Question: What is one character from cinema, TV, or literature whose story has impacted your spiritual journey and how has it impacted you?
Response: The answer is obvious; Any Keanu Reeves character. I see a way of living that cuts against the pattern of this world and is transformed by the renewing of the mind (Roms. 12:2). In Point Break, he is a beacon for justice and righteousness and he goes to the “least of these”, to the rebels of society, the sick, and he offers them forgiveness and another way to live. In The Matrix, he stands back from the world and points out the unreality of their way of living and fights against the lies of the world. In Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, he reaches back to those who came before him so that he can be a hope for those who are yet to come. Obviously, I am kidding about these… Well, not totally.
The truth is, I am drawn to characters who do rebel against the norm of society and fight the status quo because of a greater purpose or truth that he/she sees. It’s Holden Caulfield, T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), Peter Pan who captivate my imagination and inspiration.
In the last couple years, the character that has appealed to me the most in this way is Asher Lev from the novel, My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. This story of a young Hasidic boy who feels a calling deep within to be something other than what his father expects stirs in me. He questions ritual and rules that seem to be hollow shells of something more. Instead, he is compelled to paint. This practice ultimately leads him to betray his family as he submits to the calling to create his masterpiece, a crucifixion scene. Asher knows that in his art he can reach Truth in ways his religious practices fail to provide. His mentor tells him, “As an artist you are responsible to no one and to nothing, except to yourself and to the truth as you see it.”
As I think about Asher, I think about all the ritual that exists simply because people are scared of the unfamiliar, because of a lack of faith. Asher does not abandon tradition, rather he searches for a tradition that can better provide him with a way to Truth. He grabs onto the tradition of the art world as a way of presenting the truth he sees to the world. I hope God can continually pull me away from empty ritual and into traditions that reveal his Truth to me and the world.
May 22, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Now, that is a good answer.
I agree with your Keanu comparison wholeheartedly. I would add in his characters of Constantine who like you battled demons in an effort to pay his debt of sin and earn his way to heaven. I can just see you floating to heaven and giving the devil the bird. You are so like that.
There is also his character in Hard Ball, Connor O’Neil, the drunk gambling addict who through no work of his own gets lucky enough to have gambling break him out of his gambling problems as he helps out at risk youth. Your story of becoming a youth pastor is almost identical to that.
Oh wait, I just read the rest of your post. The serious stuff was good too. I like the idea of bringing meaning back into tradition in a way that reinforces and reimagines its original intent.