At the Back of At the Back of the North Wind.

[For the Wheatland Mission Youth Group Book Club]
So this is it. The last post for this book. Hope you enjoyed parts of it, at least. (It was a bit more than I remembered...especially the intrusions by the narrator, which really annoyed me after awhile...so apologies if it was a tough one for you to get into.) Spoiler alert, but if you hadn't been expecting it, the end of the book deals with Diamond's death. And if you've had trouble figuring out just who the North Wind is supposed to be, it is clear from one of the passages toward the end of chapter 36 that she is one of God's agents (an angel?), and she hints that some people know her as Death. (Although she refuses to tell Diamond this name, the last time we see her in chapter 38, she comes to Diamond in silence and it doesn't take much reading between the lines to figure out that she has come to cause his death.)

This subject matter should make sense if we think about the main theme of the book, which concerns God's goodness and the presence of evil in the world. In the story of Little Daylight (which I discussed in my previous post), we saw how God (or at least fairies) can turn a situation meant for evil into a kind of blessing. Not only does Daylight escape the witch's curse at the end of the story, but she also meets (and marries, probably) a prince whom she may not have ever met had it not been for that same curse that caused her to be playing in the woods in the moonlight in the first place!

For Christians, death is not far removed from the idea of God turning something meant for evil into a kind of blessing. Death is something (according to Eve) that God linked to eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 3:1-3), and is traditionally associated with the Fall (see I Cor. 15:21; Romans 5:12-14). Yet, after Christ comes, something has changed so deeply that Paul is able to write, "For me, to live is Christ, but to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

I could easily get sidetracked here, so I will try and get back to the story. The final chapter, 38, Diamond and the narrator (who is a tutor he met while living in Kent, after his father went to work for Mr. Raymond) discuss "metaphysics" (which is a term that basically means philosophy).

One of the things that MacDonald wants to leave his reader with is this, the last idea of the book:

"Could it be all dreaming, do you think, sir?" he asked anxiously.
"I daren't say, Diamond," I answered. "But at least there is one thing you may be sure of, that there is a still better love than that of the wonderful being you call North Wind. Even if she be a dream, the dream of such a beautiful creature could not come to you by chance."
"Yes, I know," returned Diamond; "I know."
Then he was silent, but, I confess, appeared more thoughtful than satisfied. 

 These two are discussing whether or not North Wind is real, but a philosopher would read this passage and tell you that they are really taking up a fairly weighty philosophical argument concerning whether or not God actually exists, and the Tutor offers Diamond an answer in the form of an ontological proof of God's existence. If you want to look it up, I would suggest starting HERE. Basically, the idea is this: because we can imagine a God that is perfect, there must be a God that is perfect (that is a really simplified version, but it's not much different from the Tutor's explanation above).

But the reason I love this passage is not because someone offers a "proof" that a loving God actually exists. I love this passage because when Diamond is offered this "proof," he looks unsatisfied.

Now here is what I would like to leave you with: Fancy logic is not a substitute for faith. Reason is the thing that tries to patch all the holes in your leaky boat; faith is what keeps the oar in your hand despite the leaks, aiming to reach the shore. Here Diamond is described as someone who has experienced doubt (after all it is Diamond who asks the Tutor in the beginning whether it could all have been a dream), considered the answers (he tells the Tutor "Yes, I know," after the Tutor's ontological answer), and still remains unsatisfied.

I would tell him this, if I could: "Don't be afraid. The meaning will come with the thing itself." 

ATBOTNW Chapter 28: Little Daylight

[Written for the Wheatland Mission Youth Group Book Club]
So here I will begin to conclude our lengthy, scattered romp through At the Back of the North Wind. The final two readings (chapter 28, "Little Daylight," and chapter 36 through the end of the book) are maybe a bit easier to read than some of the earlier stuff, and are my favorite parts of the book (along with chapter 4, when Diamond first meets the street-sweeper). I will treat the story of Little Daylight in this post.

