Story and Restoring Culture
“What is the true story of man? The true story of man is that we face evil. We face sometimes overwhelming challenges; daunting odds against us in which everything looks like defeat. Isn’t this the story that really most grips us? The hero with whom we’ve identified faces overwhelming odds. Is there any hope? And yet something within the heart of his soul rouses whether it’s through a faithful friend like Sam Gamgee or a thousand other manifestations of true friendship in fiction, or true love in fiction—husbands encouraging wives, wives encouraging husbands and so forth. In all the great stories of man we find our courage again. Isn’t this the great story? Not that we have some kind of power that can overwhelm and degrade our enemies, but that there is an internal strength of moral character that goes forth in the face of radical danger armed only with courage and determination to defend and preserve the good ...the true good.
So often that drama and its many manifestations mean that the hero knows he goes forth into the face of death, in all likelihood he is going to die, and that he will not defeat his enemy. His enemy will overcome him and yet by the giving up of his life he leaves a sign. He leaves a sign in existence that would not otherwise be there. There will be those, there will always be witnesses no matter what evil does in this world. There will always be a witness ...God always leaves a witness. That sign may have more authority over the imagination of those who are to come after us than all the apparent victory that evil wins in this age. The paradigm of this is to be found in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross—this moment of absolute defeat. There is the true story. There is the greatest story ever told (to borrow a phrase). We are inside the great story. We are a part of the great story. An authentic culture awakens within us an awareness of this even when it does not penetrate to the rational mind or can be articulated. Suddenly we are more than we thought we were.”
~Michael O’Brien
(the above was typed from a lecture – any grammatical errors are mine)
So often that drama and its many manifestations mean that the hero knows he goes forth into the face of death, in all likelihood he is going to die, and that he will not defeat his enemy. His enemy will overcome him and yet by the giving up of his life he leaves a sign. He leaves a sign in existence that would not otherwise be there. There will be those, there will always be witnesses no matter what evil does in this world. There will always be a witness ...God always leaves a witness. That sign may have more authority over the imagination of those who are to come after us than all the apparent victory that evil wins in this age. The paradigm of this is to be found in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross—this moment of absolute defeat. There is the true story. There is the greatest story ever told (to borrow a phrase). We are inside the great story. We are a part of the great story. An authentic culture awakens within us an awareness of this even when it does not penetrate to the rational mind or can be articulated. Suddenly we are more than we thought we were.”
~Michael O’Brien
(the above was typed from a lecture – any grammatical errors are mine)
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