a poetic recording of the facts of life, an interpretation by the imagination of its hard conditions, an effort to reconcile the spirit which loves freedom and goodness and beauty with its harsh, bare and disappointing conditions. It is, in its earliest form, a spontaneous and instinctive endeavor to shape the facts of the world to meet the needs of the imagination, the cravings of the heart. It involves a free, poetic dealing with realities in accordance with the law of mental growth; it is the naive activity of the young imagination of the race, untrammelled by the necessity of rigid adherence to the fact.

The myths record the earliest attempt at an explanation of the world and its life; the fairy tale records the free and joyful play of the imagination, opening doors through hard conditions to the spirit, which craves power, freedom, happiness; righting wrongs and redressing injuries; defeating base designs; rewarding patience and virtue; crowning true love with happiness; placing the powers of darkness under control of man and making their ministers his servants. In the fairy story, men are not set entirely free from their limitations, but, by the aid of fairies, genii, giants and demons, they are put in command of unusual powers and make themselves masters of the forces of nature.

The oldest fairy stories constitute a fascinating introduction to the book of modern science, curiously predicting its discoveries, its uncovering of the resources of the earth and air, its growing control of the tremendous forces which work in earth and air. And it is significant that the recent progress of science is steadily toward what our ancestors would have considered fairy land; for in all the imaginings of the childhood of the race there was nothing more marvellous or more audaciously improbable than the transmission of the accents and modulations of familiar voices through long distances, and the power of communication across leagues of sea without mechanical connections of any kind.

The faculty which created the fairy tale is the same faculty which, supplemented by a broader observation and based on more accurate knowledge, has broadened the range and activities of modern man, made the world accessible to him, enabled him to live in one place but to speak and act in places thousands of miles distant, given him command of colossal forces, and is fast making him rich on a scale which would have seemed incredible to men of a half-century ago. There is nothing in any fairy tale more marvellous and inherently improbable than many of the achievements of scientific observation and invention, and we are only at the beginning of the wonders that lie within the reach of the human spirit!

No one can understand the modern world without the aid of the imagination, and as the frontiers of knowledge are pushed still further away from the obvious and familiar, there will be an increasing tax on the imagination. The world of dead matter which our fathers thought they understood has become a world of subtle forces moving with inconceivable velocity; nothing is inert, all things are transformed into other and more elusive shapes precisely as the makers of the fairy tales foresaw and predicted; the world lives in every atom just as their world lived; forces lie just outside the range of physical sight, but entirely within the range of spiritual vision, precisely as the tellers of these old stories divined; mystery and wonder enfold all things, and not only evoke the full play of the mind, but flood it with intimations and suggestions of the presence of more elusive and subtle forces, of finer and more obedient powers, as the world of fairies, magi and demons enfolded the ancient earth of daily toil and danger.

In a word, the fairy stories have come true; they are historical in the sense that they faithfully report a stage of spiritual growth and predict a higher order of realities through a deeper knowledge of actualities. They were poetic renderings of facts which science is fast verifying, chiefly by the use of the same faculty which enriched early literature with the myth and the fairy tale. The scientist has turned poet in these later days, and the imagination which once expressed itself in a free handling of facts so as to make them answer the needs and demands of the human spirit, now expresses itself in that breadth of vision which reconstructs an extinct animal from a bone and analyzes the light of a sun flaming on the outermost boundaries of space.

This collection of tales, gathered from the rich literature of the childhood of the world, or from the books of the few modern men who have found the key of that wonderful world, is put forth not only without apology, but with the hope that it may widen the demand for these charming reports of a world in which the truths of our working world are loyally upheld, while its hard facts are quietly but authoritatively dismissed from attention. The widest interpretation has been given to the fairy tale, so as to include many of those classic romances of childhood in which no fairy appears, but which are invested with the air and are permeated with the glorious freedom of fairy land.

No sane man or woman undervalues the immense gains of the modern world in the knowledge of facts and the application of ideas to things in order to secure comfort, health, access to the treasure in the earth and on its surface, the means of education and greater freedom from the tyranny of toil by the accumulation of the fruits of toil; but no sane man or woman believes that a mechanical age is other than a transitional age, that the possession of things is the final achievement of society, and that in multiplication of conveniences civilization will reach its point of culmination.

We are so engrossed in getting rich that we forget that by and by, when we have become rich, we shall have to learn how to live; for work can never be an end in itself; it is a "means of grace" when it is not drudgery; and it must, in the long run, be a preparation for play. For play is not organized idleness, frivolity set in a fanciful order; it is the normal, spontaneous exercise of physical activity, the wholesome gayety of the mind, the natural expression of the spirit, without self-consciousness, constraint, or the tyranny of hours and tasks. It is the highest form of energy, because it is free and creative; a joy in itself, and therefore a joy in the world. This is the explanation of the sense of freedom and elation which come from a great work of art; it is the instinctive perception of the fact that while immense toil lies behind the artist's skill, the soul of the creation came from beyond the world of work and the making of it was a bit of play. The man of creative spirit is often a tireless worker, but in his happiest hours he is at play; for all work, when it rises into freedom and power, is play. "We work," wrote a Greek thinker of the most creative people who have yet appeared, "in order that we may have leisure." The note of that life was freedom; its activity was not "evoked by external needs, but was free, spontaneous and delightful; an ordered energy which stimulates all the vital and mental powers."