Little Daylight resembles Sleeping Beauty, especially as it begins with a group of fairies blessing a newborn princess. Of course there is an uninvited wicked witch who comes in with a curse for the child, a curse that is then lessened by two fairies that have been kept in hiding, suspecting the trick. I don't really want to get much more into it than that except to draw your attention to the seventh fairy's blessing, which follows the witch's second curse that Little Daylight, in addition to sleeping all day, also "wax and wane with the moon." At this point the hidden seventh fairy enters and concludes: "Until...a prince comes who shall kiss her without knowing it." The king asks her what she means by this and she simply replies, "Don't be afraid. The meaning will come with the thing itself."

So what does all this mean for us?

Well, I think this fairy tale is a really good insight to MacDonald's view of the problem of good and evil. In my interpretation, Little Daylight is you and me. The fairies are God. And the witch is the presence of evil in the world (if it helps, you can call this Satan). The point of the whole blessing/cursing ceremony at the beginning of the fairy tale is to show us that God really wants to give us good gifts (cf. Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13), but that, somehow, for some reason, He can't actually prevent bad things from happening to us. (I know this idea goes against what we think of as an all-powerful God who can, theoretically, do anything He wants to, but that's another discussion for another time.) Now even though He can't prevent bad things from happening, He can eventually turn them into something good (this is, in a nutshell, what we mean when we speak of redemption).

Now here is the important part. I know I just got done saying that Little Daylight is you and me, but it turns out that we are also kind of the king. The seventh fairy (God) comes out of hiding and says something about a prince and a kiss that doesn't really make sense to anyone, but is apparently meant to limit the witch's curse (evil's power). Then the fearful king buts in and asks God (seventh fairy) to explain what He (she) means by this. And the king is told 1.) To not be afraid, 2.) That meaning is not as necessary as he thinks it is, and 3.) That what is predicted will come.

And it is this precise moment in the fairy tale that we find ourselves stuck in. You, me, and anyone who has ever lived in the world. We have been told (and hopefully experienced firsthand) that there is a God who loves us and blesses us. We are also aware that there are things that happen (to us, to our friends, to our family members, to complete strangers) which cannot be described as blessings. And, as Christians, we are vaguely aware of a promised end to all this evil, but we want to know what God means when he tells us that there will be a new heaven and a new earth (cf. Revelation 21).

And, just like the king, we are told to not be afraid. We are told that the thing that is predicted will come. And we are told that when it comes, we will understand.

This is, in a nutshell, what we mean when we speak of faith.

At the Back of the North Wind, Chaper 8

[Written for Wheatland Mission Youth Group Book Club]
North Wind is a troublesome character. Reading through the book, she is not exactly God, but more like one of His messengers. (Angel? Death?) That said, her conversation with Diamond about her nature in chapter 8 seems like she is arguing from God's point of view (and not just as one of His messengers). This passage is what I want to discuss here. First, the excerpt:

