The Power of the Novel

[Yes, this is a non-Tuning Slide, non-Buddy's War post. I will try again to get back in this blogging swing. More on that at another time.]

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I stood in the kitchen and couldn't stop crying. I was almost a blubbering fool. Nothing had happened, other than I had just finished reading an amazing novel. I had spent the last 20 pages or so trying to focus through tears and now I was able to let the emotions go.

There was absolutely nothing new in the novel. I did not learn anything new about World War II or the Holocaust. I have been reading books like this, fiction and non-fiction since I first heard of Adolph Eichman in 1960. I have cried many times over these nearly 60 years.

But here I was doing it again with as much emotion as the first time, whenever that might have been. The good novel is not about learning new facts but experiencing a story of something we have always known in a new way. There is truth in the old line that there are only so many different plots to write about, we just repeat them over and over. But it is not the story that's new. We are new each time we read something. I am not the 12-year-old who first learned of the horrors of Hitler's Final Solution. But I experienced it yesterday for 2019. (That will be another post in a few days or week.)

It was so powerful that when I stopped crying I pulled out my journal and started writing what I was feeling. I wrote for almost five pages. It flowed more powerfully than the tears had. These were thoughts and emotions hooked by a story I knew, only this time with different characters and tugging on my heart in new ways.

Hence the importance of the novel. I have had people tell me they don't bother with novels, after all, they aren't true. Oh, but they are Truth in ways that facts can only hint at. Yes, the novelist wants to hook the emotions of the readers. The novelist is trying to get our attention and force us to look at life from a new perspective. That works best when our emotions are engaged.

Is that fair? Of course, it's fair- it is part of the unspoken contract between the writer and the reader. I read novels to give me new perspectives and new insights by looking at people responding to life as it happens. I want the novelist to be there with the story and to open me up.

But I've heard the story before. No, not with the awareness and experiences you have today. Hence my nearly five pages of longhand writing in my journal about a story that I pray will never become old, but will always challenge me and the world to want it to never happen again.

Yes, facts and histories can do that. Well-written non-fiction can have all the power of novels, but the novel has the advantage of taking us places where the facts my at times hide some truths that we may not want to see. The novel can sneak through our emotional backdoor and wake us up.

Novels are dangerous which is why they are so often the target of groups who want to control others. Banned books often contain uncomfortable sights. They can shine a spotlight of truth on what may be hidden in plain sight.

We are better for the work of the novelist. May they continue to take us to depths of emotion and so lead us to hope.

Can Both Sides be Right?

Two people can see the same thing, 
disagree, and yet both be right. 
It's not logical; it's psychological.
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

I came across this Covey quote when doing some research the other day. I wondered how we could interpret this, especially in light of the incredible division we have seen develop from the recent elections. As I said about myself a few days ago, many people are still feeling shell-shocked at the tone and style of the campaign. The ongoing debate over possible Russian hacking of the election is like living in a time-warp of irrational thoughts.

I know the old parable of the blind men and the elephant. If any individual blind man only touched one part of the elephant- trunk, leg, tusk, etc.- that person would have a very limited understanding of the word "elephant." That was always a good way of teaching that you have to get the "big picture" and to not let one small part of the picture or story determine the answer. There is such a thing as perspective, of course. Here are two examples:

First, is it a pretty woman
or an ugly woman?

Second, is it a square or a circle?

We could also dig into quantum physics and ask if light is a wave or a particle- and the answer, as in the above examples, would be "Both."

Does that mean there is no such thing as "Truth"? We have been told we are living "post truth." Can we all be equally right- and therefore- all be equally wrong? It might be easier if we all took the position that we are equally wrong, but that would certainly fly in the face of many millennia of human activity and responses.

To be honest, I really don't have an easy answer to the question. Anything that comes out will sound self-contradictory- or mystical or who knows what. Part of me insists that there are things which are truth that cannot- and should not- be put up for debate. Just because I believe the earth is physically flat doesn't mean it is.

On the other hand, I also am aware that there is such a thing as relative truth, subjectivity vs. objectivity, paradox. As a Christian, this holiday season is a vivid reminder of such an inexplicable paradox. We say that at Christmas God became a human being in the form of a tiny, helpless baby. About as easy to wrap my mind around as light being waves and particles.

What does Stephen Covey mean then? Well, he is talking about personal change, not issues of truth or falsehood. He is talking about looking at myself and changing my perspective. He is suggesting that each of us needs to be wary of hardening our perceptions into reality. Like the quote from Henry Ford- Whether you think you can, or you think you can't—you're right. That's turning perception into truth.