Robert Louis Stevenson, who knew well how to touch work with the spirit and charm of play, reports of certain evenings spent at a clubhouse near Brussels, that the men who gathered there "were employed over the frivolous mercantile concerns of Belgium during the day; but in the evening they found some hours for the serious concerns of life." They gave their days to commerce, but their evenings were devoted to more important interests!

These words are written for those older people who have made the mistake of straying away from childhood; children do not read introductions, because they know that the valuable part of the book is to be found in the later pages. They read the stories; their elders read the introduction as well. They both need the stuff of imagination, of which myths, legends, and fairy tales are made. So much may be said of these old stories that it is a serious question where to begin, and a still more difficult question where to end. For these tales are the first outpourings of that spring of imagination whence flow the most illuminating, inspiring, refreshing and captivating thoughts and ideas about life. No philosophy is deeper than that which underlies these stories; no psychology is more important than that which finds its choicest illustration in them; no chapter in the history of thought is more suggestive and engrossing than that which records their growth and divines their meaning. Fairy tales and myths are so much akin that they are easily transformed and exchange costumes without changing character; while the legend, which belongs to a later period, often reflects the large meaning of the myth and the free fancy of the fairy tale.

As a class, children not only possess the faculty of imagination, but are very largely occupied with it during the most sensitive and formative years, and those who lack it are brought under its spell by their fellows. They do not accurately distinguish between the actual and the imaginary, and they live at ease in a world out of which paths run in every direction into wonderland. They begin their education when they begin to play; for play not only affords an outlet for their energy, and so supplies one great means of growth and training, but places them in social relations with their mates and in conscious contact with the world about them. The old games that have been played by generations of children not only precede the training of the school and supplement it, but accomplish some results in the nature of the child which are beyond the reach of the school. When a crowd of boys are rushing across country in "hounds and deer," they are giving lungs, heart and muscles the best possible exercise; they are sharing certain rules of honor with one another, expressed in that significant phrase, "fair play"; and they are giving rein to their imaginations in the very name of their occupation. Body, spirit and imagination have their part in every good game; for the interest of a game lies in its appeal to the imagination, as in "hounds and deer," or in its stimulus to activity, as in "tag" and "hide-and-seek."

There are few chapters in the biography of the childhood of men of genius more significant than those which describe imaginary worlds which were, for a time, as real as the actual world in which the boy lived. Goethe entertained and mystified his playmates with accounts of a certain garden in which he wandered at will, but which they could not find; and De Quincey created a kingdom, with all its complex relations and varied activities, which he ruled with beneficence and affection until, in an unlucky hour, he revealed his secret to his brother, who straightway usurped his authority, and governed his subjects with such tyranny and cruelty that De Quincey was compelled to save his people by destroying them.

These elaborate and highly organized efforts of the young imagination, of which boys and girls of unusual inventiveness are capable, are imitated on a smaller scale by all normal children. They endow inanimate things with life, and play and suffer with them as with their real playmates. The little girl not only talks with her dolls, but weeps with and for them when disaster overtakes them. The boy faces foes of his own making in the woods, or at lonely places in the road, who are quite as real to him as the people with whom he lives. By common agreement a locality often becomes a historic spot to a whole group of boys; enemies are met and overcome there; grave perils are bravely faced; and the magic sometimes lingers long after the dream has been dissolved in the dawning light of definite knowledge. Childhood is one long day of discovery; first, to the unfolding spirit, there is revealed a wonderland partly actual and partly created by the action of the mind; then follows the slow awakening, when the growing boy or girl learns to distinguish between tact and fancy, and to separate the real from the imaginary.

This process of learning to "see things as they are" is often regarded as the substance of education, and to be able to distinguish sharply and accurately between reality and vision, actual and imaginary image is accepted as the test of thorough training of the intelligence. What really takes place is the readjustment of the work of the faculties so as to secure harmonious action; and in the happy and sound development of the nature the imagination does not give place to observation, but deals with principles, forces and laws instead of with things. The loss of vision is never compensated for by the gain of sight; to see a thing one must use his mind quite as much as his eye. It too often happens, as the result of our educational methods, that in training the observer we blight the poet; and the poet is, after all, the most important person in society. He keeps the soul of his fellows alive. Without him the modern world would become one vast, dreary, soul-destroying Coketown, and man would sink to the level of Gradgrind. The practical man develops the resources of the country, the man of vision discerns, formulates and directs its spiritual policy and growth; the mechanic builds the house, but the architect creates it; the artisan makes the tools, but the artist uses them; the observer sees and records the fact, but the scientist discovers the law; the man of affairs manages the practical concerns of the world from day to day, but the poet makes it spiritual, significant, interesting, worth living in.

The modern child passes through the same stages as did the children of four thousand years ago. He, too, is a poet. He believes that the world about him throbs with life and is peopled with all manner of strange, beautiful, powerful folk, who live just outside the range of his sight; he, too, personifies light and heat and storm and wind and cold as his remote ancestors did. He, too, lives in and through his imagination; and if, in later life, he grows in power and becomes a creative man, his achievements are the fruits of the free and vigorous life of his imagination. The higher kinds of power, the higher opportunities of mind, the richer resources, the springs of the deeper happiness, are open to him in the exact degree in which he is able to use his imagination with individual freedom and intelligence. Formal education makes small provision for this great need of his nature; it trains his eye, his hand, his faculty of observation, his ability to reason, his capacity for resolute action; but it takes little account of that higher faculty which, cooperating with the other faculties, makes him an architect instead of a builder, an artist instead of an artisan, a poet instead of a drudge.

