I’m becoming a Joseph Campbell fan. Reflecting on myth, even the myths (some true stories, some arrows pointing to truth) I learned as a young Christian growing up in Texas have been the maps I’ve used to navigate my world. I do not believe the Bible is complete myth but I do believe it intentionally contains myth (Song of Songs, for almost certain, and perhaps other chunks).
I believe Jesus was God and the Son of God, and I believe much of what is in the book has happened, in one way or another. I tend to believe Job could be myth, but I’d guess somebody like Job existed, whether or not Satan interacted with him or not (the bulk of the book is written in poetry, so the idea Job said what he said, exactly, simply can’t be true, unless he was a weird fruit nut who sat around talking in poetry) but as myth, it does help me reconcile my avoidant tendencies with the facts of reality. As a people, we don’t like reality. The majority of our energy is spent repressing rightful anger or drawing philosophical maps in our minds that give us way-points we can use to live and be and understand (these way points are, in my opinion, lies.)
I like the Bible, the myth and the history, for this reason: It squarely faces the facts of our reality. And what are those facts? Life is utterly and completely brutal. It is devastating and dark. Life is morbid. And the Bible has no problem admitting this. It’s our self-help culture that sticks its head in the ground.
Is God willing to let Job be essentially tortured by Satan? Yes, he is. Is God willing to let His son be tortured and die? Yes, He is. Is God apologetic about all of this? No, He isn’t. Why? Because all the pain is motivated by love. It’s a war. A reconciliation effort between himself and a manipulative, victim-oriented lover who simply wants to rape life, God and the book He left for her own purposes. We are selfish through and through, C.S. Lewis says. And…”I talk of love, but a scholars parrot may talk Greek.”
And yet, beneath the brutal and love-fueled war of a mess, there is a sweetness to life. It’s as though the pain is a pulling of all things apart, a stopping of a fight, a reconciling of the world back to peace. There is, in story terms, a great disturbance in the world and the world is heading back toward peace.
We are, as a people, in the middle of Act II of this story. Those who have been converted to Christ may believe their story has experienced a climax, but it hasn’t. And only fools and info-mercial style preachers believe such a thing. The truth is the brutality goes on. We murder each other with our words, we use each other, we suffer the burdens we receive, and we give often equally in return. We are a wayward, primitive children, fatherless, being daily disciplined through love, but disciplined nonetheless.
The aim, then, is to find the sweetness, the love that fuels the plants that feed us and our own deaths that will feed the plants that will feed others. But this requires an understanding that the universe does not orbit around us, and that we are not suns. If one can understand this, and give up all control and only play a part, that person will think a bit more like God, I believe. In a way, they become empathetic with all things, rather than defensive, considering all things threats.
What is the most brutal reality of life? It’s this: It’s not about us. It’s not about you, and it’s not about me. If we don’t get laid or paid, it goes on in all it’s brutal beauty. It goes on to water and feed itself, the sweetness of it goes on as a mother nurses her child, as a father swims with his son off the rock-shore of an inlet. It goes on with or without us. How much of our beliefs, the Biblical and un-biblical that we cling to are really about convincing us that wherever we go, life goes. When we die, life will move to heaven? No, it will not. It will have been there, and when we go there it will remain here too. Gratitude, then, could be arrived at by joining life rather than pulling life around us like an applauding audience. It applauds for sure, but it isn’t clapping for us. It’s asking us to clap with it, in joinful joy.
Campbell says it this way: “That’s the first function of mythology: not merely a reconciliation of consciousness to the preconditions of its own existence, but reconciliation with gratitude, with love, with recognition of the sweetness. Through the bitterness and pain, the primary experience at the core of life is a sweet, wonderful thing.”
If story is a sense-making device, and the aim of myth to reconcile our subconscious to the facts of reality, Christianity works. It’s myth works and it’s history works and it’s truth (believed by faith, not by proof) work to reconcile our minds to the brutal facts of reality. I like it. I’m in.
Excellent. This post brings together truths from “The Power of Myth”, “Epic”, and “The Heavenly Man”, plus others. Nicely said.
not sure how the pic of the soccer chic on a power trip related to this bit, but i also like it, i’m in.
It’s the picture of life–morbid, brutal. The point of the picture, to me, is that we could analyze and attempt to explain the picture in ways that make us feel better about the world, the mean girl, or the poor girl getting her neck wrenched, but it doesn’t matter. There is no philosophical explanation of the picture. It’s a picture of brutality, and we have to deal with it.
