What a wonderful essay for the new year! It’s so good to have you back! My own spiritual life is richer with the wisdom that you and Spencer bring to the table.
Andrew - , so great to read your wonderful column in the New Jerusalem this morning.
It is a profound truth. It reminded me a great deal about something that Dennis Prager wrote in this most outstanding Rationale Bible - the book on Exodus. Mr. Prager is writing about Moses and seeing the burning bush. Moses had a choice to see the truth of the burning bush or not to see it. This is such a critical point that you make in your essay and reiterated in a different way in Mr. Prager's writing. I have copied it below. Also, by the way, you said a wonderful similar thing in your book - The Great Good Thing. You said that after you came to faith, everything looked different and you saw God's hand and action in so many daily "miracles'.
the following quotation if from Dennis Prager's book - The Rationale Bible - Exodus.
“a sense, Moses’s behavior exemplifies a choice we all have when looking at life—am I seeing a miracle? Is the birth of a baby a miracle? Is thought, consciousness, great art—and, for that matter, all existence—a miracle? That is our choice to make. The Victorian-era British poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, commented on this verse: Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God But only he who sees takes off his shoes. . . . 3 “Only he who sees . . .” That’s the great question: Who sees the miracles of daily life? And the answer is: Whoever chooses to see. One of the most important lessons of life—one I believe most people never learn—is that almost everything important is a choice. We choose whether to be happy (or, at the very least whether to act happy),”
Thank you for this thoughtful and uplifting comment.
One wonders if, as those who see the miracle will take off their shoes before the bush, perhaps those who will take off their shoes only because of faith will thereby be more able to see the miracle.
I’ve been writing short stories for the past few years, and I’ve always been puzzled by the crux, by the moment of transformation for the protagonist.
How does the main character just suddenly change course?
And I came to the same conclusion. It wasn’t a logical reasoning that the protagonists underwent, but a moment of sight. They suddenly organized the world differently and thus behaved differently.
One of my favorite scenes in Crime and Punishment is at the end where R goes back on his decision to confess.
I forget the dialogue exactly, but he is so frightened by the truth of what he must do that he decides to unsee it and be mad again.
This whole idea is why I value the imagination so much and follow the Klavans’ commentary. It’s not about the facts, but about the life that leads you truly.
Happy New Year and welcome back! I missed the essays greatly.
It is no wonder that CS Lewis and Dickens both railed against the “materialist” or man of the worldly mind. It is in that impoverisment of the soul, which is voluntary, which prevents one from seeing the supernatural in the natural world. At the end of the Narnia books, a group of black dwarves are sitting in a circle facing inwards, and they are in paradise but cannot see it. Trapped forever in their mindset, unable to see the glories around them or experience paradise. So it will be with any one who willfully denies God in life. I do not know what will happen to them, and I hope that they will have been personally charitable or warm to others, as there is salvation in those freely given acts of charity or goodness, but I fear for those who are like Sade, so immersed in their own “liberation” from these superstitions, will not see the difference between giving a beggar bread and torturing a child.
A delightful essay. Although I have a soft spot for Scott’s depiction of Scrooge, I also greatly enjoy Sim’s version. In the Scott version, when he reconciles with Fred he utters the phrase “God forgive me for the time I wasted”. A prayer I utter daily.
This was such a happy surprise! Your wisdom has been such a part of my daily routine.
We had a quiet Christmas Day. We waited this year so that we could all be together. I was bustling around that morning preparing Christmas dinner for my husband and I , my two youngest kids and my dad, i discovered your christmas special. Weeks earlier, I had asked each of the 12 members of the family to come home with something to offer at our Christmas Eve devotional (to be held on 28th). The theme was "Christmas past present and future."