The fairy tale belongs to the child and ought always to be within his reach, not only because it is his special literary form and his nature craves it, but because it is one of the most vital of the textbooks offered to him in the school of life. In ultimate importance it outranks the arithmetic, the grammar, the geography, the manuals of science; for without the aid of the imagination none of these books is really comprehensible.

HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE

The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library

Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., for The Parents' Institute, Inc. Publishers of "The Parents' Magazine"

1905

"Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf"

This day in the life of Jonathan is so cool for showing what it's like to walk in faith, and what it might look like when God shows up.

One day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to the young man bearing his armor, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side."

But he did not tell his father.

A normal day, a normal guy (ok, he was the son of the king--wait a minute, that's what we are!) and his assistant armor-bearer.

Actually, it wasn't like every other day, because the Philistines were across the valley, threatening to attack. It was a stand-off. Wait, it's like that every day now, too, isn't it?

And what was the mighty leader of the army (Saul, Jonathan's father) doing?

Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh.

My gosh, nothing's changed. Saul, the mighty leader-king, was sitting, taking no action. He was paralyzed. Motionless. Doing anything but leading.

Now let's consider Jonathan's idea. Would anyone have recommended to Jonathan (the king's son) that he should head over to the enemy camp, with a guy trained only to carry a shield? Was it wise? Was it well thought out? Was it a good war strategy?

No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

Evidently he didn't consult the generals in the planning room. He had his radio turned off. Didn't wait for orders. He was going it alone. No one knew, and certainly no one would have advised him to go. The advice would have been exactly the opposite. Saul would have forbidden him.

On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez, and the other Seneh. One cliff stood to the north toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba.

Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."

Are you kidding me? Heading over to the enemy camp, no air cover, two versus hundreds, and the best you can tell me is, "perhaps"? What's up with that?

And the armor bearer must have been nuts:

"Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."

I can't think of any line from any movie or book that tugs at me more than this tiny dialogue between Jonathan and his companion.

Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands."

Ha. Let's go show ourselves to them, and if they taunt us and tell us to come up to their camp, we will know God is in it. Do you get what he's saying? If things look bad, if it gets worse as we walk ahead, if things start looking grim, then we'll know God is in it.

What gives? Aren't things supposed to look brighter along the path to paradise? Shouldn't we get what God has made us desire? Doesn't He make the path clear and smooth?

You gotta see mythically to look beyond what you can see to what could be.

So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in!"

The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson!"

You knew that was coming, didn't you? You suppose they recognized the prince?

So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel!"

Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.

You didn't expect that, did you?

Then panic struck the whole army--those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties--and the ground shook.

It was a panic sent by God.

God didn't send lightning and strike half of the enemy dead before Jonathan and the armor bearer went on up that hill. He didn't blind them, break their legs, trip them, or in any way make them less the warriors they were when they woke up that morning.

Jonathan and his heart-mate were simply filled with confidence that this was God's battle, and they fought like wolverines. Lips snarled, swords slashing, back-to-back. Don't you want to live just one day like this one, sometime during your life?

And guess what. God didn't show His own might until Jonathan took his action. Until he had gone past the point of no return. Jonathan climbed and killed, then God came in and finished up the job.

So sweet.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Saul's lookouts at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions. Then Saul said to the men who were with him, "Muster the forces and see who has left us." When they did, it was Jonathan and his armor-bearer who were not there.

(Isn't it like a faithless leader, when there's a commotion, to look around and see who's not standing at attention, who's not sitting in their pew this morning?)

Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring the ark of God." (At that time it was with the Israelites.)

Was Saul looking for a sign from God? Whatever he was up to, he didn't have time. Because--

While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand."

Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle.

Heh. How fascinating. Even men with no faith will follow when a man with faith steps out. I don't think this is an endictment of Saul--it's more of a picture of how God fills some with faith and courage (Jonathan), and they advance. Others He prepares to follow.

And when they follow they see the most amazing things--

They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

When a man of faith takes action, even the traitors come back. Gotta love that. Welcome back, Prodigals.

When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit.

Even those hiding in shame come out into the light, when a man of God moves into action.

So the LORD rescued Israel that day, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.

Wow, a single day in the life of Jonathan. Yet it speaks volumes about our own lives.

Reminds me of the song of Deborah and Barak, when they sang together:

When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
praise the LORD!

Men of faith, rise up.

Wir Machen (We Make or Do)

The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. [Judges 2]

Joshua left a mark on the world. Man, to die with that on your gravestone...what greater words could be said about a man than that the people around Him served the Lord during his lifetime?

Think on that.

Now, we compare hunger with that German word "machen" (to make or to do).

On the one hand, hunger is a deep God-given instinct that we are meant to be made more by something or someone else.

Making and Doing are God-given instincts that we are meant to make ourselves part of the world.

We build, move, create, design, blow up. We construct, engineer, craft. We stitch, draw, compose, perform. We reproduce ourselves. We give ourselves away. We sell out. We offer ourselves. We hold nothing back. We invest ourselves.

Consider how Godly this impulse is.

