God, easter and Mythopoia

The classic book "The Cloud of Unknowing" is now at Librivox.

 Related book: Underhill's book Mysticism

or try this:

1. Julian of Norwich. "Revelations of Divine Love" · (readers)
2. Teresa de Jesus (Avila), Santa. "Conceptions of Divine Love" · (readers)
3. Teresa de Jesus (Avila), Santa. "Interior Castle, The" · (readers)
4. Kempis, Thomas a. "Imitation of Christ, The" · (readers)

No, I'm not into mysticism much myself. Different people approach God in different ways, something known as far back as

1. Arnold, Edwin, Sir. "Bhagavad Gita" ·

but St Paul compares it to the various parts of the body which are necessary for God's work to be done on earth.

A good book on the various approaches to God can be found in this classic, by an honest atheist:

1. James, William. "Varieties of Religious Experience" · (readers)

and for those of us who aren't mystical and just have to use the "little way" to find God in everyday experience, try these:

1. Lawrence, Brother. "Practice of the Presence of God, The" ·
2. Therese, Saint. "Story of a Soul, The" · (readers)

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a re-enactment of the famous argument between Tolkien and CSLewis.

Actually the conversation was late at night and included several people, but this is the jist of Tolkien's argument.

and a strong defense of the importance of creativity and being an artist in a world that insists everything should be dull and utilitarian...

the poem that expresses this is Mythopoeia...

The Tolkien professor reads the poem and then discusses it (MP3LINK) as a lecture in his Tolkien course...

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  FatherStephen , an Orthodox priest, has a good essay on Narnia, Lewis, Barfield and Tolkien HERE.

Both Tolkien and Lewis, specifically as Christians, become the greatest story-tellers of the 20th century.

And this brings me back to the heart of my own thoughts. The mythic character of reality is another way to speak of a one-storey universe. In Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s terms, the world is sacrament – pointing to and participating in something beyond itself.

It is possible to simply speak on the most literal level – to speak of events (such as Christ’s crucifixion) – and relate them to ideas (such as atonement) which inhabit the world of the mind. But such literalism renders the greatest event in the universe into the merest incident of which our later doctrine is the greater reality.

The intuition of Lewis is the same as the intuition and teaching of the fathers. The Cross is both event in history and also the truest event of the Great Myth. Its power is such that it draws other things to itself. It is the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, Isaac on Mt. Moriah, the staff of Moses with the snake, the outstretched arms of Moses at the battle with the Amalekites, the Tree that Moses cast into the bitter water, the Footstool of God. At the Feast of the Holy Cross the Church declares: “Let all the trees of the wood, planted from the beginning of time, rejoice; for their nature hath been sanctified by the stretching of Christ on the Tree” (Magnification of the Feast).

Such analysis is neither "right" or "left", but points to the catholic (small c) imagination that Andrew Greeley often wrote about: 

Catholics live in an enchanted world: a world of statues and holy water, stained glass and votive candles, saints and religious medals, rosary beads and holy pictures. But these Catholic paraphernalia are merely hints of a deeper and more pervasive religious sensibility that inclines Catholics to see the Holy lurking in creation. The world of the Catholic is haunted by a sense that the objects, events, and persons of daily life are revelations of Grace .