Or, then again, maybe Donald just thought it was a funny/sad picture of brutality.
The pic looks pretty brutal, no?
Don, I like what you have to say (and I love reading your blog and books), but I must admit it stirs up a tension inside me. I agree that life is not supposed to be primarily about me, nor does the universe revolve around me. It is true that adhering to our self-help culture can leave us frustrated and confused.
But I also love your idea of living life as a story. I love the thought that I can be intentional in life and make things happen. I love the thought that my decisions and my actions do make a difference in this world…and in my own life.
So here is the tension. How do these seemingly incongruent ideas exist together? How do I try to write my story, a great story, and at the same time give up control and just play my part? On the surface they appear to be antithetical approaches to life. I don’t believe they are completely, but I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this.
It’s a great question. I’d say you submit your subplot to the epic. That’s a heady idea, but there’s an epic and within that epic we simply pass a narrative baton from one hand to another. So the story isn’t about us, it just has us in it. Hope that makes sense.
I get this point Don, and I’m so IN!
Brlliantly and beautifully said Don!
But we will never have the benefit of reading the whole story, so mustn’t we play our parts to their fullest? After all, our own part, and that of those with whom we interact, is all we know isn’t it?
Of course, the world will go right on without us; but I don’t think that means any of us should let our part be played for us. We are powerful to give direction to our own circumstance, to change our station, to encourage others to do the same as we see fit.
No one has the benefit of omniscience. And even if he did, he could never have the proper stage from which to direct all those lives he could clearly see playing out beneath him.
This is one reason people give God the characteristic of having given us all free will. Otherwise, we would all be asking, “Hey, God. How about you just fix all this so it’s all good?” We tell ourselves God wants us to be able to make our own mistakes and come to him of our own free will. Kind of makes you wonder why he put that tree there in the first place.
Interestingly, playing your part vs. choosing your story may be observed somewhat in The Hobbit vs. The Lord of the Rings
(yes, I’m that nerd. and sadly I did not recognize what I’m about to note on my own…)
Critics have noted the stark contrast between the two books can be seen in that what Bilbo does/goes on is an adventure. A person chooses their own adventure. It’s got some risk and all but ultimately the stakes are not as high and Bilbo returns home. The Hobbit is even called “There and Back Again”.
However, the critic suggests what Frodo goes on is a quest. A quest is a calling, and a quest changes you, the risks are higher and you don’t know whether or not you’ll even come back or even fit in if you come back…your heart prepared for another place.
You don’t choose a quest, it chooses you. And ultimately you decide to put one foot in front of the other…
So we’re trees in a story about a forest? We get to be in it – but not it.
I think what Don is trying to say is that maybe we need to stop being so self centered. “submit your subplot to the epic” submit your “story” life to God don’t keep trying to make everything about you in a good story or screenplay each character has a certain role I think we just need to play our role… in good screenplays characters have wants and needs, a want is a conscious thing a need is unconscious sometimes we want something but God (the writer in a sense) knows what we really need so in this way we need to be submissive because in the end a good character and a good story isn’t always about a character getting what they want but rather what they need or sometimes both… I would say to you that just because you want to write a good story doesn’t mean you need to do it alone you need God and you need others and very arguably without that you couldn’t have a story so i hope that might explain it a bit just felt like writing this because ive been studying to write screenplay and this really was a cool way to get a perspective on life in the same way
Don, this is the one point that I thought “A Million Miles” left out. Or maybe I missed it. But yes, “submit to the epic” is so right on.
In my final year of my theology degree I collided with a paper and an author who talked in this manner. His main point was that violence is necessary in atonement. The removal of sin and chaos from the world is a violent act, namely Christ on the cross, but also the world groaning as well. Thieves, gluttons, deaths, hurricanes even are an outworking of God creating peace. Removing sin and corruption hurts. The book was by Hans Boersma, “Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition”
God is both just and merciful…at the same time…quite remarkable and unfathomable and I might even say, impossible for anyone but God.
The horribleness of the cross for justice, and the mercy shown towards us that Jesus made the sacrifice for us.
