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edenfallingJadis in the garden: separation from God is only a punishment if you believe in him.
[ETA: The AO3 crosspost and the ff.net crosspost are now up.]
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Heart's Desire
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"Come in by the gold gates or not at all," the garden's maker had written. And truly, there was no need to turn aside, walk a quarter-circle around the hilltop, and clamber over the wall, but Jadis was the Queen of Charn and she bowed to no one.
She would have the apple on her own terms, as she had earned everything else in her life.
The fruit was sharp and almost painfully sweet, with a metallic tang underneath that expanded to bitter and salt in the aftertaste. The juice was shockingly dark for such a fair-fleshed fruit. Jadis licked the red-brown stain from her hand and laughed.
Pure theatrics: the apple bled. Was that supposed to induce guilt or shame?
The Lion had made this world, she acknowledged, but she had been here at the making; her magic was thus woven deep into its earth and air, inseparable from its very fabric of being. Until this world died, the Lion must adjust his plans to account for her. And even after, she could continue -- if that simpering fool had learned to travel between the planes, surely so could she! And she would learn to cross directly, without the crutch of that horrible, drowning place between the worlds.
A breeze stirred the garden, swirling petals and scent from the tree. Jadis sneezed, and then nearly gagged on the rotting sweetness of the silvery perfume. Stumbling, she turned aside, holding her arms across her face as if to block the very air from attacking her.
The air stilled. The scent dissipated.
Jadis lowered her arms and clenched her free hand, seething. So. The Lion had fashioned a trap for those who defied him and ate the fruit unbidden. But even he could not stop the apple from performing its function; already she could feel new strength coursing through her blood and bones like a river of ice, scouring away her mortality.
She had forever, now. She had new magic to master, a new world to conquer, a new foe to destroy. If the Lion thought that a mere tree would defeat her or that length of days would lead her to despair, he was a fool, as her sister had been.
Jadis ran her tongue across her teeth, savoring the iron tang of immortality, and took another bite.
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Inspired by the 4/27/09![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15_minute_fic word #108: hungry
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Near the end of The Magician's Nephew Aslan tells Digory and Polly that Jadis "has won her heart's desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want: they do not always like it."
I never believed him. First, people do not always get what they want; anyone who claims otherwise is engaging in sophistry or wishful thinking. Secondly, the sense I got of Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was emphatically not of a woman mired in despair. Jadis is too practical to give in to despair or wallow in depressive introspection, and I am not at all sure she's even capable of misery; her emotional repertoire seems limited to anger, frustration, fear, hatred, pride, triumph, (self-)satisfaction, and sometimes a pure joy in skill and motion. Possibly also greed or covetousness, but I think even her ambition is more a surety that everything already does belong to her, and she just has to make people acknowledge that truth.
Jadis is evil, no two ways about it. She's selfish, cruel, and probably sociopathic -- other people are not real to her except as tools or obstacles. But length of days with an evil heart is only miserable if you know and care about your relative moral standing. If you don't -- and Jadis doesn't -- then length of days gives you time for everything you find pleasurable, like magic and conquest and fighting.
So with all due respect, I must disagree with Aslan (and therefore, more relevantly, with C. S. Lewis). :-)
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NOTICE! There is an extensive discussion in the comments on the Livejournal version of this post, which happened after I imported my journal to Dreamwidth. I think it is worth checking out.
[ETA: The AO3 crosspost and the ff.net crosspost are now up.]
---------------------------------------------
Heart's Desire
---------------------------------------------
"Come in by the gold gates or not at all," the garden's maker had written. And truly, there was no need to turn aside, walk a quarter-circle around the hilltop, and clamber over the wall, but Jadis was the Queen of Charn and she bowed to no one.
She would have the apple on her own terms, as she had earned everything else in her life.
The fruit was sharp and almost painfully sweet, with a metallic tang underneath that expanded to bitter and salt in the aftertaste. The juice was shockingly dark for such a fair-fleshed fruit. Jadis licked the red-brown stain from her hand and laughed.
Pure theatrics: the apple bled. Was that supposed to induce guilt or shame?
