C.S. Lewis on Why Myth?

In  a review The Lord of The Rings in On Stories and Other Essays on Literature C.S. Lewis writes this about myth's place in our reading and thinking:

" 'But why,' (some ask), 'why, if you have a serious comment to make on the real life of men, must you do it by talking about a phantasmagoric never-never land of your own?' Because, I take it, one of the main things the author wants to say is that the real life of men is of that mythical and heroic quality. One can see the principle at work in his characterization. Much that in a realistic work would be done by 'character delineation' is here done simply by making the character an elf, a dwarf, or a hobbit. The imagined beings have their insides on the outside; they are visible souls. And man as a whole, Man pitted against the universe, have we seen him at all till we see that he is like a hero in a fairy tale?"

"The Value of myth is that it takes all the things you know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by the veil of familiarity."

"We do not retreat from reality, we rediscover it. As long as the story lingers in our mind, the real things are more themselves... By dipping them in myth we see them more clearly."

In  Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton explains that he believes in fairy tales.  By the end of that book, I realized that I did too.  If we go through this life without the very real sense that the world around us has the characteristics of a myth, then we are missing the point, perhaps.  The fact that we are "used to it" doesn't make it any less astonishing.  As Lewis says in a letter to a Mrs. Johnson, "The good things even of this world are far too good ever to be reached by imagination.  Even the common orange, you know: no one could have imagined it before he tasted it. How much less heaven." And the same is true of all of our existence.

This is why I read myth and fantasy.  To remind me of the truth.

Citation: Quotes from Lewis' review of Tolkien found here <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis> Accessed 1/26/2013

Modeling repentance for the next generation

This quote, from an essay attempting to understand Luther's pithy but curious injunction, “Sin boldly. But believe even more boldly in Christ, and rejoice", concluded with a strong and important admonition to me as a parent. Worth pondering.

"I think it is literally a temptation: It would be a parental sin, a sin of the foolish variety, to launch my children into adulthood armed with nothing but the advice not to sin. What they really need is the knowledge of how to deal with sin and guilt as they all-too-predictablyh acquire it. I don’t want them to be blindsided by the fact that they are sinners, or uninformed about what to do with consciences that rightly condemn them. They need to learn the Christian skill of taking it to God, of walking in the light, of believing Christ boldly, rejoicing, and praying boldly."

Citation: <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scriptorium/2009/08/sin-boldly/>. Accessed 1/24/13.