I commented to my husband that you must have brought me up in " the way I should go" because it went so well with what I had written. We watched the special during our Christmas dinner and it brought such a good spirit. Even my dad , who has suffering with parkinson's and dementia , really connected with it. This is the cherry on top! We are coming late off of a week of celebration, and this brought me back around to looking forward. Thanks
Then perhaps we, like Scrooge’s epiphany in the Christmas Carol , should all try to celebrate epiphany-tide more than Christmas tide , with the view to inducing the aforementioned wisdom
I would also urge everyone to purchase a liturgical calendar to travel alongside the secular Gregorian calendar one usually indulges in .
Then tradition has more chance of producing the illusive epiphany Andrew appears to be beseeching his readers to seek. Try it ; you’ll never know till you’ve tried following a different calendar 👍. You maybe surprised by wisdom as well as joy
Well said, Andrew. It seems to me that at least some of the dangers we face are living too much within ourselves and not living in wonder with the world and beyond as Rod Dreher might describe
To say that “I only believe in what I see.” denies the existence of something as simple and natural as wind. I cannot see it, yet it still has a profound influence on everything material: moving, cooling, invigorating…and yes, even destroying.
If I don’t see that speeding semi as I pull through an intersection in my Smart sub compact: can I deny its existence and its impact on me in spite of being unaware of it?
The argument is inane, and ignorant.
“Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””
Klavan has a way of seeing both the hard edged truth and poetic revelation, of refusing to make a brutal world falsely soft but finding softness where it resides: in relationship, ways of seeing, longing for a better world even if we never quite get there.
What a wonderful essay for the new year! It’s so good to have you back! My own spiritual life is richer with the wisdom that you and Spencer bring to the table.
Hear, hear — I feel exactly as you do, Jan. I needed this essay — and am so grateful for Andrew’s and Spencer's uplifting insights.
Andrew - , so great to read your wonderful column in the New Jerusalem this morning.
It is a profound truth. It reminded me a great deal about something that Dennis Prager wrote in this most outstanding Rationale Bible - the book on Exodus. Mr. Prager is writing about Moses and seeing the burning bush. Moses had a choice to see the truth of the burning bush or not to see it. This is such a critical point that you make in your essay and reiterated in a different way in Mr. Prager's writing. I have copied it below. Also, by the way, you said a wonderful similar thing in your book - The Great Good Thing. You said that after you came to faith, everything looked different and you saw God's hand and action in so many daily "miracles'.
the following quotation if from Dennis Prager's book - The Rationale Bible - Exodus.
“a sense, Moses’s behavior exemplifies a choice we all have when looking at life—am I seeing a miracle? Is the birth of a baby a miracle? Is thought, consciousness, great art—and, for that matter, all existence—a miracle? That is our choice to make. The Victorian-era British poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, commented on this verse: Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God But only he who sees takes off his shoes. . . . 3 “Only he who sees . . .” That’s the great question: Who sees the miracles of daily life? And the answer is: Whoever chooses to see. One of the most important lessons of life—one I believe most people never learn—is that almost everything important is a choice. We choose whether to be happy (or, at the very least whether to act happy),”
Richard Hotchkiss
Thank you for this thoughtful and uplifting comment.
One wonders if, as those who see the miracle will take off their shoes before the bush, perhaps those who will take off their shoes only because of faith will thereby be more able to see the miracle.
I’ve been writing short stories for the past few years, and I’ve always been puzzled by the crux, by the moment of transformation for the protagonist.
How does the main character just suddenly change course?
And I came to the same conclusion. It wasn’t a logical reasoning that the protagonists underwent, but a moment of sight. They suddenly organized the world differently and thus behaved differently.
One of my favorite scenes in Crime and Punishment is at the end where R goes back on his decision to confess.
I forget the dialogue exactly, but he is so frightened by the truth of what he must do that he decides to unsee it and be mad again.
This whole idea is why I value the imagination so much and follow the Klavans’ commentary. It’s not about the facts, but about the life that leads you truly.
It’s seeing the beauty that is in the material world but whose essence projects something more than the material world.
Happy New Year and welcome back! I missed the essays greatly.