There’s one thing missing here, although I agree strongly with many of your points (and thank you very much for not trying to paper over the darkness of life or the fact that the Bible is not a guide to getting what we want). The love-motivated war God is waging against/for us is because He created us and cares for us, deeply, as individuals. It’s not all about the big story and us fitting into it as little pieces. Each of us is a story with some happy endings along the way, and as we grow and change, we receive some of our deepest desires: like love, and beauty, and meaning. Please don’t give up hope for those things.
Well said, Lee Ann. Like all great stories, the story of faith in Jesus is at the same time both completely universal, of which we play but a minuscule part, and also a love story for which we’re the main character–the center of that universe.
To me, it’s the most amazing part of God’s plan, and a paradox as mind-boggling as the Trinity itself or the Humanity of Christ. Truly awe inspiring–and I hope we don’t lose sight of it in our efforts to come to grips with a bigger picture.
Brutal beauty…agreed.
Very powerful and true. Thank you.
Accepting the Bible for what it is and not what we want it to be. I’m in.
I hope the truth of this post doesn’t get lost in a debate over myth in scripture (And I suspect you are right about Job and the Song of Solomon).
And the third to the last paragraph reminded me of the “Tree of Life” movie.
Larry, I agree, at first, I was going to be the one, at least in my mind, losing the point of this post because of that ‘myth in scripture, and specific mentions of Song of Solomon and Job’! But as I kept on reading, Don’s point was clear, and there’s such an awakening truth in what he said!
The sad part about some of us ‘seasoned Christians’, is we sometime ‘amen’ out loud an idea, a message, or even repeat popular phrases, but do not truly accept those ideas or take it to heart!
For, example, we have gotton used to saying, ‘i will pray for you’, or ‘life is not about me, it’s about what God wants to accomplish through me’, or ‘This is grace man!’ or, ‘I am not perfect, just forgiven’! Yet in all those phrases repeated again and again particularly by Evangelical Christians, there’s an underlying pride that says: if i say the right thing, I look good, and sound spiritual, but truly in my heart, I don’t live that or even care about that ‘crap’!
Many might disagree with me! Just ask yourself, how many times someone shared a problem or an issue, and you promised to pray, then what did you really say to the Lord about them? did you really pray, did you mention the issue, did you think about it later or allowed God to tell you from His word anything about this, or is it the very casual ‘bless so and so, or heal such and such, or open a door for….!!!’ Then, there’s the ‘It’s not about me, it’s about God’s will’ ONE; I love this one, because, I use to say that, then the minute God thwarts my plans, and mess up all the hard work, careful planning, coneiving, tactics, strategies, I put in place, then I scream, kick, and raise my fist to God asking ‘why’!
Do we really stay on the operating table of God when we’re wounded and need to be patched up? do we last long enough for God to pour a clenser ‘salt that sting’, open up the wound, let it bleed, while he tries to fix us? No, I personally don’t! I get off that operating table too quickly, and do not allow my God to continue operating on me! I turn around and master the speech about trusting HIM!!! Lier, that is what I am really!
Perfect. Not read Campbell–going now to find some books.
I think you should pull out every 8th line of this and make a poem.
Brilliant post.
Alan Dundes defined myth as, “A sacred narrative explaining how the world and man came to be in their present form,” in a book that he edited, Sacred Narrative.
If you get a chance you should check out the essay, The Role Of Myth In Life by Bronislaw Malinowski (in Dundes book). He says some quite profound things, such as, “The text, of course, is extremely important, but without the context it remains lifeless.”
I appreciate your writing a ton.
Don, this is my favorite type of post from you. Thanks for writing it and posting it for us to see. It takes courage to do that.
Amen
Good, refreshing and, for me, affirming read.
You mention “avoidant” and this reminded me– and perhaps you have disclosed this information to the public before in some other forum– but what Enneagram type are you? I believe many of us would be curious to know, though my guess would be a 4… or that perhaps you were once a 4.
Thank you.
I’m in, too
Seems like Jesus liked to use parables, perhaps those aren’t considered mythic because they were too short. Still, your point is the usefulness of story.
I read Campbell’s book “Hero with a thousand faces” a few years ago,and now whenever I read fiction or watch movies, I spot the “hero’s journey” within their plots and I chuckle, thinking of Campbell…
Lovely essay, Donald, and I agree with your assessment of the brutal beauty of life. But while I certainly get the Campbell reference (and, yes, he explored many myths in his novels), please, please, please don’t use that word when describing the Bible. Myth is too loaded; people–esp. nonbelievers–may likely focus more on the definition of myth as “imaginary” or “false” rather than the meaning of “traditional or legendary story.” Personally, I describe Job’s story (not to mention Genesis 1 and much of Revelation, among other books) as metaphor. And isn’t poetry (e.g., “Song of Songs,” etc.) almost always metaphor? (The best of it is, anyway! My question is purely rhetorical.)