The Lion had made this world, she acknowledged, but she had been here at the making; her magic was thus woven deep into its earth and air, inseparable from its very fabric of being. Until this world died, the Lion must adjust his plans to account for her. And even after, she could continue -- if that simpering fool had learned to travel between the planes, surely so could she! And she would learn to cross directly, without the crutch of that horrible, drowning place between the worlds.
A breeze stirred the garden, swirling petals and scent from the tree. Jadis sneezed, and then nearly gagged on the rotting sweetness of the silvery perfume. Stumbling, she turned aside, holding her arms across her face as if to block the very air from attacking her.
The air stilled. The scent dissipated.
Jadis lowered her arms and clenched her free hand, seething. So. The Lion had fashioned a trap for those who defied him and ate the fruit unbidden. But even he could not stop the apple from performing its function; already she could feel new strength coursing through her blood and bones like a river of ice, scouring away her mortality.
She had forever, now. She had new magic to master, a new world to conquer, a new foe to destroy. If the Lion thought that a mere tree would defeat her or that length of days would lead her to despair, he was a fool, as her sister had been.
Jadis ran her tongue across her teeth, savoring the iron tang of immortality, and took another bite.
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Inspired by the 4/27/09
15_minute_fic word #108: hungry---------------------------------------------
Near the end of The Magician's Nephew Aslan tells Digory and Polly that Jadis "has won her heart's desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want: they do not always like it."
I never believed him. First, people do not always get what they want; anyone who claims otherwise is engaging in sophistry or wishful thinking. Secondly, the sense I got of Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was emphatically not of a woman mired in despair. Jadis is too practical to give in to despair or wallow in depressive introspection, and I am not at all sure she's even capable of misery; her emotional repertoire seems limited to anger, frustration, fear, hatred, pride, triumph, (self-)satisfaction, and sometimes a pure joy in skill and motion. Possibly also greed or covetousness, but I think even her ambition is more a surety that everything already does belong to her, and she just has to make people acknowledge that truth.
Jadis is evil, no two ways about it. She's selfish, cruel, and probably sociopathic -- other people are not real to her except as tools or obstacles. But length of days with an evil heart is only miserable if you know and care about your relative moral standing. If you don't -- and Jadis doesn't -- then length of days gives you time for everything you find pleasurable, like magic and conquest and fighting.
So with all due respect, I must disagree with Aslan (and therefore, more relevantly, with C. S. Lewis). :-)
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NOTICE! There is an extensive discussion in the comments on the Livejournal version of this post, which happened after I imported my journal to Dreamwidth. I think it is worth checking out.
on theology, ethics, and authorial intent, part 5
Date: 2009-05-10 05:31 am (UTC)Mmm. I do agree that many important things are difficult to fully understand or put into practice, especially since every single absolute principle I have ever thought of becomes untenable when taken to extremes. But the thing is, I am a very religious person. I just have a different approach from you.
I believe that there are no spiritual powers and no spiritual realm. I believe there is no life after death; this world and this life are the only ones we ever get, so we have to do our best here and now. I believe we are part of this earth and this universe; when we die, our bodies return to the world from which they came, and maybe one day, billions of years from now, fragments of the earth will become part of a new star; we are all connected to each other in the mystery of existence. I believe that good is whatever helps another person, that sin is whatever harms another person, and that we should ask other people whether they've been hurt or helped instead of assuming we can judge for them. I believe that community is sacred, that learning is sacred, that there are infinite paths to wisdom and love, and that everything that leads to greater community and understanding is holy.
Those beliefs can, of course, be abused, just as Christian beliefs can be abused and turned to hatred instead of the love Jesus preached. No religion is perfect. But I believe in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and I believe that questions are sacred while answers are dangerous and not to be lightly accepted.
Unitarian Universalism is a religion based on values rather than beliefs; we do not ever use any form of creedal test, and therefore every UU tends to have slightly different beliefs and practices. In terms of my beliefs, I am a secular humanist agnostic with vague leanings toward Buddhist philosophy and earth-centric pantheism (i.e., a belief that the whole world is sacred). I say I am agnostic rather than atheist because atheism seems, to me, to focus on the lack of a deity, whereas I think the existence or non-existence of deities is utterly irrelevant. The point is to have reverence and respect for the universe and to live in such a way as to help people rather than harm them. I would consider those two goals the heart of my religion even if a god appeared to me in flame and trumpets, because any god who didn't put those two goals at the heart of his or her instructions would not be worthy of worship.