It is no wonder that CS Lewis and Dickens both railed against the “materialist” or man of the worldly mind. It is in that impoverisment of the soul, which is voluntary, which prevents one from seeing the supernatural in the natural world. At the end of the Narnia books, a group of black dwarves are sitting in a circle facing inwards, and they are in paradise but cannot see it. Trapped forever in their mindset, unable to see the glories around them or experience paradise. So it will be with any one who willfully denies God in life. I do not know what will happen to them, and I hope that they will have been personally charitable or warm to others, as there is salvation in those freely given acts of charity or goodness, but I fear for those who are like Sade, so immersed in their own “liberation” from these superstitions, will not see the difference between giving a beggar bread and torturing a child.
A delightful essay. Although I have a soft spot for Scott’s depiction of Scrooge, I also greatly enjoy Sim’s version. In the Scott version, when he reconciles with Fred he utters the phrase “God forgive me for the time I wasted”. A prayer I utter daily.
Lovely essay but we all know deep down, when we listen to our inner child, Muppet’s Christmas Carol is the best 😉
May we all be willing to see God’s hand and beauty all around us.
SO thankful to read this essay this morning! Happy New Year to the Klavans!
This was such a happy surprise! Your wisdom has been such a part of my daily routine.
We had a quiet Christmas Day. We waited this year so that we could all be together. I was bustling around that morning preparing Christmas dinner for my husband and I , my two youngest kids and my dad, i discovered your christmas special. Weeks earlier, I had asked each of the 12 members of the family to come home with something to offer at our Christmas Eve devotional (to be held on 28th). The theme was "Christmas past present and future."
I commented to my husband that you must have brought me up in " the way I should go" because it went so well with what I had written. We watched the special during our Christmas dinner and it brought such a good spirit. Even my dad , who has suffering with parkinson's and dementia , really connected with it. This is the cherry on top! We are coming late off of a week of celebration, and this brought me back around to looking forward. Thanks
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ozeOVgqUC90TTXyLM3ixQh3gZV0uBjTF6FoSEN-qF38/edit?usp=drivesdk
I hope it is not too indulgent to share what I offered. It is a look into my heart.
Then perhaps we, like Scrooge’s epiphany in the Christmas Carol , should all try to celebrate epiphany-tide more than Christmas tide , with the view to inducing the aforementioned wisdom
https://ba7e1424.click.convertkit-mail4.com/o8unvqrxd2hqh6xkmdxavhqzd58rraohd0ml/6qhehoul0e2p0gi9/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmdsaWNhbmNvbXBhc3MuY29tL2VwaXBoYW55LWFuZC1lcGlwaGFueXRpZGUtYS1yb29raWUtYW5nbGljYW4tZ3VpZGUv
I would also urge everyone to purchase a liturgical calendar to travel alongside the secular Gregorian calendar one usually indulges in .
Then tradition has more chance of producing the illusive epiphany Andrew appears to be beseeching his readers to seek. Try it ; you’ll never know till you’ve tried following a different calendar 👍. You maybe surprised by wisdom as well as joy
Well said, Andrew. It seems to me that at least some of the dangers we face are living too much within ourselves and not living in wonder with the world and beyond as Rod Dreher might describe
To say that “I only believe in what I see.” denies the existence of something as simple and natural as wind. I cannot see it, yet it still has a profound influence on everything material: moving, cooling, invigorating…and yes, even destroying.
If I don’t see that speeding semi as I pull through an intersection in my Smart sub compact: can I deny its existence and its impact on me in spite of being unaware of it?
The argument is inane, and ignorant.
“Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””
John 20:29 ESV
Klavan has a way of seeing both the hard edged truth and poetic revelation, of refusing to make a brutal world falsely soft but finding softness where it resides: in relationship, ways of seeing, longing for a better world even if we never quite get there.
He is the teacher of my heart.
Thank you, Andrew. Spirits in a material world, as the Police wrote....