Have you ever totally given yourself to something--put yourself into it? Have you ever seen someone in the things that they do?

Believe me, you don't have to look very far to see this. Start by thinking of the quilt your grandmother gave you, or the picture your four-year old drew with crayons this morning.

She's in there. Right?

Walk with me on this one. It's huge.

Hunger

We all hunger. We crave. We long. We yearn, we seek, we thirst. Without hunger, we cease to be who God made us to be.

Every day we endeavor to complete ourselves, to fill up some space inside us. We eat because we are empty.

God made us so that in every aspect of life, we regularly and repeatedly hunger. We run short or run out of something. We are reminded that we are not complete in and of ourselves. That we are somehow lacking.

That we could be more.

This was the very thing that Satan chose to exploit when he approached Eve. "Don't you realize you're not all you could be?"

Interestingly, how many times do we hear Jesus ask, "What do you want?"

So what was up with God inventing something that needed completion? And He had the audacity to call it "good". Invented a being with these recurrent cravings.

What does our hunger tell us about ourselves and God? What are your thoughts?

Humans Do the Godliest Things

It seems that all of our human lives can be boiled down to two basic instincts. These two instincts are so wrapped up in our beings that they are almost invisible. For us, that means they're probably mythic realities.

The first is, we all hunger. This sensation is universal, and applies to virtually every single area of life. Think of all the things we hunger for: food, companionship, security, understanding. You can name just about anything, and somebody has a hunger for it.

There's a good German word for the second, and it takes two English words to capture it. In German it's the word machen, which means to make or to do. We are creatures of intentional activities. We don't just exist. We do stuff, we make things. We reproduce, create works of art, build great structures, go places, expore, discover. We make and we do all kinds of stuff.

Why are these two behaviors so significant? Because they encompass all other behaviors. They just may be the most fundamentally God-like behaviors that we exhibit.

Understanding them may just help us get the meaning of life. Understanding them might make all the stories that we have read or that we are a part of make a little more sense.

Believe vs. Admit -- and Faith

The longer I live the greater the difference I see between "believing" and "admitting." There's a huge difference.

For example, I just reread a post by Steve Coan called "All" this morning. And, you know what? All I can do with that is admit it.

Not agree, but admit. Not believe, or accept, as if I'm a turnstyle.

Admit. Go with the flow. Join it. Admit it.

What Steve speaks of is bigger than me. How can I judge it? What's to be evaluated? It's Jesus.

This should be good news to all of us. It's not up to us to get our beliefs right, and to develop great faith.

Lest you get the wrong impression from the word "admit"--it's not the begrudging admittance like "admitting that you have done something wrong." It's a simple, peaceful, "Yeah, that's how it is, really" kind of admittance.

When you sit down and look at what makes up your world-view (or your church-view, or your Jesus-view) how much of it did you really choose to believe? And that portion that you simply chose, how much has it changed you?

Some will answer, "What I have chosen to believe has changed me a great deal. It's made me who I am." I don't know exactly what to say to that, but it somehow reminds me of Thomas. Thomas chose not to believe until he "knew." He had to see Jesus with his eyes. Then he chose to give his allegiance to Him:

[Jesus] "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." [Thomas] "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus' response glows with mythic light:

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

It's that second part that is eating me alive these days. There's an interesting clue about this kind of "belief by choice" in an earlier conversation between Jesus and Thomas. Remember this dialogue?

[Jesus] You know the way to the place where I am going." [Thomas] "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

I take both of these stories as typifying someone who needs to know before believing. One who begins with a position of doubt, which must be settled before belief can occur.

It's so much work.

"Beliefs" are founded upon knowledge. "Faith" is founded upon lack of knowledge. Remember that faith gives substance to the things we can only hope for just now--because we can't see them yet.

Here's a different scene that illustrates something close to what I'm saying:

When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.

When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue."

So, the centurian's a good guy--he deserves to have his servant healed, right? That's not why Jesus healed the servant.

So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed."

What's this? A Roman who's never met Jesus, speaking of the power of the Word? Believing without seeing? How did he have such faith? The answer is, he had spent some time considering the power of one's word.

"For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel."

Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Matthew misses an important point when he tells this story--he tells it as if the Roman centurian went out to talk to Jesus. In Matthew's telling, the faith is in the asking.

Luke (always one to get the details right) makes sure we get the whole story. The centurian believed something about Jesus that he had learned without any kind of evidence, or knowledge. (Had Jesus ever healed anyone when He was not in their presence? I'll have to look that up.) The centurian was a man of authority, and he knew what kind of power there is in "saying the word."

Think on that--it's very mythic.

Back to admitting--I wonder if great acts of faith (healing, mountains falling into the sea) are more like admitting the power of Jesus' word.

Simply by the power of just His word, He heals. What released Jesus' power wasn't the centurian's earnest begging. Nor was it the argument that "He's a great guy, he deserves to have his servant healed." It was this odd, irrational faith that Jesus could just "say the word." I don't think the centurian was surprised when the servant got out of bed that day.

Admit it. Your faith has been there all along. You're already one of His children. You have wanted to believe, therefore you already believe.

Besides, admitting is a lot more fun than conjuring, evaluating, struggling, trying to believe.

Jesus, just say the word.

Parables for the Modern Church

By Davin Dahlgren (www.indwelt.com)

These are a nice read...

