
With No Inkling of the Contents: Viewing Narnia Through a Hindu Lens - samclemens
http://www.mantlethought.org/world-literature/no-inkling-contents-viewing-narnia-through-hindu-lens
======
reuven
I sympathize with the author: I'm Jewish, and read the Narnia books when I was
a kid. I absolutely loved them, and read them all multiple times -- except for
the last one, which I never understood, and which struck me as completely
weird.

When I was 16, I stayed with friends of my parents while traveling. I saw a
book analyzing Narnia, and it talked about CS Lewis as a Christian theologian.
My response was: Wow, that's fascinating; I guess he managed to keep that out
of the Narnia books, right?

But then I kept reading that book about CS Lewis, and it described how Narnia
was all Christian, and how its symbolism, and characters, and language, were
all about Christianity. I was absolutely shocked. How could I have missed it?

But I missed it because I was the wrong audience. The "dog whistles," as
they're known in the political realm nowadays, failed to work for me, because
I hadn't been raised to think in those terms.

By the way, I encouraged my kids to read Narnia I even read many of the books
to them when they were younger. But I told them that the last book would be
really weird, and that it reflects the author's Christian perspective. None of
them got into the series as much as I did, so much less explaining had to
happen -- but I did talk about it with them, and I think that they were almost
as surprised as I was.

~~~
kbenson
My experience mirrors yours almost exactly. I don't remember the story all
that clearly any more (probably because I didn't end up reading a a work
analyzing it, but I vaguely remember it being weird towards the end. When the
movies came out and people were commenting how it was very heavily Christian,
I was somewhat surprised, not having caught that when I read it while younger.

I'm not Jewish though. I was raised rather Agnostically, but relatives are
Protestant, and I guess my Parents are? I've only been to Church three or four
times for service, twice of those in Sunday school because I was young, and
all because we were visiting relatives. Interestingly, it wasn't until I was
16 or 17 that I can recall asking my dad if he believed in God, and when he
responded "probably", I was genuinely surprised. I had assumed he was Atheist,
as I was and am. Religion was such a non-existent part of my upbringing that I
didn't know my parents beliefs (I later found out my Mother used to teach
Sunday school before I was born). I did go to a Protestant preschool, but when
young that indoctrination wears off pretty quickly without reinforcement.

My own children occasionally ask me about God or Jesus (the younger ones went
to a preschool based at a Methodist church because it's a good preschool).
When asked a general question, I'll say "some people believe that" and explain
a belief to the best of my ability. If asked my own opinion on it I'll tell
them I don't believe, but it's up to them to make their own choice.

------
dmlorenzetti
The essay "Shakespeare in the Bush" describes an anthropologist recounting
"Hamlet" to a group of people in West Africa. Their cultural expectations
completely upset her understanding of the "true meaning" of the play.

[http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-
past/12476/s...](http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-
past/12476/shakespeare-in-the-bush)

~~~
oska
James Thurber wrote a short story for _The New Yorker_ [1] where a fan of
whodunnits picks up a copy of _Macbeth_ and proceeds to read it while looking
to solve who the real murderer of Duncan was (not Macbeth, too obvious).

[1] [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1937/10/02/the-macbeth-
mur...](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1937/10/02/the-macbeth-murder-
mystery)

------
MPSimmons
True story: I was raised basically without faith but in a vaguely Christian-
oriented house, but it's because of Narnia that I eventually became an
atheist.

It all started when a Calormene guy died and was surprised to find Aslan, but
expected to find Tash. Aslan said that through out the Calormene's life, he
had done good things in Tash's name, but good deeds done in Tash's name are
given or credited to Aslan, and that it wasn't the name in which the deeds
were done, but the intent of the deeds themselves.

That was intriguing to a 10 year old, and I thought a lot about it. Eventually
I settled on the idea that, if there is a God, and everyone prays to God, and
there's only one God, then everyone is praying to the same God, regardless of
the name they call it.

From there, it wasn't a long trip to Deism. I was a Deist for most of my life,
and eventually I began to critically evaluate what the idea of God really was,
and what existence really is, and means.

I've finally come to terms with the idea that, if there is an omniscient,
omnipotent, omnipresent power, it's the universe as a whole, but since you
can't take any part of existence and remove the part that isn't divine (that
is, you can't identify the part that is divine, and by exclusion, you can't
differentiate the part that isn't divine), then God in the normal sense
doesn't "exist".

