Puddleglum's Great Depression

I lost a blog post this morning. I am pretty frustrated, but instead of recreating my reflection on prayer and faith, I decided to say something else. I know lots of people are struggling with anxiety and depression. They have been trying with therapy and good practices to coax themselves out of their foreboding and fear for years: now everything they always feared and dreaded seems to be coming true—the worst is happening. 

I want to encourage my friends who feel this way (and I sure do) that perhaps you have more strength and resilience than you know. There is really wonderful article that I read several years ago called Lincoln’s Great Depression. It is worth a read, but the short summary is this: Lincoln had serious clinical depression. It was a great impediment to him most of his life, but in the context of the war it allowed him to be a very effective leader. His experience of daily struggling against his own internal darkness helped him to act effectively in the context of a national crises when other people were paralyzed. (Now I am a pacifist and there is time enough later to discuss the morality of Lincoln’s total war, but I have found comfort in this article.) 

I  think that C.S. Lewis might be arguing for a special charism of melancholy in his children’s book The Silver Chair. In this book, Lewis introduces one of his most interesting characters a Marshwiggle by the name of Puddleglum. In Narnia, Marshwiggles are a race of creature known for their pessimism. Lewis is said to have based the character on his gardener. Who he said would respond to a friendly comment like: “It sure is a nice day today” With a crusty retort like: “It most likely will rain before supper.”

Puddleglum is the companion of two humans Eustace and Jill and is given the mission of finding the missing Prince Rilian.Rilian is the heir to the Narnian throne who disappeared 10 years earlier. Eustance, Jill and Puddleglum learn that the Prince has been kidnapped by Green Witch who has imprisoned him in a vast UNDERWORLD. 

When Eustace and Jill and Puddleglum finally find the Prince they realize that he is not so much being forcefully held captive as he has been cast under an enchantment. He wants to be there. He no longer believes that there is any world but the dark underground kingdom of the witch.As soon as the three friends arrive the Green Witch works to enchant the as well. She sets an intoxicating fire, and slowly seducing them into believing that there is no OVERWORLD-- no land of sun, trees, and sky. 

All that exists is the UNDERWORLD.

As the intoxicant begins its work, the children no longer remember the world above ground. The Green Witch tempts them saying that thehey have only made up the idea of Aslan (the lion who serves as a kind of Christ figure in the Narnia series) They had seen a kitty and just made it larger; they have made up the idea of a SUN, they have seen a candle and just imagined it 1000s of times larger.

She goes on...and her magic is working. The children and the Marshwiggle begin to doubt themselves and to doubt the existence of the real world and of Aslan.

BUT!

Puddleglum’s persistent pessimism keeps him from being seduced. He isn’t as impressed by the beauty of the Green Witch as the others or her smooth talk. With one last bit of orneriness he stomps out the Witch’s enchanting fire.And when he does this is what he says: all you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. 

I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. 

So I won't deny any of what you said. 

But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Supose we have. 

Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones.

Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. 

We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. 

But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. T hat's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. 

I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. 

I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. 

So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland.

Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."

With this declaration Puddleglum get the party on the move again. Heading on the important pilgrimage that will lead them all back to the world of light, and grass, and trees where Aslan is very, very real.

We often confuse Christian hope with optimism and a sunny disposition, and when we do that it seems improbable that those who really struggle have much to offer. 

I like how Lewis flips that--allowing the Marshwiggle who has been seasoned by disappointment to be the stawart bearer of the necessary faith and hope. 

In Hebrews we hear about heroes of faith.  I have always thought of them as bold and nervy and not frightened of anything.

who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames,and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength;and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. 

And yet Hebrews goes on...

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them

 These hero and heroines of the faith were not necessarily bold or optimistic, but they were like Puddleglum captivated by an alternative vision of the world.  

As the text recounts:

“They did not receive the things promised;

they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,

admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

People who say such things are longing for a better country”

I don't want to diminish the horrors of depression or anxiety.  At times there is no circumstance darker than the one forced upon us by our own very frail human brain.  The journey to the OVERWORLD is not alway possible.  

But we are on a strange and perilous journey.  Who knows what gifts we will need.  Those that are anxious or compulsive or capable of nevertheless persisting through crippling darkness might be our crucial pilgrimage partners.  We might be surprised by the strength and resilience that we already possess: depression and anxiety are terrible teachers, but many of us have learned complex lessons.   Take care of yourselves: we need our troubleshooters, our worriers, the people who can keep on trying against the odds especially in these dark times.