The Willful Stones
The Contractors
The Tools
The King's Raiment
The Rollers
The Wayward Sheep
The Garden
The Bridge
The Adopted Son
The Water
The Actor
The Chains
The Door Knockers
The Artist

Make sure you read David's own story. I wonder if he's still writing.

An Apology for the Last Three Posts

Sorry for dumping all that explanation and 'illustration' out there the last few days. I just had to get it out of my system. Experiencing just how Truth is integral with story is critical for living mythically.

Life is a story. The world is a grand parable.

Explanation robs a thing of life.

But I promise, only true mythic stuff from now on. I'm retiring my white lab coat. Back to the cigars and brandy in the drawing room.

An Illustration of an "Illustration"

I heard about this book on the radio this morning. The premise of the book is, as the title indicates, that men are like waffles (they compartmentalize their lives, can only be in one 'box' at a time) and that women are like spaghetti (they think about many things at the same time, one thing is 'tied' in with many other things).

Whether or not you like the foods or the illustrations, I offer this as a counter-example of how NOT to convey truth. This is like that is merely the use of a simile. That is, something bears a resemblance, or has similar characteristics to something else.

Waffles may indeed be an interesting illustration of what a man's mind is like, but you can't say that waffles teach us about ourselves.

Jesus isn't just similar to fire. Fire gets its identity from Him, and then it turns around and speaks of him. The seasons don't simply remind us of life and death, they were set in motion by the creator so that they could teach us about hope.

There's a remarkable difference between waffles and fire.

An Illustration of Truth

Here's a perfect illustration of the way in which truth is conveyed mythically, in the context of a very short story, without the need for 'explanation' [from I John 3]:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

Think on that for a minute. A guy has pen in hand, and he's trying to explain what love is (this is John, remember). And he says to himself, "I can go on and on about love--how to love, how not to love, how to receive love, how to measure love--or, I can cut right to the greatest story of love in the history of the universe. Hmmm. I think I'll go for the story."

And in one line, he conveys all we will ever need to know in order to both feel loved and learn to love. It's like he said, "If you forget everything else I tell you, remember this: Jesus laid down His life for us."

That's how Truth makes its way into our being. That's how Jesus makes His way into our being.

Truth is not explained logically, nor is it merely derived from or illustrated by stories. It is integral to the story itself.

In this same way, every natural thing in our universe speaks of Jesus. Think for a minute of all the ways God put Himself into His creation, and then how Jesus used those ways to teach. [In January and February, I listed all the word pictures of Jesus from three of the gospels.]

This is how we know what communion is: I am the vine, you are the branches.

This is how we know what the initiation is: Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

This is how we know what the Spirit is: The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

There are millions and millions of examples we could list here. Kinda makes my head spin.

"What is Truth?!"

Don't you wish Jesus had come up with a good one-liner, something we could hang our hats on, when Pilate asked Him this little question.

[Jesus] "...for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

"What is truth?" Pilate asked.

What is truth, indeed.

Bear with me on this. It'll get weird, I am guessing.

After college I went to work at a newspaper. We published one newspaper and one free "shopper" each week. The free distribution shopper had no news at all, while a "good" week for the newspaper was one where the ads took up 60% or more of the total available column inches in the paper, with no more than 40% of the space in the paper being news. During a "really good" week, we'd have 65% advertisement, 35% news.

No matter what the ratio, you only have so many column inches to work with each week. You can never squeeze more than 100% out of the paper, and no single square inch could be both ad and news. Each inch was either ad, or news. You might draw a picture of it this way:



This grid represents a single issue of a publication. The green portion of this matrix represents the total number of square inches available. There is an axis for "advertisements" and one for "information" (news), and the more advertising you include, the less news you have space for. You can see the red stars that represent the ratio of information and news for both a newspaper and a free paper.

Another example is an encyclopedia, where there is absolutely no news at all. One hundred percent of the available space is dedicated to the information.

So far so good. The story continues...

The next job I had was working as "Publications Editor" for a startup dotcom. Our e-commerce website would provide lots of information, articles, tips, and stories related to grilling in the backyard. Along with that free information, we would have a store with hundreds of backyard-related items for sale. (Basically, we were using our information to get people to the site, then trying to entice them to buy something before leaving.)

My job was to harmonize the articles with the stuff that our procurement people were sourcing for the store.

At that time (2000), the internet was very young, and there were lots of theories about how websites could generate money, how advertising could work in such a dynamic medium, how banners would work, how interactive a web company could make its site. No one really knew how to do it effectively, and no one knew exactly how 'visitors' would act when surfing through a website.

Would the articles lead them to shop? Would the information create the desire to make a purchase?

Initially, we simply put small images of our products off to the side of our articles. So we assigned each product and each article with keywords, so that the site could dynamically display products that "related" to the articles. In this way we tried to entice people to click on the products and buy stuff.

One afternoon, a couple of us, not satisfied with this 'keyword relationship' strategy, were chatting about the options of this medium (the web) and it occurred to me that there was a significant difference between our site and a newspaper. And maybe we weren't doing all we could to maximize the options of this medium.

The web offers some interesting options. For example, pointing at an object (a word in an article, or an image of a product) could trigger a pop up balloon, which could give additional information about the product. Another significant difference is that each page could theoretically be unlimited in square inches. So you could simply stack information and advertisement a mile long and never run out of space.