"Here you are taking care of a poor little boy with one arm, and there you are sinking a ship with the other. It can't be like you."
"Ah! but which is me? I can't be two mes, you know."
"No. Nobody can be two mes."
"Well, which me is me?"
"Now I must think. There looks to be two."
"Yes. That's the very point.—You can't be knowing the thing you don't know, can you?"
"No."
"Which me do you know?"
"The kindest, goodest, best me in the world," answered Diamond, clinging to North Wind.
"Why am I good to you?"
"I don't know."
"Have you ever done anything for me?"
"No."
"Then I must be good to you because I choose to be good to you."
"Yes."
"Why should I choose?"
"Because—because—because you like."
"Why should I like to be good to you?"
"I don't know, except it be because it's good to be good to me."
"That's just it; I am good to you because I like to be good."
"Then why shouldn't you be good to other people as well as to me?"
"That's just what I don't know. Why shouldn't I?"
"I don't know either. Then why shouldn't you?"
"Because I am."
"There it is again," said Diamond. "I don't see that you are. It looks quite the other thing."
"Well, but listen to me, Diamond. You know the one me, you say, and that is good."
"Yes."
"Do you know the other me as well?"
"No. I can't. I shouldn't like to."
"There it is. You don't know the other me. You are sure of one of them?"
"Yes."
"And you are sure there can't be two mes?"
"Yes."
"Then the me you don't know must be the same as the me you do know,—else there would be two mes?"
"Yes."
"Then the other me you don't know must be as kind as the me you do know?"
"Yes."
"Besides, I tell you that it is so, only it doesn't look like it. That I confess freely. Have you anything more to object?"
"No, no, dear North Wind; I am quite satisfied."
"Then I will tell you something you might object. You might say that the me you know is like the other me, and that I am cruel all through."
"I know that can't be, because you are so kind."
"But that kindness might be only a pretence for the sake of being more cruel afterwards."
Diamond clung to her tighter than ever, crying—
"No, no, dear North Wind; I can't believe that. I don't believe it. I won't believe it. That would kill me. I love you, and you must love me, else how did I come to love you? How could you know how to put on such a beautiful face if you did not love me and the rest? No. You may sink as many ships as you like, and I won't say another word. I can't say I shall like to see it, you know."

Ok, so apologies for the long passage, but the author, George MacDonald is getting at something important here, and I thought it best to look at the whole thing.

For a long time people have wrestled with the problem of how evil can exist along with a "good" God. (That is, if God is good and all-powerful, then why does He allow X to happen?) You fill in the X with your own question, of course: why did my mother get cancer...why does God allow babies to starve to death...why do innocent children get sexually abused...etc. The name for this problem of why God doesn't step in to stop evil is theodicy, and MacDonald tries to answer it here. I don't know that he does it very well (I don't know that you can do it very well...I think this question...these kinds of questions, make our faith as Christians something meaningful). 

North Wind's argument essentially boils down to the following points:
1. Her goodness has been revealed to Diamond, and is something in which he believes.
2. She is good to him because she chooses to be, not because she "owes" it to Diamond.
3. She cannot have two natures. She cannot be both good and evil.
4. When it looks like she is not being good, Diamond has to choose between what he sees, and what he believes (see #1).

These 4 points roughly correspond to 3 key aspects of the Christian life: faith (#1), grace (#2), and human choice (#4).

This is all well and good, but I feel like MacDonald only touches on the problem before resolving it far too easily. (Diamond is apparently too afraid to follow North Wind's suggestion that there is a possibility that her true nature may be cruelty...something that C.S. Lewis takes up in one of my favorite books of his, A Grief Observed, when he asks how do we know God isn't just some "cosmic sadist"?)

Going to leave it there. Hopefully it has made you think. Don't feel like you have to have a great answer for people when they ask how you can be a Christian and believe in a God who lets children suffer. I don't. And I've heard a lot of different answers. This is one of those things where I can't help but feel the question may be more important than any answer we can make. And I think the question becomes especially important if we truly believe that the Kingdom of God is something that we are invited to participate in...not just something that we are waiting for to happen.

At the Back of the North Wind, Chapter 4

[The following is a post written for the Wheatland Mission youth group book club.]

I decided to post this here, instead of making you all read it on Facebook. First, like I said earlier, I remember liking this book more as a kid than I have liked it with this re-reading, but I still think there are some parts that are interesting to discuss, so I will try to do that here.

Chapter 4. Diamond and the Street-sweeper. This chapter reminded me of the Brene Brown TED Talk "On Vulnerability" that I shared on the Facebook page (I think she swears once. Apologies. But it's still worth watching.) To refresh your memory, Diamond goes on his first adventure with North Wind, sees the girl being blown about and looking "so lonely there," and so he asks North Wind to help her.

"Oh! please, North Wind," he cried, "won't you help that little girl?"

 "No, Diamond; I mustn't leave my work."