So is there a God? I don't think so, but if there IS a God, its existence
can't be proven one way or another, so for all intents and purposes, it can be
assumed to not exist.

That being said, if you, as many humans do, feel comfort from a belief in
something greater than yourself and you want to learn more about the divine, I
suggest that you spend time examining math and physics, since the traditional
holy books are written by people who were supposedly divinely influenced, but
math books and physics books are works describing the world as it is, and in
that case, are the closest glimpse of the divine that you're likely to get in
this life.

~~~
taneq
It sounds like you've ended up roughly in the same place a I have; that there
may be one or more Gods but that, as their existence or not is by definition
un-testable, that if they do exist then they're irrelevant.

~~~
mirimir
Nothing that's untestable is worth attention. Except for considering how it
might be tested, anyway. And except for the fun of bullshit ;)

------
valine
> Panentheism exists in Narnia. Not only is it a land overflowing with natural
> beauty, but its talking trees, talking beasts, fauns and centaurs are on par
> with its humans. It is easier to sense the divine in animals and trees that
> can converse with you. The landscape is stunning: the crystal-like purity of
> the winter snow, the deep blue of the sea, the panorama of mountains and
> valleys and forests spread beneath you when you are up in the sky astride a
> flying horse.

'Pantheism' is the belief that everything is God. C.S. Lewis was an outspoken
Theist. He believed there was a clear separation between the creator and the
creation. The creation simply reflects the beauty of God. If I had to explain
it I would say it's like the relationship between Johny Ives and the iPhone.
An iPhone is beautiful because it was designed by a master, not because the
iPhone is actually Sir Johnathan Ives in disguise.

C.S. Lewis did not intend for his books to be read through a Hindu worldview.
I can't imagine he would intentionally create a pantheistic world. Does that
make this interpretation meaningless?

~~~
barrkel
_C.S. Lewis did not intend for his books to be read through a Hindu worldview_

Sure, but that's irrelevant, isn't it? The artist doesn't get to choose how
people react to their art.

~~~
notdonspaulding
_The artist doesn 't get to choose how people react to their art._

C.S. Lewis takes on the issue of subjectivism in his book "The Abolition of
Man". He takes a pretty close look at the ethical repercussions of moral
subjectivity. It's a fairly quick read and I think it's even available online
because it's out of copyright.

It's not by any means a direct rebuttal of your comment, but right at the
beginning of the book I think there's an example that's germane to this
current conversation. You may find it interesting.

~~~
e12e
Link:
[https://archive.org/details/TheAbolitionOfMan_229](https://archive.org/details/TheAbolitionOfMan_229)

After skimming a few pages, I don't read it as a critique against all
subjectivism -- more of a critique of simple subjectivism. Lewis holds up some
books as examples of "true" art, and so holds his subjective view as superior
to the schoolbook example he disparages. Just as there is crap art, there is
crap critique.

------
kiba
I read a lot of Japanese/Koreans/Chinese/etc comics. They're enjoyable to me.

Naruto is huge in Japan and elsewhere, so is Dragonball, and other franchises.

I wondered recently what cultural context am I missing there. How universal is
our experience of those foreign imports?

~~~
labster
Well... a lot of our experience of literature/fiction/life is not universal.
Literary criticism is widely varied for a reason, even on works from the same
country and language.

It's hard to get a handle on what you don't know, but you can approximate
based on others. Think about depictions of Western culture that you've read in
manga/manhua. Or times you've said out loud "that's totally cool but
Christianity does ''not'' work that way" (at least that's what I do.) Then
assume you are roughly as ignorant as they are. Ultimately, you're missing
some of the culture not because of nihonjinron nonsense, but just because you
aren't immersed in the culture constantly.

Another way to judge Japanese mythological reference knowledge is to read
Urusei Yatsura and see how long you can go without asking why something
happens or who an alien species represents in mythology. (The UY setting is
basically Japanese mythology with a sci-fi shim.)

------
strudey
There's a great book called 'Planet Narnia' (by Michael Ward, "the foremost
living Lewis scholar") that argues (to me, very convincingly) that Lewis wrote
the Narniad based around Medieval cosmology. Not the easiest read but, in my
view, very rewarding and really provides insight into some beloved stories and
how they relate to Lewis' religion.