Not saying this is a good idea, just that it's possible, and we hadn't considered it. The chart above comes from that very discussion. As we sat there looking at this chart and discussing this notion of "information" and "advertisement," the solution came jumping off the whiteboard at us.

We could infuse our information with advertisement.

Not simply correlate certain products with certain articles, but actually use the same space on the screen as both information (article) and advertisement. Using the same space for information and for advertisement would allow us to go toward the upper right-hand corner. A portion of the screen could be both 100% information and 100% advertisement! We nicknamed this perfect combination "Bright."

We were selling these huge gas grills that cost over $4,000, as well as lots of accessories, decorations, foods, sauces, etc. On the publications side, we were having some magazine editors write articles for us. What we needed to do was take our products to the ediors and have them write "stories" (that's what we called them!) that included a collection of our products.

So they would set up a backyard party, complete with our grill, some meats, decor, recipes, etc. All they had to do was do what magazines do best--tell the story in a compelling way, so that the shopper couldn't help but associate with the great times that these editors were having with these products. Their words were not simply descriptions of our products -- they were stories, complete with desire, pleasure, friendship, and romance. Aspiration.

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Ok, so what does this have to do with mythic reality? Good question. About a year ago, I was outside looking at the stars, when the chart came back to me in vivid detail. I sat and had a good conversation with God about it. As He began to speak, I ran and grabbed a notebook, and here's what we talked about:



This chart represents any "event," which I would describe as anything observable (in mythic terms, the visible). Might take only a moment to occur, or it might take weeks, months, years, decades or centuries to unfold. Could be something we read, something that happens to us, something we merely see happen. Could even be an object. Or a person, or an action that someone takes.

Basically, all of the stuff that happens all the time around us.

And these events have a characteristic called "information," and another characteristic called "meaning." Generally, the what and the why. What is simply the data--time, place, people, duration, colors, etc. Very quantifiable.

This bumped into this, and it took this long, and the net result was this.

Why is the meaning of the event--the significance, the reason, the "matter" of the matter.

With a communication (a "word"), the very words, language, voice, etc. are the what; the meaning of the communication is something very different--it's the why.

Sermons, for example, come in a variety of types. Two examples are on my chart--expository, and devotional. Both of them are similar to newspapers, in that the information and the meaning do not overlap. Because a sermon lasts for a set duration (30 minutes), the information and the meaning have to add up to 100%. An expository preacher might take 90% of his time to explain a passage (the what) and then he will take the remaining 10% to talk about its meaning (the why). On the other hand, a devotional might consist of just a little bit of information (a quote, a single verse) and then move straight into deriving the meaning.

In either case, the information leads to the application. Thus, the scriptures are "applied to our lives".

The meaning is "derived" from the information.

Consider this, my friends. Stories require no explanation. The why is contained within the what. The same with parables. Somehow, don't you get the feeling Jesus didn't really want to explain the parables to his followers? He just wanted to tell the parable.

Dreams are a little different type of communication. Because in a dream, neither the event nor the meaning are entirely clear. So a dream may fall somewhere short of complete understanding of the information and of the meaning.

Thus, we see how faith factors into this chart. When imperfect information and imperfect meaning come together, and yet the event adds up to more than meets the eye--this "gap" is represented by the arrows--it takes faith to accept it. Because logic, knowledge, understanding will not help us grasp the meaning.

The meaning is not derived--it is implicit in the information.

Those who hear his voice are those for whom the meaning does not need to be explained (derived). The what and the why are inseparable. The one conveys the other.

No more are we limited by the media type (x inches in the newspaper, x minutes in the sermon, x pages in the book of Matthew). We are free to roam the entire universe in our very hearts. Everything takes on meaning beyond what its information can convey.

A thing becomes more than itself.

I offer you then this notion of perfect Truth: 100% grasping of both the what and the why of an event.

[And I offer you this notion of perfect absurdity: 100% grasping of the what and zero grasp of the why of an event. Science makes a terrible religion. Too much what, too little why.]

Truth, my friends, is what it is to experience Jesus.

Something happens (an event). We open ourselves to that event taking on significance (meaning). That meaning can transcend (add up to more than 100% of) our reason, our logic, our scientific faculties.

Faith allows us to see more than can be seen with the eyes.

And we act.

We live. We love. We sacrifice, we wander, we change, we dream, we wonder, we yell out loud. We seize the day, we let the next slip away without a regret. We let the wind blow us along. We grab an oar, and row for all we are worth.

Life is one huge event, filled with millions of moment-sized events. Each one can have meaning beyond its explanation, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear what goes beyond our senses and our rationale.

Together they make up the story that God is writing.

Seeing them is the meaning of life.

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I told you it would be weird.

Science, Mysticism -- and Foolishness

I have spent some time thinking about the differences between Western and Eastern (Greek vs. Hebrew; similarly, left brain vs. right brain) ways of looking at things.

Paul talked about this very thing in one of his letters to those gathering in the city of Corinth. Here's how he spelled out the pitfalls of both the Western (left brain) and Eastern (right brain) mentalities:

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, I follow Paul; another, I follow Apollos; another, I follow Cephas; still another, I follow Christ.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

Where is the wise man?
Where is the scholar?
Where is the philosopher of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified:

a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Therefore, as it is written:

"Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

So the Jews looked for miraculous signs and wonders. And the Greeks tried to think their way to the Truth. Fascinating. Neither one got there.