It could also be called ideology, or politics, or religion, or one of hundreds of ideas that we fight over as people. So

1. I am finding it hard to keep in mind that there are pieces of my arguments that might be wrong. 
2. I am finding it just as hard to keep in mind that there are pieces of other people's arguments that might be right. 

Which of those two statements you pick up on will depend on whether you agree or disagree with me on my politics, etc.

• Only when we can begin to accept both these statements, can we begin to make any headway into clearing the political damage we have been doing to our democracy in the past years.
• Only when we can begin to accept both these statements, can we begin to make headway into dealing with resentments, anger and dissatisfaction.
• Only when we can begin to accept both these statements, can we begin to make headway into overcoming racism, religious hatred, and discrimination.

Jan Hus- Apostle, Prophet, Martyr

I preached yesterday and since today is the Saints' Day for Jan Hus I brought some of my Moravian history and legacy to the Episcopal Church where we are now members. Here's the basic manuscript I went from.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday's Gospel

Mark 6:1-13
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

The Sermon

On Being a Prophet

This morning’s Gospel is one of those eminently quotable passages: A prophet is not without honor, Jesus says, except in his home country. Mark made sure we saw the contrast as he moves from Jesus NOT being able to do many miracles in Nazareth to what the disciples did as they were sent out.

But this isn’t a story about having to leave your hometown behind in order to preach or minister. It’s about "call"- and the prophetic side of responding to the call. Which of course raises the question: What does it mean to be a prophet?

First we have to set aside the idea of telling the future - which is not what prophets are all about. When they tell what is going to happen in the future, they are telling what will happen when the people don’t follow God’s call to them. So the first thing prophets are about is hearing the "call". That leads to a sense of humility- the "call" isn’t about me, it’s about God calling the person. Humbling- or should be. When the prophet reaches that point then, they will begin to follow set of values or principles based on the way of God.

So far so good.

Unfortunately when one reaches that level of being “called” things begin to get a little dicey. A quick look around will show that the ways of God- God’s values- are not often the basis for what is happening around us in the world. You know- those values like

• caring for the least and the lost; 
• remembering the prisoner and the sick; 
• working for the betterment of the homeless and those oppressed by political, religious or economic injustice.

At which point the one hearing the “call” can quickly opt out or face an even more difficult choice. The choice is whether or not to challenge the status quo- the powers that be- and take the side of those who have no power; give voice to those whose voice is muted or silenced.

Perhaps that is why the prophet has so much trouble in his hometown- he knows the people as well as they know him and it becomes difficult to take those necessary stands in that setting.

But many DO stand up and find they have a more far-reaching impact than they would have ever thought.

Six hundred years ago [yesterday]- July 5, 1415- one of those prophets sat in a prison in Constance, a significant university and political center in SW Germany, near the Swiss Border. This prisoner had been promised safe-passage by the Emperor, but had instead found himself imprisoned by the officials of the Roman Church holding an ecumenical council in the city.

The prisoner’s name was Jan Hus and [today] is his Day on the Calendar of Saints of both the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches. He was a priest from Prague who was caught in the middle of church and state because he had responded to a "call" to stand up to what he saw as corruption in the church.

Awakened by the writings of England’s John Wycliffe, Hus antagonized the church by likening the pope to antichrist. He urged that lay people be allowed both the bread and wine at Eucharist instead of only the bread. Calling for a reformed priesthood, he repudiated indulgences and rejected masses for the dead as worthless. Like Wycliffe, he declared that the Bible should be the sole standard by which the church judges religious truth.

He went into exile in 1413, unable to return to Prague, where he had taught and preached for 13 years. He stayed in exile, not from personal fear, but because the pope has placed an interdict on any city which harbored him. Rather than give Rome a reason to deprive Prague of baptism and communion, he chose exile under the protection of his feudal lord.

Hus had been wrongly described as a heretic, charged with beliefs he never held.

Just before traveling to Constance, Hus had written to a friend that he knew that by himself he could not restore all truth but vows at least not to be truth’s enemy. The world may run on in its usual way, but as for himself, he said,

Truth conquers all things.

In Constance, the council refused to allow him to speak. They ordered him to recant his heresies which he couldn’t do, he insists, since he had never held them.

Knowing that he faced death by burning, if he did not recant, he made a final declaration on the 1st of July, 1415:

I, Jan Hus, in hope a priest of Jesus Christ, fearing to offend God, and fearing to fall into perjury, do hereby profess my unwillingness to abjure all or any of the articles produced against me by false witnesses. For God is my witness that I neither preached, affirmed, nor defended them, though they say that I did.

I say I write this of my own free will and choice.