Hi Stephanie,
At first, I was going to say exactly what you said above, but as I read on, found out that Don had a deeper point, it was not to describe the Bible or give us his two cents worth of ‘if he belived it literally or methaphoricall’, but rather his point was to make us see that in this excitement about all his recent writings, talks about ‘living a better story’, let’s not lose sight of the fact that even our own story, doesn’t mean that life is about me, and that the orbit revolves around suesanne/Stephanie!! Rather, there’ pain, but balanced with beauty, that my story is real, and that reality includes pain, and it’s good for me, yet I am taking part of the bigger story, which God authored!
Your opinion is valuable, and I personally appreciate it, because we think so much a like! It’s easier for me to see the metaphor not ‘myth’ in Songof Songs, or Job, because I was born in the middle east, and can still read Arabic, a poetic language so similar to Hebrew, and Aramiec! So, I agree with you in that, Don being a popular writer and has influence on people, should be mindful of how he describe his ‘beliefs and thoughts’ about the Bible! I personally was going to misunderstand him, but got back on track real quick! so hopefully his blog is read by a populace of people who ‘know better’ that He does not, nor did he say books of the Bible is ‘myth’!
Thanks for the well articulated opinion my dear lady!
Don, I found this difficult to read. After reading it several times I get the gist of what your saying but it just doesn’t sound like you. I have found your writing style to be down to earth and humble with a dash of humor thrown in.
To me this is kind of complicated and wordy and almost angry. I just finished your Searching for God Knows What (expanded addition) and really love it, and now am reading Rick Mckinleys Jesus in the Margins. Reading both books is like the author is a very wise friend sharing their story, their heart with me. Reading these books really opens my eyes to the love and mercy of Jesus. Thanks!!
Hello. I’ve read your writing with interest and I like this very much. I did want to point out that you need a bit of copy editing in the final paragraph. “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.” The possessive of the pronoun, “it” is spelled “its.” I suspect you know that, but missed it.
–Just a friendly English teacher.
….and a bit of editing of the title. “Realty”
Hate to pile on but the title says “Realty” of Life. I am sure many real estate agent would agree that it’s brutal out there but I’m guessing you meant to say “Reality”??
I loved every word of this. I was so blessed to hear you at NCYM in Florida. Keep up the brilliant work. I’ll be reading.
Thanks so much for this blog post. After reading it I was compelled to send the link to my bro-in-law who recently dropped a bombshell on our family that he no longer loves his wife (they have two small boys) and that he is an atheist and has been for about six years – without telling any of us, of course. Anyway, this is the response I got from him.
“I love this, Shana. I guess I agree with so much of what he says, in terms of just playing our part, life going on without us, we not being the center of it all. And, honestly, most of his viewpoints work with or without God…except, of course, for the ones specifically about him.
Miller seems to be invoking God and Christ’s sacrifice as ways to explain…well, nothing, come to think of it. I guess he isn’t trying to do that. I think he, as a believer, is trying to explain why God allows the brutality to remain in the world. And that’s okay.”
Some people just don’t get it.
What don’t I get, sis? What am I missing?
Most myth follows a similar pattern, some variation of the myth of redemptive violence. The Bible offers a powerful counter-narrative about the last being first, the dead being raised and the meek inheriting the earth. In Babylon many of the biblical stories would have been downright subversive…or simply absurd.
Perhaps we can affirm the good in Campbell’s thoughts while acknowledging that he wasn’t all right. Yes, he was influenced by Carl Jung (who also had some truth). And no, he wasn’t correct that all religious roads lead to God (and somehow we can still find truth and beauty in most religions as well).
I appreciate your passion for pointing out the distinctiveness of Scripture, and I agree with you.
Affirm the distinctiveness of Scripture, but don’t loose sight of this miracle: Our brains– that ecosystem of nerve paths, serotonin, dopamine, stem, cells, myalin,stringy dendrites, and wrinkled lobes– responds to story structure.
This seems to be part of what it means to be human, what it means to be crafted in God’s image.
