I was thinking about Fantasy books, and how they follow a kind of thematic blueprint. Now before you say anything, I know not all stories follow this trend but a lot of them do!! OK!! So I don't read a HUGE amount of Fantasy books, so anyone who has will probably scoff at what I have to say, but I don't care a great deal and I will say it anyway. (Or in other words....just deal with it OK!!!)
But there is a kind of trend in some stories. It's kind of a coming of age story. The hero begins as a kind of nobody and has a regular (if not poor) life in which he trudges along. He dreams of better things but by and large he is happy with his lot. He has a loving family and a comfortable life.
We then get a glimpse of something else. Something from outside his life and usually his past comes back and his life changes. We discover he is not an ordinary boy at all, he is something special. He has royal blood in him, or he is the son of a great leader or simply in the right place at the right time and is the one who is chosen (by chance or will) to head off into the wider world. This is something that thrill or scares him. His journey brings him face to face with his past. He learns more of who he really is, either in character or genealogy and becomes a bigger, better man for it and becomes the hero of the day. He gathers his band of followers, one of who will be a great confidant and/or will have great knowledge of the path he is taking (not always a literal path) and he goes on to vanquish the evil that has covered the land and that keeps his people down.
As you read that you may have thought of several characters. Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Frodo in The Lord Of The Rings. Rand in The Wheel of Time books. Or in the land of movies, there is obviously Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, or even Superman. I'm sure you can think of plenty more cos it appears a hell of a lot in fiction. Now I know this is not a new revelation nor a new observance. Georges Polti and others have commented that there are a limited number of dramatic situations (39 according to Polti, 7 basic plots according to Christopher Booker) so that you will get these trends and similarities repeated often.
But what struck me was that these stories are powerful and when you read them gave you a great feeling. You feel embiggened. You feel like you can get up and take on the world. You may not have the family tree of greatness but you can be that backwater boy who finds the strength within himself to fight evil and succeed.
This led me to think of the story of Jesus. This story fits the mold almost exactly as any other fantasy book. In fact by the time the Jesus story was being written, it was far from unique. There are may specific details in the Jesus story (date of birth, virgin birth etc.) that are shared by older myths (the story of Mithras, for example).
Jesus does not have to have existed for the Jesus story to have an impact. The myths that people told that shared the content of the Jesus story (the content that some commentators have said were borrowed FOR the Jesus story) were original never supposed to be taken as an actual story of an actual man. They were stories that were supposed to be told to give you spirit and hope and the will to try to be a better you.
I think the Jesus story is better that way. Because that way it empowers you and gives you strength to do better for yourself. Instead of making you a servant to a mythical character and trying to live up to a false ideal that he has portrayed. I think it's better to live life for life's own sake. It's the only one you've got and instead of wasting it by praying to a God for help, or spending it spreading the word of this God but not doing anything to actually help people. Or worse, simply doing it for the promise of the reward of a magical afterlife or the fear of an eternity of suffering and unimaginable pain from your loving (?) God. That is a wasted life.
Life by the golden rule. Life to improve your own life and the lives you touch along the way.
That is a life well lived. Not one spend on your knees in a church or in a missionary. To me that is a self absorbed, self serving, self important existence.
And you can tell Pascal he can shag off for himself.
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