{"id":13004,"date":"2012-11-26T11:26:27","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T19:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=13004"},"modified":"2013-05-31T17:42:59","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T01:42:59","slug":"how-to-get-into-narnia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/how-to-get-into-narnia\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get into Narnia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is Part 3 of a 4-Part series by Tyson Phillips on C.S. Lewis and Narnia. Go here to read Part 1<\/a> and Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tyson and his sister Tammy grew up in the Midwest. Tyson and his family now live discreetly on the West Coast, very near a large orchid tree.<\/p>\n

If you would like to write a guest post for this blog,\u00a0check out the guidelines here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In L. Frank Baum\u2019s story, The Wizard of Oz<\/em>, Dorothy is swept away by a tornado to Oz, a land very unlike Kansas, Dorothy\u2019s home. Dorothy appeared to have no choice in the matter.<\/p>\n

\"C.s.Similarly, Lucy, in C.S. Lewis\u2019 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe<\/em><\/a>\"\" while pushing deep into the back of a wardrobe (a large cabinet in which clothes are hung) during a game of hide-and-seek, suddenly found herself in a forest, a forest seemingly very far from her home in England. Lucy was seeking neither that place, nor the doorway to it. Yet somehow she stumbled into another world, Narnia.<\/p>\n

As Lewis story progresses, Lucy\u2019s two brothers, Peter and Edmund, and her sister Susan also find their way into Narnia. Yet none of them can explain how they found the place. It was almost as if a doorway into Narnia unexplainably opened up to them.<\/p>\n

If Narnia was indeed \u201canother dimension\u201d, whether a dimension that exists only in the mind, another actual \u201cphysical dimension\u201d, or a \u201cworld\u201d of the spirit, then how did Lewis explain how one might get there?<\/p>\n

Create a Doorway<\/h2>\n

If Narnia was a fantasy, a creation in the mind of Lewis, then finding the doorway into that world would be as simple as Lewis creating a doorway of his liking. Anyone might enter in, or the doorway might be available only to those chosen by its creator.<\/p>\n

In The Chronicles of Narnia<\/a>\"\", entrance into Narnia is limited to a select few. However, rather than those few finding the doorway, the doorway seems to find them. The doorway appears only to those whom it chooses.<\/p>\n

Indeed the doorway often does not appear to be a doorway. Those it selects to enter may discover only that they have somehow entered, be it through the back of a coat closet or by way of a flood of water that burst out of a painting on the wall. As Dorothy was unwittingly swept away to Oz, those who enter Narnia generally seem to enter by a means not of their choosing.<\/p>\n

If we are to assume that the Chronicles are fantasy, then we must decide that this is merely the device Lewis used to remove his human characters from this world and move them to another world. The solution is simple. Lewis could get his characters to Narnia by any means he chose. Perhaps the only question to consider in that case would be \u201cWhy did Lewis choose the means he did? Were they only convenient devices, or were they intended to tell the reader something?\u201d<\/p>\n

A Real Doorway<\/h2>\n

\"doorway\"If we consider the possibility that Narnia is an actual physical place that somehow exists in another physical dimension, perhaps in a \u201cparallel universe\u201d, then the \u201cdoorway\u201d to Narnia must be an actual doorway of some sort. However, how would one \u201ccross over\u201d into another dimension, even if it is an actual physical place, using an actual physical doorway that one might find in this dimension?<\/p>\n

Is it possible that the \u201cdoorway\u201d to the supposed other dimension is not visible in this dimension? Perhaps one must find it by some means other than by sight. But how does one find it and how does one enter?<\/p>\n

If Lewis did indeed find such a doorway, would he explain how we too might find it? Would he allow any and all to use this doorway? Suppose the doorway might also be used to enter other places not nearly so pleasant as Narnia. In that case might he disguise the doorway to prevent unwary travelers from meeting with an unhappy end?<\/p>\n

Did Lewis give us any clues that might hint that travelers from this world might spoil those places to which such a doorway might lead? Consider the case of Digory and the witch. Perhaps \u201cNarnia\u201d should be protected from our kind.<\/p>\n

A Doorway into the World of the Spirit<\/h2>\n

Assuming that Lewis\u2019 \u201cother dimension\u201d existed primarily \u201cin the Spirit\u201d, should we assume that he wished us to find a doorway to that dimension and enter along with him into that dimension? If his stories might be considered simply a retelling of the story of salvation, as some have suggested, might he be attempting to lead the reader along the path to some sort of \u201cspiritual\u201d experience?<\/p>\n

Even if one might suppose such a purpose for the Chronicles, does that explanation fit some of Lewis other stories, such as The Dark Tower and That Hideous Strength? Did some of Lewis stories have one purpose and others yet another?<\/p>\n

The Hidden Doorway<\/h2>\n

Even though Lewis stated that his stories were conceived as \u201choliday fiction\u201d for the amusement of children (perhaps primarily for the amusement of the child in him), again we return to the question \u201cWas there more to his stories than that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Many have found obvious connections in some of the stories to Christian stories and teachings. But again, \u201cWas there more to his stories than that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Might his stories be multi-layered? \u2013 A children\u2019s story\/holiday fiction at one level, Christian doctrine oft times at another level, and perhaps something else at yet another level? If there was from time to time yet another level, what might that level be? Is it possible that Lewis is telling us of something he discovered or experienced, either in person or in a \u201cjourney of the mind\u201d?<\/p>\n

In the next post, \u201cAre we Far From Narnia?\u201d we will continue to discuss the possible locations of the \u201canother dimension\u201d of which Lewis wrote.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When CS Lewis wrote his stories about Narnia, was he speaking only from his imagination, or was he giving clues about how to get into Narnia? In The Chronicles of Narnia, entrance into Narnia is limited to a select few. However, rather than those few finding the doorway, the doorway seems to find them. The doorway appears only to those whom it chooses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Get into Narnia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When CS Lewis wrote his stories about Narnia, was he speaking only from his imagination, or was he giving clues about how to get into Narnia?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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