Spiritual Journey, Sarita Madrid

I liked the spiritual journey reading because it could fit with a lot of movies we watched and was pretty all encompassing of the different parts of the journey. I think that it could be applicable to real life as well and one's journey of getting closer to God and going to heaven. I am writing my paper on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and how it relates to the mysterium, the tremendum, and the fascinans but it can also relate to a spiritual journey. Michael Graves explains that "spiritual journey narratives typically involve commonplace and sometimes overlapping episodes, characters, objects, and qualities, including: (1) challenge or reproof by a young woman, frequently with an aura of supernatural prophecy to her words; (2) guidance from a wise old man or woman, often a hermit or a monk; (3) instances of wandering seen as sin and a diversion from the quest or pilgrimage; (4) the necessity of a test or tests of one's spiritual powers and/or resolve to continue the journey to its conclusion; (5) a precious object and/or person to be found and/or possessed; (6) guardians of the object or person who must be overcome; and (7) helpers who assist the hero/pilgrim!" After looking at the two, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe have most of these aspects talked about in a spiritual journey in the movie. For example, in the movie Susan and Peter do not believe Lucy is experiencing anything in the wardrobe but the old professor of the house advises them that she may not be lying. He says, "If she's not mad and she's not lying then logically you should believe she's telling the truth" in hopes of convincing the older siblings to listen to their younger sister. The youngest brother, Edmund, is an example of someone who wanders and it is seen as sin and a diversion from the quest. All of the siblings are learning about their duty of defeating the White Witch and Edmund decides to go see her. He does this because he thinks he will get more Turkish Delights and essentially have power over his siblings as he rules alongside of her. Of course, he is wrong and gets put in prison for not bringing his siblings to her like she asked. This is a huge diversion from the quest (although it was all part of the plan) because they must save Edmund and get him back but also the Lion must pay for getting Edmund back by dying in his place. Because the Lion is killed, Peter and Edmund must resolve to continue the journey and go into battle without Aslan. They must use their resources and the few abilities they have been given. I think the the "object" to be overcome is the land of Narnia so it can return to Aslan and go back to the springtime weather. The witch is in charge of Narnia in the beginning of the movie as she is the "queen of Narnia" while Narnia is under the never ending winter of her rule. Along the way, there are many helpers who assist the heroes Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy such as the beavers and Mr. Tumnus.

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