God in Literature

The stories we tell have a special place in who we are as a people. Stories have been around since we were started and will endure until we are done. We can't do without them, and they are everywhere. It has a lot to do with how we are wired--how our brains work.

You see--we remember stories. Most people find it infinitely easier to remember a story--with all its characters, and plots and heroes--than a simple list of rules or expectations. I don't know why this is true. I have my suspicions it might have something to do with how we are more emotionally involved with stories and our deep relationship to other people and characters. But for whatever reason it's true, it is undoubtedly why we've been teaching by stories for as long as history records. And may be why God's Word is largely composed of stories.

From Aesop's Fables and the tales of Gilgamesh all the way to our modern science fiction novels, we have been using stories to get our messages across. Sometimes it's the circumstance that teaches us about what we should do in certain situations, or what is right and wrong. Sometimes it's the people; heroes shows us how we should be, and anti-heroes show us what we shouldn't be.

Characters (even fictitious ones), are wonderful teachers because they teach by example. Example is highly memorable because it is always bonded to a story--it has to be, or it would be a lecture, not an example. As stated before, this makes it more meaningful to us. Heroes are also useful because they are so imitable. It's not as easy to obey the rule, "be brave," as it is to puff out your chest and give a courageous call, just like they hero did in your story. Kindness is easier to act out when how to be kind is shown you through a story.

The other advantage to teaching through example is that it by-passes pride and self-defense. A person often feels attacked and fights back when they are being told what to do or how to be--they'll defend their behavior. But when a hero teaches by example, a person convicts himself. There is nothing to fight against, and no way to defend against the fact they now see the better way.

Much of this analysis applies to both fiction and non-fiction. In another post, I'll cover what makes non-fiction different from the other stories. But for now I want to talk about what makes our fiction stories so unique.

It hadn't even occurred to me until I was talking to Jon (yes, this Jon) about what makes Shakespeare so great, and he brought up the metaphor. Most people are familiar with the small metaphors of literature where one thing is blatantly compared to another thing without any kind of bridge; "the moon was spill of milk", or "she's a raging volcano." But literature also has major metaphors that can often go unseen because they are so subtle. The story of a hero's struggle in battle might be a minor reflection of how every man relates to the idea of war. Or a thread of words found through-out a book is actually trying to drawing attention to a passage in the Bible which adds meaning to the story.

Now consider. . .

Humans learn by living life. Our circumstances, how we relate to others, how such a situation worked out--all of life is one big lesson. It's a pile of threads that we tie and weave together to help us understand the meaning of life. God gives us these circumstances, and helps us to draw the connections. So we learn patience by being put to the test, or we learn about the nature of fallen man when we first realize that our heroes are imperfect. We take what is happening, and we take what we know and we tie them together to learn and grow.

And how does this relate to major-metaphor in literature?

A story reflects real life, because real life is meaningful. But it is also carefully composed by the author. It is a limit structure created by a limited being who molds it to carry the message and the metaphor within it's boundaries. Because of the nature of a story it has all the elements of real life, but in a more contained, organized and easy to understand format. In other words--it's a mini-lab. We learn from our stories, just like we learn from real life--by drawing connections and learning from people or grasping the higher meaning--but it's made easier for us.

In fact, the more we practice learning from our literature, the better equipped we are for the introspection which makes everyday life a lesson which can draw us closer to God. We practice the art of weaving relationship and meaning with our stories, until we are skilled enough to pick up the far more numerous threads of our real lives and weave them from an unseen pattern created by an Infinite Being.

This ability to create the organized and simple metaphor can be found in non-fiction stories, but it's different. Non-fiction is like listening to the complicated sounds of the natural world and learning to appreciate the beauty of it--while fiction is the power to build, note by note, a musical piece that was meant to sound a very certain way to the listener. And that is why fiction is unique.