"But why shouldn't you be kind to her?"

"I am kind to her. I am sweeping the wicked smells away."

 "But you're kinder to me, dear North Wind. Why shouldn't you be as kind to her as you are to me?"

"There are reasons, Diamond. Everybody can't be done to all the same. Everybody is not ready for the same thing."

"But I don't see why I should be kinder used than she."

"Do you think nothing's to be done but what you can see, Diamond, you silly! It's all right. Of course you can help her if you like. You've got nothing particular to do at this moment; I have."

 "Oh! do let me help her, then. But you won't be able to wait, perhaps?"

"No, I can't wait; you must do it yourself. And, mind, the wind will get a hold of you, too."

"Don't you want me to help her, North Wind?"

 "Not without having some idea what will happen. If you break down and cry, that won't be much of a help to her, and it will make a goose of little Diamond."

"I want to go," said Diamond. "Only there's just one thing—how am I to get home?"

 "If you're anxious about that, perhaps you had better go with me. I am bound to take you home again, if you do."

"There!" cried Diamond, who was still looking after the little girl. "I'm sure the wind will blow her over, and perhaps kill her. Do let me go."

They had been sweeping more slowly along the line of the street. There was a lull in the roaring.

"Well, though I cannot promise to take you home," said North Wind, as she sank nearer and nearer to the tops of the houses, "I can promise you it will be all right in the end. You will get home somehow. Have you made up your mind what to do?"

"Yes; to help the little girl," said Diamond firmly.

This is one of my favorite passages in this book, because I think it is easy to imagine ourselves in Diamond's position--or if you are older, like me, to remember times like this when you wish you had been as courageous (or "whole-hearted," according to Ms. Brown) as Diamond is here.

Really, if you think about it, it makes no sense for Diamond to help out this girl. He doesn't know anything about her situation; he doesn't even know who she is; he has no guarantee of his own safety (getting home); he has been told by North Wind that even though it doesn't look like it, the girl is getting the exact kindness she needs; and to cap it all off there are actually negative consequences for his helping the girl ("the wind will get a hold of you, too"). Of course, one of the great things about Diamond is that he doesn't stop to think very much...at least, not like you and I think. One of the other great things about him is his willingness to help. Now this world is full of all kinds of people who don't think very much and who are over-eager to help...but none of them is very much like Diamond. That's an important thing to realize, even though I can't explain it at length here. I guess what I mean is that these things are not always virtues, although with Diamond they clearly are meant to be.

So Diamond stops. (Why does he stop? To quote a later line: "Now the way most people do when they see anything very miserable is to turn away from the sight and forget it. But Diamond began as usual to try to destroy the misery.") He stops because he knows he should. He doesn't know what he is going to do, he doesn't know how he can help, but he stops anyway. (And, it is worth noting, he even feels bad in the middle of wandering the streets with the girl because, "...he thought he had been no use to her." It turns out he is wrong about this, but at the time he feels like he has failed.)

This is a really important passage because it illustrates, to me, the expectation set on Christians by Matthew 25:31-46. That's the famous sheep and goats passage, and I am always struck by how both groups misinterpret the situations they find themselves in. The sheep don't realize that by helping the people they see in need, they are helping Christ (they have apparently made helping people in need a habit, and they can't even imagine not doing so...they just think they are doing the natural thing in the situation). The goats don't realize that by failing to help the people they see in need, they miss out on helping Christ. (Why don't they help? Probably because they don't know anything about the situations the needy are in: maybe they're in jail because God is teaching them a lesson about obedience...maybe they are naked because God is teaching them a lesson about humility; they don't even know who the needy are, much of the time; they have no guarantee of their own safety; they have been told by their Bibles all sorts of things that they use to get off the hook; and to cap it all off, there are often negative consequences for helping the person.) I don't think it takes much guessing to figure out which side Diamond is on.

So that's my post on chapter 4. And yes, this is me trying to keep it short.