 They sentenced him to die by burning at the stake. On the morning of July 6, 1415, Hus was given one last opportunity to recant- which he naturally refused- and he died singing.

His followers were both religious and secular. The religious side, within 40 years founded what is now called the Moravian Church. Luther a century later affirmed that he was a Hussite. The Moravians found their way to England in the 1600s and bequeathed the legacy to the Anglicans.

The secular side became Czech nationalists and this weekend, celebrations are being held around the Czech Republic on the 600th Anniversary of his death.

The idea that “truth conquers all things,” or “truth prevails,” is not original with Hus. A few years earlier, Wycliffe had written,

I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.

The work of a prophet is to speak the truth to power. It is to be a voice for God’s ways. It may not always turn out the way WE want it to. Nor is it likely to always be popular. But we- each in our own way are called to be a source of the grace of God. As we each hear the call to mission, ministry and the way of a prophet, may we heed the words of one of Hus’s prayers.

Seek truth,
listen to the truth,
learn the truth,
love the truth,
speak the truth,
keep the truth,
defend the truth with your very life!

Lent Picture A Day (36): Truth

Careful What You Seek

Well, then, why train the brain?

I am tempted to be a smart-alec and say that

a wild brain is something to be feared. Train it.

The truth is that a wild (untrained) brain IS dangerous. It keeps us potentially unhealthy. It keeps us from seeing what is around us. It keeps us from focus and awareness, stuck in what was, what never will be, or what we wish would be.

“Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone.”
― Louis L'Amour

The obvious result is we lose out on what is NOW.

Of course training a brain is not the same as "taming" it like a wild beast. In fact it is not even any kind of attempt to make it docile and dull. To the contrary, a "trained" brain works better, is more creative and interested in the world. It helps us see more things and, I firmly believe, it helps us become more adventurous because the world becomes more and more interesting each day.

I also have a hunch that training the brain makes it more open, more willing to live with paradox and uncertainty. You see when we begin to look at- and increase our awareness of- the present moment we can begin to see the small nuances and differences that help make up the overall pattern. Nothing is as complex as it seems, it is much simpler. Neither is anything as simple as it seems, it is much more complex. Simple and complex can become judgment words. Training the brain helps us move toward an open and non-judgmental approach.

Which leads to one more thing, I think, a deeper and broader understanding of truth and the ultimate awareness that it is always just beyond our grasp.

“Walk with those seeking truth…
RUN FROM THOSE WHO THINK THEY’VE FOUND IT."
--Deepak Chopra

We are always seekers of truth. But truth is always bigger than our minds can embrace.

Keep seeking.

Keep questioning.

Keep meditating.

More Sensible Information from Research

I was always told to be truthful. Honest. I was. At least that's what I think it was all about. George Washington and the cherry tree being the paradigm story.

Which was a lie. It never happened.

Anyway, one of the hallmarks of a life in recovery is to be honest. Tell the truth. Be open and up front. Now, it appears, according to USA Today, that research has proven that telling the truth isn't just good morality, it's good and healthy, too.

The study found that those who lied less reported being healthier, both mentally and physically.

When participants in the no-lie group told three fewer minor lies than they did in other weeks, for example, they experienced, on average, four fewer mental-health complaints and three fewer physical complaints. Mental health complaints included feeling tense or melancholy; physical complaints included sore throats and

Actually, it makes sense. One of the researchers noted that when people lie it increases stress. Tension and uncertainty go up. (Which I guess is partly how lie detectors work.) We know that lowering stress and tension in one's life leads to better healthy so it should really be no surprise that at least at this level truth and health are related.

Unfortunately if parents try to use this tack with their children, telling the truth will become like eating healthy. A good idea, but not what they want.

Link

Optimistic Optimism

THIS is really THE TRUTH....

All one has to do is adopt the right frame of mind.....

Source

Anything New to Say?

Somedays it is just like this. There doesn't seem to be anything new to say. I've said it all. After all these years what more is there to say? Isn't it possible that all the possible permutations and combinations of thoughts and ideas have been said and done?

When we reach that point we then just try harder and harder to find something. The Internet has become a great way to do that kind of seeming research. Google something, anything, related to what you think all things have been said about.

And sometimes even that doesn't work. You see nuances and differences so slight that your mind goes numb in trying to figure our what they mean.

I did that with this morning's Gospel lesson on not being stumbling block, not doing things that put others into danger of turning away from Jesus. Which, when I was much younger, I was told was that while some things might not be forbidden to Christians, seeing a Christian doing them might cause others less protected to fall into sin.

