One of my interests is the often unseen and yet pervasive power of worldview.
How we come to understand the world, life, politics, ourselves—Everything!—is seen through the distinctive pair of glasses that our upbringing, relational networks and culture place over our eyes.
We’re spiritual creatures; our lives are shaped by the moral landscapes and ideals we inherit and absorb.
That line above is from one of my favorite op-ed writers, David Brooks, in his recent article “The Fourth Great Awakening.” It’s about how our worldviews are being shaped today, I am offering it in its entirety below.
As a Christian, I want my worldview to be shaped by my faith in Jesus Christ: specifically, his values and priorities. How Jesus “sees” the world is how I want to see it. While Jesus’ worldview has always been counter-culture—no human culture has ever fully embraced it—this has never been more true (in my lifetime) than today.
Please take the time to read it. At the end, I’ll offer some concluding thoughts:
There are certain melodies that waft through history. One is the cultural contrast between Athens and Jerusalem. This contrast has many meanings, but the most germane one for our day is the contrast between the competitive virtues and the compassionate virtues.
Athens — think of Achilles — stands for the competitive virtues: strength, toughness, prowess, righteous indignation, the capacity to smite your foes and win eternal fame. Jerusalem — think of Moses or Jesus — stands for the cooperative virtues: humility, love, faithfulness, grace, mercy, forgiveness, answering a harsh word with a gentle response.
These two sets of virtues get communicated in different literary forms. The competitive virtues of Athens are usually narrated in myth while the compassionate virtues of Jerusalem often get narrated in parable.
Myth is a specific kind of story. Myths are generally set in a timeless Perilous Realm. The Perilous Realm usually has different rules than the normal world. Creatures have different superpowers, like the ability to fly or throw shafts of lightning. And those rules are taken very seriously. Within the Perilous Realm everything that happens in myth is “true,” in the sense that everything obeys the rules of that other world.
Myths respond to our hunger to do something heroic. Whether it is Zeus, Thor, Luke Skywalker or Wonder Woman, myths trace the archetypal chapters of the heroic quest or combat: refusing the call, the meeting of the mentor, the ordeal, seizing the sword and so on.
The core drama is external: fighting the forces of evil, enduring the harsh journey, developing the skills that make you the best.
Parable is a different kind of story. Parables are usually set in normal time and reality. Parables have ordinary human characters, never superheroes. The word parable comes from the Greek word meaning comparison. Parables are meant to be relatable and didactic.
Parables respond to our deep hunger to be in close relationship. Parables — think of the good Samaritan, the emperor’s new clothes, the prodigal son or the story of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz — are mostly about inner states, not external combat. Characters are presented with a moral dilemma or a moral occasion, and the key question is whether they express charity, faithfulness, forgiveness, commitment and love.
Myths tend to celebrate grandeur and heroic superiority; parables tend to puncture the pretensions of superiority and celebrate humility and service to others.
All of a sudden, we are surrounded by myth. As parable-based religion has receded from the public square, heroic myth, and the competitive virtues it celebrates, has rushed in to fill the space.
I’ll just mention three forms that are immensely popular today. The first is mythic movies: “Avengers,” “X-Men,” “Star Wars,” “Transformers,” “Justice League” and the rest. The Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe franchises alone have grossed about $20 billion at the box office worldwide.
I regularly run into people (men, mostly) who are deeply immersed in these mythic worlds, who can entertain you with long disquisitions on the merits of different characters, the moral lessons of each film, whether “Black Panther,” say, is an accurate rendition of injustice today.
Then there are video games, which are myths you can enter into through technology. The video game industry is two or three times bigger than the movie industry. Gamers don’t only play; they gather to watch others play. Last year, according to Rolling Stone, 360 million people watched the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (an audience three times larger than the Super Bowl).
Finally, there are sporting events like the World Cup. Sport is living myth. Like video games and superhero movies, it gives the way myth gives. It gives people a sense of the heroic. It is the stage upon which great acts of prowess, courage and shame play out — Ronaldo rising to the occasion, Messi choking under pressure.
Like myth, sport takes place in a Perilous Realm where special rules apply. Also like myth, sport requires a great suspension of disbelief. The viewer has to pretend that it really matters which group of men puts a ball in a net.
Myths are moral narratives — they describe one interpretation of the moral landscape of reality and offer a model of how to be a sanctified person in that landscape. You might say that America’s Fourth Great Spiritual Awakening has come in the form of this mythic revival.
There are many virtues to the mythic worldview — to stand heroically for justice, to be loyal to friends and fierce against foes. But history does offer some sobering lessons about societies that relied too heavily on the competitive virtues.
They tend to give short shrift to relationships, which depend on the fragile, intimate bonds of vulnerability, trust, compassion and selfless love. They tend to see life as an eternal competition between warring tribes. They tend to see the line between good and evil as running between groups, not, as in parable, down the middle of every human heart.
We’re spiritual creatures; our lives are shaped by the moral landscapes and ideals we inherit and absorb. I’d say our politics and our society are coming to resemble the competitive mythic ethos that is suddenly all around.
Some concluding thoughts.
1) I agree with Brooks that a mythic worldview ultimately promotes winning, whereas the parables worldview promote character. Our political realm in the last two years has completely excluded any interest in character in the service of their team “winning.”
But those who follow Jesus must consider: Jesus Christ won a battle that no superhero has ever faced (over Satan and evil itself), yet did so through self-giving sacrificial love on the cross (“not my will, but thy will be done”). Those who follow Jesus must put character, humility and service to others first (especially in choosing political leaders). Jesus demonstrates that character always ultimately wins.
2) Brooks quotes one of my favorite lines from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago:
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
To heal our country, our politics and even our own friendships from the polarizing tribalism that is tearing us apart, a beginning point for each of us is admitting the dividing line between good and evil cuts through our own hearts.
My study of paradox shows that big truths often exist in the tension created by opposing ideas or views. To maintain my team has all the truth on every issue is not only naïve, but dangerous. Everyone settles for less than the truth. No one wins.
3) While the mythic worldview gains power in crowds (think political rallies or sporting events), parables thrive in conversational venues and small groups. (Jesus told his parables in gatherings where he could look his listeners in the eye.) Perhaps this is a clue.
How can we take steps toward a “parable” lifestyle that embodies Jesus’ character-focused worldview? I want to hear your thoughts. Please share them below.
Question: what is your response to this myth vs. parable tension? Where do YOU see it at work around you?
Hi Rich, I have also been interested in David Brook’s Myth versus Parable discussion. It occurred to me at the end of your posting that we need both MYth and Parable and that it is another Paradox. One affects outside world, and the other affects the inside world of relationships. The problem is when either one dominates, and there is not a balance between two. Must be what you said in your book was a Tuning Fork Paradox.