"The Christian still has to work, with mind as well as body, to suffer, hope, and die; but he may now percieve that all his bents and faculties have a purpose, which can be redeemed. So great is the bounty with which he has been treated that he may now, perhaps, fairly dare to guess that in Fantasy he may actually assist in the effoliation and multiple enrichment of creation. All tales may come true; and yet, at the last, redeemed, they may be as like and as unlike the forms that we give them as Man, finally redeemed, will be like and unlike the fallen that we know."
J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairie Stories
Verlyn Flieger in her book Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World goes on to say this:
"Both Tolkien and Barfield regarded the Word as the instrument of Creation and words as instruments of humanity's separation from God and from the universe...Both felt that the task of the poet was to bridge that separation, to use words to reconnect what they had severed. For each of them, words were to be poetic instruments of humankind's ultimate and conscious reunion with God." And again, "Poetry reinvests the world with meaning and rebuilds relationship with it." (pg 47-48)
In Tolkien's essay, these thoughts occur after his explanation that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, that the Gospel itself is the ultimate case of a true myth. And that myth defines reality, calling us back to a time when the same God who called a dead messiah from a dark grave into the light of Easter morning, also spoke this creation into existence with the words, "Let there be light".
Could it be that God has always used something more akin to myth, poetry, song, and story to bring into realization his creation? For us, these things are considered the less concrete forms of expression. What if for God they are the most substantial means. What if the old stories of the Bible that sound so mythic are closer to reality than any literal language we could conjur? In other words, what if myth is actually more literal?
And finally, what if imagination and creativity are the doors through which we bring into reality a love so fantastic that it sounds like a fairy tale?
I think this is absolutely true, and my thoughts go several directions as I consider this. Jesus taught mostly in parables, especially when He was teaching us about the Kingdom of God. God lets us in on the fact that His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than ours; Not just a little bit higher, but as high as the heavens are above the earth.
ReplyDeleteOur literal language cannot begin to describe the thoughts and designs of God. "No eye has seen, no ear heard, no mind conceived."
John Eldredge talks about this as well, in his short book "Epic."
I also consider the fact that making the statements "Temptation is difficult to resist," or "it's good to be selfless" carry nowhere near the same meaning as is carried in the story of Frodo and his struggle to resist the lure of the ring or Sam and his heroic self-sacrifice for Frodo.
Great thoughts. Great post.
Yeah, the story carries a weight in it that a simply literal statement seems to miss, doesn't it? I find I'm too often great at giving an argument or 'proof' of something and no hearts are moved, nothing changes. But Becky Pippert makes a great point along these lines:
ReplyDelete"People tend to preach sermons and make arguments, Jesus tended to tell stories and ask questions."
As for the inadequacy of descriptive language, Tolkien might have said, as Barfield might have said, that language has splintered and is in a sense, "less potent" nowadays. Poetry, story, art is an effort of rememberance, reinvestment, redemption.
When we create, as dwellers in the Story of God, we can set overturned ideas upright again. Somehow that happens by way mythic language which might be able to 'get at' things we have no literal concept for and cannot reach. Our imaginations have great redemptive power. That's why media oversaturation atrophies imagination. We become sensuous and lose sensitivity.
Thanks for commenting!