I respect both your opinions, and agree with both! There’s no contradictions here, just two different train tracks!
Let’s remember godly men, Paul and Barnaba disagreed, and parted way over the debate of ‘John Mark’ should be or shouldn’t be allowed in ministry with Paul/Barnaba again! As a result, Paul went to Europe, and the West stuck to Christianity and valued it more than any other part of Paul’s journey to spread the Gospel of Jesus!
God is after unity, not conformity! In that, not harm done here, we are united, just voicing different views of one issue!
I will have to read this post a few more times before I “get” all of it. Much is lost on this black and white thinker whose intelligence is quite lacking, but I shall reread until a few more of my harsh edges get chipped away.
I will say, I hope Job isn’t myth…it’s a story of hope and complication and faithfulness and perseverance, and he’s one of those I really want to meet in Heaven. But, that’s just my inner 10 year old hoping I suppose. Nonetheless, I’m sticking with real…as real as life gets sometimes.
On another note Don, I received a letter from a former student/player of mine and she wrote the sweetest note telling me how much your book had meant to her. She graduated (book was her grad gift)and went off to Ecuador, because she rocks that way, and as she has followed the unknown road, your book has been such a blessing. She said a whole lot more, but I’ll keep it to that.
Thought I would pass along the encouragement.
Thanks for the encouraging note, Shelly. That’s great for your student. Sounds like a life of adventure is off to a good start.
As for Job, I am not sure myth is the right word, there. I’d say Job feels more like a “play about a person” or even a “musical about a person” and yet the parts where God and Satan are talking and the structure of it does lend itself to more of a fictional piece, but it could be a creative telling of real events. These things have been debated for years, of course. But I don’t take that book literally, meaning I dont believe Job said what he said. He wouldn’t have even spoken in poetry to begin with, so the artist, or writer, is taking huge liberties and the intended audience would have understood that. A hundred cultures removed, we tend to take literally what was intended to be taken more artistically. Nevertheless, the story is teaching us something, and those truths are real and concrete.
Reason #172 for why I read this blog…my literal, beyond rational, too black and white, under-exercised mind and heart gets exposed to a whole new perspective.
Whether I always agree or not is not important, but I always leave with something new.
Thanks for the explanation Don. So often poetry is lost on me, and I know I must be missing something quite beautiful because of it.
I shall read Job with fresh eyes.
I’m back…
When I showed up to morning devo on Monday, guess what was being kicked off??? Yep, Job. I’ve been pondering each morning as I listen to the devo. Today, I began to ask my peeps about this myth/legend/theory.
They all acknowledged the argument, but the overwhelming consensus was that Job was just as real as the others. The defense rests heavily on the mention of Job (by God) in Ezekiel and then by James. Also, John references Ezekiel quite a bit in Revelation.
Anyways, still pondering and enjoying the challenge, the requirement to think out of my box, and the joy of going deeper.
So again, thanks.
You’re back! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! profound piece!
Though I grew up in the US, I come from a culture where pain and suffering is a way of life, it’s expected, anticipated, and even taught to children and young adults as ‘something to live with, not find excuses or fix up for’! Really different than our ‘self-help’ society, that preaches a different song of ‘pain is bad’, it’ ugly, it’s unwanted, it should not happen, and when it does, we should immediately get rid of it!
who says?
So, I’m glad you like the Bible in it’s totality Don, because I do too! Here’s what I say in all ‘agree-able’; non myth stories: Pain, a lot of it! It seems like God, our maker might think/know that pain is the backbone of creating ‘character’! So we see this the following lives: Joseph who had a dream, but went through living hell from age 17 until he was about 30 yrs old when God finally brought the dream to reality; mind you it was God who gave Joseph the dream!
David was annointed king, but had to run away from the ‘current evil king’, go through lack, fear, humiliation, and long waiting period, 14 years just about, to actually sit on the throne!
