C.S.Lewis

The kids and I finally finished reading The Magician's Nephew tonight. We really enjoyed it. It is funny, insightful and provides an interesting look at Christianity from a fiction point of view. I think it parallels what Orson Scott Card has done in his series The Tales of Alvinmaker and The Memory of Earth series. It makes the stories seem more alive to read them in a fictional setting. The author's can make conjectures that they can't often do in a formal, nonfiction way. I think it really is a testament to the skill as well to take a well known story and make it their own. The Magician's Nephew is an interesting take on creation and I find the symbolism in Aslan's song in calling forth life, just beautiful. I love the idea of song being a force that is used but the good side. I believe Tolkein did a similar story called "Ainulindale" that is part of the book The Silmarillion. It too has a glorious feel to it in the song of creation. I have no doubt that we barely know the power of music and harmony. Lately I have grown especially fond of it in fact. It can instantly change the tone or mood of a group or place. Music can sort of ease its way into a space that is unfriendly to other mediums. One of my favorite scenes from a movie is in The Shawshank Redemption. Tim Robbins has opened many crates of donated materials for his prison library. He puts on Le Nozze De Figaro and blasts it throughout the whole compound. Morgan Freeman is narrating and talks about how their hearts soared higher than they had ever dared to dream in a place like that. What an awesome power to lift the hearts of the most downtrodden. I'm off to write a paper on the art history in India. Fascinating stuff, rise of Buddha, figurines etc. I find historical art in many ways more attractive than modern or even my own. Historical art is a record of a people that exist outside our current understanding but still under God's umbrella. I love trying to make connections between us.