I have a social phobia, and writing books lets me talk to people without having to face them.
I used to draw pictures when I was a kid. I drew obsessively, whenever and wherever I could (mostly pictures of Vikings). Then in high school I started fooling around with writing stories. Within a short time I’d stopped drawing altogether. Writing scratches whatever my itch is better than drawing does
I remember a particular day when I was a kid. I was sitting in the school library, laboring at one of those time-space-continuum-stretching basic skills tests. I looked over at the books on the shelves and it occurred to me that actual human beings had written those things. I knew it was true, but found it almost impossible to believe (I’ve sometimes had the same problem believing in Heaven). To me a book seemed too wonderful an object to have been created by mere mortals. Surely books must fall from heaven fully formed, like soft drink coupons from a blimp. An overweening thought wormed into my head – “Maybe I could write one too.” “No, no,” I answered myself. “You’re not smart enough. Authors are all-knowing, god-like creatures. You’d never make the cut.” But the idea had insinuated itself, like mildew in a house, and like mildew it wouldn’t go away….
I believe that I share a planet with several billion people living in a state of cognitive dissonance. They believe two contradictory things at the same time. They believe that every human being is important and unique and worthy of rights and respect. They also believe that human beings are only a mutated form of ape, the product of mindless forces operating in a universe without purpose (and that there are too many of us anyway). They believe both those things simultaneously, and won�t face the fact that if one is true the other can�t be.
I believe that human beings have reason and spirit. Most people keep these two commodities in watertight compartments, having been taught that one has nothing to do with the other. When we use our reason, we think spirit has no place in the operation. When we search for spiritual truth, we turn off our reason. This is a tragedy.
I believe in the words of John 1:14: “The Word became flesh ….” Those four words are the most revolutionary ever written in human history. “Word” in Greek is logos. It means �the expression of an idea�. To put it another way, God expressed Himself (spiritual truth) and He did it with a human body, with matter. Spirit and flesh � reason and feeling -- were reconciled.
You know why modern science developed in Christian Europe and nowhere else in the world, in all history? It was because Christians believed this idea – that spirit and matter were not contradictory. Because of this the Europeans decided that matter was worthy of study, and that reason (the logos, the idea) could apply to matter. They did an experiment to see if this was true, and it worked. The experiment is still going on, and it’s still working, even though the experimenters have largely forgotten the purpose of the project.
I believe in heroism. I’m not a hero, but I’m trying to be. I believe that when we give up on heroism we give up on ourselves and on the future. It’s often said that the West is post-Christian, and it is. But it’s also post-heroic, and the two facts are not unrelated. I believe that the Word who became flesh expressed His nature by giving His life for others. I believe that He calls us to share in His heroism, and that He has made a way for us to do so.
“What about love?” I hear someone saying. “I thought He was about love, not heroism.” I believe that at the last extremity love and heroism are the same thing.
To learn more about the Word who became flesh, check these web sites:
Lars Walker, author of historical fantasy and viking reenactor, is the subject of larswalker.com. You can write me directly at lars@larswalker.com. You may be able to reach me right now by commenting on my blog, Brandywine Books.