Paul's remedy -- look to the foolish things. More than that even -- BE foolish.

Let's raise a toast to seeing all the things that are not and learning what they have to say about the things that are.

And to Christ, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption--Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

"There I will give you my message..."

How does God speak? Listen to this little scene, told by Jeremiah:

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message."

So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the LORD came to me:

"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel..."

Then Jeremiah goes on to fill in the details of how God will shape the nation of Israel in His hands.

But the particular message to Israel isn't what intrigues me. It's how God spoke to Jeremiah. He told Jeremiah to head into town and go to the potter's house.

Weird. But very parable-like, don't you think?

"Hey Jeremiah, you know the pottery place down on 4th and Main? Head down there this afternoon. I have something to say to you, and I need you to watch the potter for a while. I'll talk to you later."

God can speak to us through just about anything. We just have to listen with that kind of ears, and see with that kind of eyes.

Watch the hands of the potter. Listen to the song of the meadow lark. See the rain fall from heaven. Let your eyes rise with the smoke from a fire. Let Him speak to you through those things. He is to be found, everywhere we look.

He continues to speak.

Speak to us Father; we are listening.

This makes me sad...

Someone recently recommended this as a good example of personal goals. How does this make you feel?

My Personal Mission Statement

Mission: I will be a Christian Husband, Family Man, and Businessman. I will use every resource God provides me to carry out His work on earth as set forth below.

Values: The things I will stand for, my values I will be recognized for. I will:

1. Work hard in all that I do. (Col 3:23)
2. Give my best effort in every task. (1 Thes 4:14)
3. Be open to the direction of the Holy Spirit wherever that may lead. (John 14:26)
4. Enthusiastically approach new challenges and all else I do. (2 Cor 9:2)
5. Live by Christian principles. In all things I will try to make Christ's ethics and morals my own. (Rom 2:7-8)
6. Be open, honest, and generous. (2 Cor 9:11)
7. Be careful with words and actions. (James 1:26)
8. Seek the counsel of others frequently and thoughtfully. (Prov 15:22)
9. Never be satisfied with the status quo. I will be an agent of change. (Rom 15:20)
10. Seek to improve and grow those around and beneath me in work and all other areas. (1 Thes 5:14)
11. Not seek my own glory, I will seek to honor God and have praise be given to those around me. (Rom 15:5-6)
12. Never take things too seriously but have a great time in everything, continually enjoying God's blessings. (Jam 4:13-15)

Goals: The things I will accomplish, my goals. I will:

1. Make my marriage an example of that laid out in the Scriptures. I will be a one-woman man seeking the growth of my wife. I will assist her in the duties of our household, date her regularly, and cherish her always.
2. Have all four of my children make personal commitments of faith to Christ, publicly demonstrating their new life through baptism. Play an active role in leading them into Christian maturity.
3. Assist in bringing to Christ or to a much greater degree of Christian maturity over 100 people.
4. Write a book explaining the things God has taught me through life for my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
5. Generate substantial wealth for my employer.
6. Become president of [my company]. I will do so while maintaining my values and ethics.
7. Be an elder of the congregation at which we worship.
8. Give an increasing portion of all I earn to charity: church, missions, and other Christian organizations.
9. Provide financially for my wife, children, and grandchildren.
10. Spend quality and quantity time with my children while they are young. On average, I will dedicate ten hours per week to personal time with them.
11. Visit over fifty foreign countries to develop a broad world view and a passion for all of God's children.
12. Assist others who are Christians to achieve success in their profession and careers.
13. Continually be in the Word of God. I will be in the Word on a daily basis. I will read the Bible through at least twice each year.
14. Memorize Scripture. I will add to my repertoire at least ten new verses each year.
15. Continue to read-I will read at least five significant books each year.
16. Continue to learn-I will pick up at least one new topic, sport, field, or craft per year.
17. Continue to teach-I will teach at least one class each year.
18. Become fluent in at least one additional language.
19. I will fast one day per week for the spiritual health and protection of my children.
20. Exercise regularly, at least three times per week.
21. Lead weekly Bible Study

Can you imagine any other creature on the planet making these kinds of resolutions? Can you feel the assumption that "you are not what you were meant to be"?

I stand against this kind of thing. Unfortunately, I feel like a fish standing against water.

We already are what God made us to be. If we feel anything less, it is simply an indication that we have believed a lie.

That's why the Truth is so important.
That's what Light reveals.
That's what the Life came to restore to us.

Was Her Riding Hood Really Red?

Why did we ever insist on the infallibility and inerrancy of the scriptures?

Here's why: because we read them as if they were a science or history textbook. In those fields, it's critical that the data be accurate.

For example, if you were entering the field of Radiology, you would want to know that your text books were accurate. Errors could be deadly.

Our infatuation with 'inerrancy' and 'infallibility' is an indication that we are constructing a faith system scientifically. Truth simply isn't conveyed that way. Jesus didn't spend His time convincing people to read the Old Testament more.

Consider the Scofield edition of the KJV. Use scripture to prove scripture. Back up conclusions with cross-references. It's a scientific approach. Very western, and very misguided.

Fortunately, the scriptures are not a science or history book. The scriptures are first of all a story book--a record of many of the events of history when God showed up. Moments when He intervened in the affairs of mankind.

