believing outside the box

Lots goes into the reactions of people to their lives and times. Whether hippyish, middle-ages-ish, or thoroughly enlightened, each human existence involves an amalgamation of factors beyond DNA. Yet we continue seeking to relate to the ideas and adventures of those. Of these. Of them. Of her. Of him. I think that’s an okay thing, despite the pitfalls and the getting things wrong we’ll inevitably do. Getting things right can happen once in a while, like a pitch perfect story off the cuff.

I have thoughts to share on two people, one historical/biblical, and one fictional/futuristic. This will take more than one post, but I’ve written out my complete idea first, so I should be able to get the parts published in sequence this time, rather than spread out as were my first and second posts on belief, here and here. (Being all explainy ahead of time is good, right? If not, thanks for your patience.)

Abraham Called by God - portrait by Guy Rowe

Abraham, the man from Genesis who started out as Abram and became the father of the Arabs and the Jews, was a man shown something. An organic something, in my view, because this god came to him, and he understood gods.

Nothing says how this god appeared or spoke to Abraham, but Abraham, from a culture that considered gods to be behind the phenomena of their lives, recognized deity when he encountered one. Had any “other” god actually spoken to anyone? There’s no way to know, but I’m guessing they hadn’t. These gods were fables and epic stories, but their being around was accepted. What better way for the real, ultimate being to come across as plausible, than to show up and speak as a cultural god surely would, if one could?

We’re not told in Genesis whether Abraham was in general disillusioned or angry, just that he was a person. Fearfulness seems apparent in his story at some decision-making points. But there’s also his loyalty, courage, and loving care for others. He was a married man, a nomad, a rich guy after a while, and, finally, a father.

In the Bible story, Abraham somehow is given interaction with his particular deity at points in time throughout his life. He receives a summons to hope in stuff he can’t yet see. God asks him to believe, specifically, that his seed (offspring, heritage, followers-in-faith) will be a blessing to all peoples of the earth. This blessing is somehow a big deal. Not a hamburger franchise or the like. A truly significant something. And it will come, God tells him, through the lineage of his and his wife Sarah’s son, Isaac.

Capt. Mal

Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of a spaceship in Joss Whedon’s movie from the TV series Firefly, is a man shown something. A military man from a war gone wrong, he’s definitely disillusioned. Despite his anger, he comes across as a real person, loyal, courageous, caring. Trying to find his way through his ‘verse (universe) in a ship he found, with a crew who found him.

In a scene in the movie (not too different from the pivotal one for Neo in The Matrix), Mal discovers a jarring view of horror in reality that few others recognize or wish to see. This revelation happens after Mal has come across his dying Christian friend, Shepherd Book, who tells Mal, “I don’t care what you believe. Just believe it.”

I have pondered what Book is talking about. Does he want Mal to believe the horrible revelation? If so, that won’t be a challenge, because Mal’s crew will see it with him and have no reason to doubt its veracity. Or could it be that Book is summoning Mal to believe in something positive? Sort of a blessing, perhaps. In any case, I want to think that this story doesn’t hinge on the main character flexing his “belief muscles,” as Kung Fu Panda seemed to do. Because if Book merely wants Mal to believe so that reality, in its current horror, will change, then his call to Mal is merely a wish for sparkly, fake magic. If, however, there is some object, even a rational concept, for Mal to embrace, then I’m interested in what he ends up doing with his belief, same as I am with Abraham.

I will continue this thought. Soon. Thanks for reading.