(From what I understand, those are some of the main goals Christ told his followers to pursue. Which is why I can read stories that portray Aslan as Jesus, even through the cognitive dissonance, because unless they're specifically dealing with the Apocalypse, I usually agree with the values on which they're based. *grin*)
Re: on theology, ethics, and authorial intent, part 5
Date: 2009-05-12 04:55 am (UTC)I find that an interesting philosophy, if rather sad from my own belief. I see so much misery in this world and can only yearn for the next where everything will be made right. Even a person who lives a good, happy life goes through misery and troubles at some point, does bad things. I also don't understand how this idea reconciles with your disgust over the loss of the Talking Animals' 'souls' in TLB, since you do not seem to believe in a spiritual world from which a soul comes. Or perhaps, you have a different definition of soul?
I believe that good is whatever helps another person, that sin is whatever harms another person, and that we should ask other people whether they've been hurt or helped instead of assuming we can judge for them. I believe that community is sacred, that learning is sacred, that there are infinite paths to wisdom and love, and that everything that leads to greater community and understanding is holy.
While it does make sense that good is whatever helps someone, can't it get confusing? What is your definition of 'help'? Help them be happy? What is happiness, then? What if, in helping someone, you hurt someone else? And I agree that working for a better community and understanding between people is a good thing, but do you truly think it is possible in this world? And what is your definition of holy? (I'm not being facetious with these questions, I truly want to know and understand).
Those beliefs can, of course, be abused, just as Christian beliefs can be abused and turned to hatred instead of the love Jesus preached.
Oh, most definitely. Which is why I like to believe that there will be an eternity where we can fully understand and be able to do as Christ instructed us to do, which isn't possible in this world. Even the best person in this world does something bad at least once, and probably thinks or contemplates evil more than they admit.
I believe that questions are sacred while answers are dangerous and not to be lightly accepted.
This confuses me. How are questions sacred (and what is your definition of sacred)? And how can questions be good and answers be bad? What is the use of questions without answers?
The point is to have reverence and respect for the universe and to live in such a way as to help people rather than harm them.
Those are very good values, can't dispute that. I just wonder what your basis for that is? Is there some basic truth behind why you believe that respecting the universe and helping people is a good thing. Again, it's an honest question. I am curious to understand your belief system. And please, feel free to ask me about my own faith if you want to know. I welcome any questions/problems you might have about my faith, because it makes me examine it more thoroughly and forces me to ask myself why I believe what I do.
Re: on theology, ethics, and authorial intent, part 5
Date: 2009-05-12 05:59 am (UTC)I accept the existence of immortal souls within Lewis's fictional world, and am therefore outraged because of the ethical implications of the removal of such souls. I am also outraged because even without speculating about souls, changing Talking Beasts into dumb animals removes their minds and memories and thus their selves, whether such a self is embodied in a soul or simply encoded in electrochemical potentials and neural links in a brain. And if that isn't murder, it's awfully close.
I define a soul as 1) an eternal, nonmaterial essence that is a person's true and best self, which is a generic religious concept that I do not believe has any objective validity; 2) a useful metaphor for describing a person's core traits and memories, the things that make her herself rather than any of the other billions of people who ever have lived or ever will live; 3) a somewhat less useful metaphor for an ethical or aesthetic sense; or 4) a generic fantasy concept based on the religious concept I don't believe in, but which I will accept as part of the other objectively unreal (i.e., magical) elements of a story, within the context of that story and for the duration of my bringing that story to life in my mind.
Re: on theology, ethics, and authorial intent, part 5
Date: 2009-05-12 02:58 pm (UTC)I would have to say that my definition of a soul is close to the Catholic catechism: "In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person.230 But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him,231 that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man. " And I also believe that spirit and body are intertwined so intimately that we are not complete without both being in perfect concert with God's plan. In this life the soul and body conflict with each other due to sin, at death they are separated, and at the final judgement the body is raised, perfected, and reunited with the soul to make a complete person again.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing what else you have to say!