But nothing I Googled gave me anything new. There was construction and deconstruction. There was interpretation and re-interpretation. What I didn't see in my quick search was something that came to me as I was looking at it one last time in wanting to write this post. I didn't see anybody talk about the fact that judging others who were doing good works in Jesus name might be what Jesus was talking about.

I realized that all this talk of stumbling blocks was perhaps the inner attitude that says if you don't do it my exact way then you are wrong is the biggest stumbling block around. It narrows the playing field of God's grace. It sets up too many boundaries- human boundaries- on God's will and work.

If they do it in my name, don't worry. My name is being praised.

I know- that was before TV preachers managed to mess that one up. Except maybe not. Perhaps Jesus did truly mean what he was saying. Stop trying to protect Him. He has all the ability needed to do that Himself. Each of us should be doing what it is we are called to do. Don't worry about them. In the long run it may be that the old Rabbi Hillel was right: If it is from God it will succeed. If not, well, it will fail in the end.

See, maybe there is nothing new.

Don't Confuse Me With Facts

We all have a way of believing "Old Wives' Tales." They are part of our cultural stories. We believe them even when we know that they may not be true. Sadly it isn't just cultural things. I am currently reading An Instance of the Fingerpost which takes place in 1600s England. Part of what I have already read has some discussions and arguments about the human body, health, and healing.

For example, the "modern" thinker stands against some of the folk remedies that doctors prescribed- but also believed that the stars and astrology could impact health. On the other side the old-timer who puts noxious stuff on his eyes to "cure" them thinks astrology is bunk. So in the end some kinds of cultural baggage informs many things we believe.

One I remember is the old saw that you don't go swimming for an hour after eating. We would sit along the beach waiting for that hour to be up. It made sense, of course, that the body needed everything to digest the food in the stomach.

What to my surprise then about 20 years ago when a friend and trained lifeguard/water safety instructor told me that this was no longer considered an issue. I was upset about all the hours wasted out of the water.

There are of course many of these "old wives' tales".

By the way, what and where did this phrase come from? Ultimately, to no surprise, from the Bible.
Here from Wikipedia:

An old wives' tale (often mispronounced as old wise tale) is a type of urban legend, similar to a proverb, which is generally passed down by old wives to a younger generation. Such 'tales' usually consist of superstition, folklore or unverified claims with exaggerated and/or untrue details. Today old wives' tales are still common among children in school playgrounds. Old wives' tales often concern pregnancy, puberty and nutrition.

In this context, the word wife means woman rather than married woman. This usage stems from Old English wif (woman) and is akin to the German weib, also meaning woman. This sense of the word is still used in Modern English in constructions such as midwife and fishwife.

Most old wives' tales are false and are used to discourage unwanted behavior, usually in children. Among the few tales with grains of truth, the veracity is likely coincidental.

The concept of old wives' tales is ancient. In the 1st Century, the apostle Paul wrote to his young protege Timothy, "But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness" (I Timothy 4:7).

Anyway, this is just a long introduction to a link from The Best Article Every Day website where they recently debunked 10 Old Wives' Tales.

But I'm not sure they are right that the full moon doesn't cause more problems. Some old wives' tales must be based on something from anecdotal evidence. (Or do I just want an excuse for my weird behavior every 28 days?)

Oh, and note their support for debunking the swimming tale is from the Mayo Clinic. Must be right!

No Spin- Confess

Remember the Air Force One New York City flyover debacle earlier this year when citizens panicked thinking another 9/11 was in progress? Well, last week more details were released.

In the series of e-mails obtained by CNN and others was an assessment of what was happening and what to do about it. In one of those powerful understatements you can find only in official language the conclusion was:

No positive spin is possible. Admit mistake.

How much nicer could things be - and a lot more honest - if we adopted that as a motto!

A Fine Reminder
I found this at Good For Nothing thanks to MadPriest. I have heard it before and it's been around a while, but it's worth remembering. After all we all have best friends, too.

A man and his dog were walking down a country road, when they were hit by a truck. Coming to, the man found he was still on the same road, but now there were a pair of pearly gates just ahead of him.
"Where is this?" he asked the white-bearded gatekeeper.
"It's heaven," came the reply. "You were both hit by a truck and killed, and that's why you're here. Come on in – but we don't allow pets, so you'll have to leave the dog."
"I don't know," replied the man. "I think I'll just carry on walking a bit further."
A mile down the road, he came across another set of pearly gates.
"Where is this?" he asked the gatekeeper.
"It's heaven," came the reply.
"But I thought heaven was a mile further back," said the man.
"No," said the gatekeeper. "That's hell. They're not very good neighbours, but at least they filter out people who would leave their best friends behind."