Moses, raised a prince, educated IVY League [Egypt back then was Harvard and Yale now], gorgeous man, in prime of his years, early 40′s, perfect fit to lead/rescue God’s people from slavery in Egypt! Wait a minute, God didn’t think so, not yet, not until Moses goes through God’s special course in pain and suffering, lack, need, loneliness, being stripped of what he knows, or self reliance on his royal upbringing, education, looks, and status in the palace of pharoe! So God elects a plain desert, with bunch of stupid sheep for ’40 years’, until in Exd. 3 when God meets to say, now it’s time to rescue my people from Egypt, Moses responds: I don’t know how to talk, I don’t have any tools, Who will go with me, Those people to be rescued won’t believe me, and who shall I said sent me???? see the difference, between ‘self-helped Moses back in his prime years, this gorgeous prince, had some self help tools, self help status, self help power, and brain to lead; but didn’t have God’s blue print of this operation. Thus, God says wait Mr. Moses, not now, when I srip away all this ‘self-help’ armor you have on, and give you my training and character, then you can carry on with ‘my/God’s’ strategy for rescuing this Israelits!
To your point Don, It’s not about ‘us’ never has been, and God uses the stories of those men above, which we can all agree are not ‘myth’, but true, real events recorded in history, and accomplish amazing ‘salavation, rescue of man’! Joseph saved his people from starvation, and the whole world along with his people! David became a King, and one after God’s own heart too! Moses delivered the Jews out of Egypt/salavery, and unto a good plentiful land! All happened, God’s way, God’s timing, God’s training, which includes so very much PAIN!
Why then, should my story be pain free?
What if it’s even more brutal than that? What if life is a brief moment of pain, pleasure, struggle, and finally, resignation? What if heaven was a myth created by those who fight against the notion that they don’t have a more important existence than that? If humans have beginnings, why would we not also have ends? What if heaven was an idea created by people who can’t grapple the thought of eternity going on without them?
You have a soul that assures you there’s eternity! So your mind, asks those questions, and heart struggles with them as well! But your soul assures you there’s eternity; and it is also your soul that has a deep longing for God! He designed you that way, with that longing! We can try to deny it or philosophy it all we want to, But our very own soul testify to eternity and God!
I’m not actually trying to deny it Suesanne. I do believe that we have souls that want to be eternal. But that’s just it. This strongly suggests to me that I have a bias toward believing these things. Is it your conviction that desire for something actually makes it so?
I would love more than anything to believe what you are saying. But I don’t think giving up honesty in my thought process is the answer.
Michelle,
You’re right! I would never ask you to give up honesty in your thought process! There’s a raging war inside each of us, we have a brain, a heart, and a soul! so conflict between the brain and soul is healthy! It’s the very essence of being alive and well! I encourage you to war that way all the time! It’s not a mere battle that ever ends; it is a war!
The fact that longing comes from within our soul, in my estimate means that it was not ‘my desire for something that actually made it so’!
A longing is a deep affect in my being, with a huge impact and power on my thought process, and it is internal! It’s not fabricated by thoughts I have, or influenced by voices I hear on the outside! It is simply that deep groaning desire for something powerful outside of ‘me’ and beyond myself!
Not sure if that will make sense to you, but I wanted to share a reality that I battled and did war with for much of my young years! My connection with my God through His Son Jesus is real, it’s not a mere feeling or infatuation! It is a longing for Him, and He responds, so it is a beautiful thing! Thank you for allowing this short discussion Michelle! Please go on Thinking, feeling deeply, longing, questioning, turning and tossing those elements! You will reach a place of contentment eventually!
Thanks Suesanne. You’re actually reminding me of myself in my younger years. I thought I’d arrived at the same conclusions. I was married to a preacher and took the whole Christianity circuit totally convinced of what you are saying right now. But it all came to an abrupt end when my life got turned on it’s head. Once all the stuff I had become accustomed to got stripped away and I was looking inside honestly, I ended up with the same questions I went in with. I’m just sick of lying to myself that what I want to be true must be true. I know you’re probably thinking I’m just bitter, but I’m just trying to be as real with myself (and others) as I can. What I want to know is why Christians are so afraid of the possibility that this life is all there is? I mean, I don’t really want that, but seriously, if that were so, wouldn’t god still be just?
I just read ‘Finding Darwin’s God’ by Kenneth Miller. Your post reminded me of it when you talk about some of the mythical parts of scripture. This is a concept that I’ve been struggling with lately. I suppose what it boils down to for me is this: I believe scripture was ‘inspired by’ not ‘dictated to’. So, we are subject to the limited view of whoever wrote it at the time. I think it’s important to understand the books collected as the Bible to be a portrait of God (and consequently of us), and not merely literal transcriptions from the past. I also believe that Scripture is incomplete. Why did God stop talking? That seems absurd. The word is still being written today. We simply cannot confine God’s voice to the dustbin of history. And to the other point: yes, life does seem ‘nasty, brutish and short’(I think Thomas Hobbes said this, but I can only think of Tom Waits’s ‘Come on Up to the House’ as the source).