Did you ever in your life wonder if a detail in a story was accurate or not? I think not. Have you ever wondered how the story teller knew that Little Red Riding Hood's hood was actually red? Or whether her cloak was even hooded at all? Of course not. Why not? Because your enjoyment of the story doesn't depend upon the accuracy of the details.

You simply read the story for the sake of the story.

With that in mind, here's a good version of the scriptures, if you want something to help you get out of the 'scientific' mode of reading:

The Story (Zondervan)

They rearrange all of the writings into pretty much the order in which they occurred, remove the verses and chapter headings(!), and print it the full width of the page. Very highly recommended.

When was the last time you sat down on a rainy Sunday afternoon, cuddled up under a blanket, and read a good story--from the scriptures? This book will do it for you.

The System versus the Self

Why was Jesus so upset with organized religion? Of all people, He was most hostile and saved His harshest comments for the religious leaders of the day.

Were they just really bad people who all happened to have the same profession? Or is there something more than simply that they were bad people?

Jesus didn't seem offended by the rich young ruler, or by Zacchaeus, or by the woman at the well. They all had some serious baggage. What was it about Pharisees that really hacked Him off?

I believe Jesus was upset with their allegiance to the system they represented and sought to propogate. The system that sought to tell people how they ought to live, that showed them how to please God, that offered the exact measurements for meeting God's expectations.

His nickname for them: Teachers of the Law. Consider that for a moment.

About them, Jesus said, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."

What offended Him was their allegiance to the system.

But what touched Him was always the self. The rich ruler had misplaced desires. The woman at the well wasn't telling the whole story, but Jesus in a few words spoke truth directly into her life and story.

Nicodemus, the one pharisee who Jesus had a fairly compassionate conversation with, came on his own, after dark. In a way, he may have been hiding from the system. I picture him sneaking through the side streets, keeping himself in the shadows, until he finds the door where Jesus is. He steps into the room, and it's just Jesus and Nicodemus.

No agenda, no system. Only Jesus, and Nicodemus. Two selves.

"Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

And Jesus spoke first of sight:

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

He described what it was like. He didn't offer a methodology, or a new standard, or some twist on the System.

He offered a word picture. Welcome to Mythic Reality, Nicodemus.

Jesus used this same methodology during all of His public teaching. Word pictures, metaphors, parables. Heavy on imagery and story, light on explanation.

He still stands opposed to the propogation of System.

He is still touched by captive selves.

And He still uses the same teaching methodology today. The world is His parable. Life is His story.

That's what this blog is about.

Key Ideas of Mythic Reality

In no particular order:

• Truth is the perfect convergence of 'event' and 'meaning'; the unveiling of the what and the why inside a person. A thing happens, and Jesus unveils its meaning to us.
  
• Imagination is the internal mechanism used to open our eyes to the mythic nature of an event.
  
• Story is the best metaphor for life as we know it. We all have magnificent bit parts in Someone else's story.
  
• "Good" and "Evil" are not as useful as "Truth (light)" and "Falseness (darkness)" in understanding a human activity or condition. You don't need definitions of "light" and "darkness" in order to understand this. You simply need eyes to see.
  
• "Rebirth" is simply one metaphor for what it is to enter the kingdom. The invitation and the entering may take any number of forms.
  
• Acceptance of a set of propositional statements does not constitute salvation.
  
• Truth (entering the kingdom, 'seeing the light,' being 'reborn', etc.) is a thing that happens to us. It is not a verifiable proposition with which we agree, nor a conclusion we reach, nor a decision we make. It is experienced, not grasped.
  
• Faith is a kind of trust, a naive acceptance of what we have been told, a child-like wonder in our hearts. It is not the acceptance of a set of beliefs. Thomas saw and then believed. This is the equivalent of reading the scripture end to end, studying all the faith traditions and deciding to put one's trust in Jesus. Jesus said there was a more blessed way than this. "Be like children." Children are simple and naive, let's face it.
  
• We were created for fellowship with each other and communion with God. All forms of 'sin' can be described in terms of failure to engage in these two kinds of life.
  
• The glory of God is seen all through His creation, in the faces of a thousand of His children and creatures.
  
• There is no distinction between the sacred and the secular. There is simply life and death, light and darkness. Life activities cannot be categorized. Imagine walking through a music store and reading these headings above the racks of CDs: "Rap, Disco, New Age, Classical, Opera, Soundtracks, Country, Rock, Hip Hop, Gospel." Bogus. All human activities are spiritual, and can be described in terms of "light" and "darkness."
  
• What cannot be seen with the eyes opens our eyes to what is seen.
  
• Jesus came to restore all things to Himself. He does this as He sees fit, at His own pace. We have been invited to join Him in this restoration activity. Every knee would do well to bow at His coming and His activity.
  
• The main activity of the evil one is to tell that which God created, "You are not what you were meant to be. Someone is to blame. Either you, or God, blew it."
  
• Variety is God's way.
  
• Irony is God's sense of humor.
  
• When it comes to walking together with humans, pressing in is always the right response. Running away is always a sinful act.
  
• When it comes to walking with God, allowing His life to flow out of us is all that is required. Let your light shine. As the song goes, "Shine, make them wonder what you got."
  
• Bezalel (Exodus 31) is the rule, not the exception. Understand the life of Bezalel, and we will understand our own lives much more clearly. What is it that the Spirit of God is filling you to do? Go do it.