This?

Monday, February 16, 2009

Faith

"Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it. At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an aeroplane, then it looked like a kite, and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and was an albatross. It circled three times around the mast and then perched for an instant on the crest of the gilded dragon at the prow. It called out in in strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. After that it spread its wings, rose, and began to fly slowly ahead, bearing a little to starboard. Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance. But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, 'Courage, dear heart,' and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.

In a few moments the darkness turned into a greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again."


- C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2 comments:

shaunian said...

My interest is piqued. Did something happen to make you question or regain your "faith?"

Dave Kopperman said...

Not faith in the religious sense for me, but I do find that not just hope but strong belief can make things work out 'alright.' It's kind of what the lyric to 'Summer Vacation' is about, in reverse:

I can't deny I still worry,/but you rely on knowing that it all will be all right./You say, "Why? Don't worry. You get beside yourself, but - no, it doesn't change a thing."/So I calm down.

Which was based on my realization that there's no situation that can't be made worse by expending all your energy being anxious about it.

Really, faith is just a way of trying to see things. I envy those with a faith in positive outcomes, and it's something I'm trying to emulate. Given that I've inherited my mother's dyspeptic temperament and that things are currently fairly sketchy here, it's hard. But I'm trying.

D.