Life is to be endured. Right on.
Thanks for this Don. This also moves well with the key struggle of the Old Testament over purity of worship, or whether the Israelites would worship God alone. When it’s not about us, we can accept God’s larger plot in this story without losing our minds over the tragedies of life (as clearly explained in Ecclesiastes).
I appreciate the ideas here, but I also wanted to say that the writing of this blog post is really solid.
Mythic and factual do not need to be mutually exclusive –
It is not about us and it is everything about us. I lamented my perception of God’s remarkable absence during the abuse I received as a child – turns out He was there in ways I never conceived. Sometimes we want God to act one way and He acts a different way – we miss it.
I always wanted, as a child, to have a normal childhood with loving parents. Never had that, but was able to give my kids loving parents. The pain I received as a child is now being used to help others. We get caught in the day by day stuff, not realizing the overall picture. I think that God balances things out.
I used to bristle when people told me God didn’t stop my abuse because He gave my father free will – I used to say – free will is so expensive for the victim. I forgot, conveniently, that my actions had also hurt others. Where does God draw the line?
I am glad I serve a God bigger than me – imagine if He honored all my prayers – there are many I’m grateful He ignored.
Our lives are all mythic – from birth to death – the challenge is, what are we doing with them?
This was a great, thought provoking post. Thanks for sharing.
–Don,
The inerrancy debate and literary theory aside, I heartily agree with you. Christianity does work. We can reconcile ourselves to the brutal facts of reality. Life is sweet.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 God says, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life”. I’m blown away that God, Himself, says He puts death and curses before us. What are we to make of a loving God who does that? You’re right, reality is tough and if we take Deuteronomy 30:19 at face value, God designed it that way. However, He also gave us a choice and tells us to choose life. Isn’t that amazing? God exists and life goes on regardless of our choice, but His heart is that we choose life.
In my daydreams, I like to think we are characters in a story filled with passionate adventure fighting for something beyond ourselves. Don’t you? But I agree. We’re at war. I believe there is a cosmic battle at play where a compassionate lover and a prideful thief are at war. We are hardwired by God for story as a framework for reality but we are at war–and life, indeed, is at stake. We can choose a side, armor up, and jump in the fray or we can sit blindly on the sidelines, searching endlessly for a meaning in the mess.
Though reality may be brutal, the sweet part is that we can do battle along side an Epic Poet who has known us before time, who has loved us with an “ever-lasting love” & who offers to let us join in His fight for abundant life. That, to me, in the face of nihilism, has meaning. That’s a story I want to live. I may get bruised and battered along the way but I’m reconciled. I like it. And yeah, I’m in too!
Thanks for the post.
–Lesley
P.S. Good point about Job’s poetry. I doubt he was a fruit nut. (I like to say fruit nut…too fun!)
When I saw you talking about Christianity and/as myth, I thought for sure you’d reference C.S. Lewis’s “Myth Became Fact,” a great essay. I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet.
I’ve been reading tullian tchividjian’s book: Jesus plus nothing = everything, and somehow this post strangely relates to his premise. we really have to let go of everything to receive and surrender to the full grace God has to offer. To me, this is the brutal, but beautiful reality: less me, more Him.
There’s just something about this post that makes me feel sadness.
Sweetness and brutality; yes these are our experience of life; I agree.
I’m interested in the purpose God has in allowing both. Perhaps to appreciate the sweetness we experience also the opposite as a comparison; either directly or vicariously through relationships with others. The challenge for me is to allow the incarnation of Christ, in me to appreciate that all of it; both the brutality and the sweetness is used by God in my life and others to help shape our ‘stories.’ I have to believe that none of the suffering in life is wasted, if the final epic is worthwhile! Faith is the gift that allows me to believe this, rather than to succumb to the despair that claims so many peoples’ hopes. I agree also that for the ‘non literary’ such as me, the meaning of ‘myth’ may be misinterpreted as ‘false’ which may prove unhelpful to your purpose?
Thanks so much for a thought provoking post!! (-:
I had a hard time following this entry.
Hi, you’re back! It looks like you had a breakthrough somewhere in your story. Thanks for the perspective. Take care and happy New Year!
