Uncle Andrew and Perception

In The Magician's Nephew, written by C.S. Lewis, Digory and Polly are having a facinating time with the wild beasts Aslan has just created in Narnia during the beginning of their world. A most amazing thing has happened. Aslan has picked two of each kind of animal, touched them with his nose, breathed onto them, and they have all become talking beasts.

Imagine. Talking beasts! It must have been glorious! That is unless you happen to be Uncle Andrew. If you've read the book, then you'll remember that Uncle Andrew is the one who got all of them into the mess in the first place. It was a sinister, cowardly plan to send Polly into another world so he didn't have to risk harm to himself. The plan backfired and he got dragged into the whole thing anyway.

Getting back to the talking beasts - I must mention that the children didn't seem to be afraid of them and they were simply intrigued by their ability to speak and interact with them. They galloped off after Aslan, the Lion, because Digory would like him to help his dying mother back in England.

Uncle Andrew, on the other hand, never even heard the animals speak. All he heard was them growling and roaring. Lewis says, "We must now go back a bit and explain what the whole scene had looked like from Unce Andrew's point of view. It had not made at all the same impression on him as the Cabby and the children. For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are."

Uncle Andrew was terrified of all the panthers, warthogs, and elephants running around him when he was probably safer than he really thought (since talking beasts, for the most part, are safer than dumb animals). And this is the point--Uncle Andrew couldn't see the glory and goodness in what was happening. He couldn't even see that the animals were speaking, a most amazing thing, which was plain to everyone else.

In our own lives, our point of view determines our attitudes, feeelings, and behaviors in the midst of our circumstances. Resentments, fears, and arrogance lead to one point of view. Honesty, trust, oppenness, and willingness lead to another point of view. In the end, our theology is quite relevant. Do we believe God is good? Or, do we think He is insecure, bothersome, and uncertain? If He is good, then we will begin to see the talking beasts around us.