Don,
Remember that the ealiest versions of the Bible were simply stories handed down genreration to generation. Making these accounts into poems or phrases that were to make it easier to remember the story.
Our God is a God of LOVE. He allows what He could prevent and He prevents what He could allow – ALL THINGS are on account of His Love. Everything that we experience is to draw us nearer to Him and to show us that we are not gods. When you choose to believe James 1:2, your entire life is significant – Pure Joy is a choice and it is not related to any specific event or condition. I pick “joy” over “happy” every time.
I’ve been thinking a lot about a different kind of story, and this seems to connect with what’s been brewing in my brain. Might have to write it up in the next day or two and when I do come back here and post a link…bless you, brother, for shaking it up.
Having witnessed some of the severe pain and brutality of life has caused me to fear life at times. I am thankful that our minds and hearts will one day be quieted and comforted. Very good truth and insight.
I keep hearing this type of statement from many Christians: Life’s not about you – it’s about God/Jesus/Him – or something similar. And, I get the point – our story fits into the Great Story. However – looking at the value – the price – that God paid on the cross – I think you could argue the opposite. God created us – made us in His image – and then paid for our sins. And the scriptures point to the fact that because of that completed act, we are coheirs with Christ – we are God’s kids. I see purpose behind His creation – a plan. Another brutal fact about life is that God cares for us – as His kids – and He gave our life to us to live – abundantly. (k – maybe that’s not so brutal)
While the Great Story is bigger than all of us – we are a part of it. We are living the story He gave us today. There is an aspect of that life that is for us. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – His story was lived out on our behalf. That parable – treasure in a field. WE are the treasure – and God paid the price. He makes us part of the story.
Life’s not all Him (even though He has complete control and authority) and it’s definitely not all us – I just think there’s some mystery here – and people keep making definite statements – fact statements. I wonder if that’s wise?
Jer
“Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ‘em says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I know; and such small portions.” Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life – full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it’s all over much too quickly.”
Woody Allen quote from Annie Hall
Wow a Christian Reading Joseph Campbell and liking it, this is Amazing, as we who believe all most the whole Bible is myth have been enjoying Joseph Campbell‘s work for years and scoffed at by Christians. The only way to reconcile the “Brutal Reality of Life” is if we are all part of God or Gods are selves as one all loving God and all powerful God would be a failed God to let this happen to his creation.
Beautiful. Love when I both want to read something twice, and must.
Yet I’m still left with a question. I’m wondering about the drawing of philosophical maps in our minds giving us way-points that are likely lies. Would love an example of what one of these might be, and why you think they are lies.
Anyone?
Don,
Darn Don-don’t like this post. Doing A Million
Miles for our Bible Study for the next 8 weeks.
In my mind myth and the bible just don’t go together.
Can you explain more?
Thanks,
Evelyn
You might check out C.S. Lewis’s essay “Myth Became Fact.” I’m pretty sure you can find it online (well, the first 4 or 5 pages are on GoogleBooks, lots of articles about the essay are available, though). I think it fleshes out some of the ideas Don hints at here.
[...] Embracing the sweet brutal reality of life by Donald Miller. [...]
[...] -Don Miller from his blog [...]
[...] Struggle is a Regular Part of Life Posted on January 22, 2012 by Dan Hawk I like the Bible, the myth and the history, for this reason: It squarely faces the facts of our reality. And what are those facts? Life is utterly and completely brutal. It is devastating and dark. Life is morbid. And the Bible has no problem admitting this. It’s our self-help culture that sticks its head in the ground. -Don Miller from his blog [...]
Hi Don,
I have read most of your books and very much appreciate that you think outside the box. This blog was thought provoking however I have to disagree that Job and some of the other sections your referred to as Myth. Even though some aspects of a story may seem far fetched to us as readers we shouldn’t discount the work of God in the lives of the people in these life stories. If we begin to consider Myth as something far fetched then Jesus birth could also be misconstrued as far fetched.
Blessings,
Susie
[...] Excellent Don Miller article on pain. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
[...] Don Miller on embracing the sweet, brutal reality of life. Advertisement GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_bg", "ffffff"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_border", "eeeeee"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_text", "555555"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_link", "2970A6"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_url", "c8c7c7"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "religion"); GA_googleFillSlot("wpcom_sharethrough"); Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Categories: Uncategorized Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback [...]