Valiance (Part 1)

The Whole Wide World Is a Very Narrow Bridge, and The Important Thing Is to Not Be Afraid

A quick interlude to our search for a Jewish Narnia, motivated by a discussion I had with my kids… 

There are three characters in the Chronicles of Narnia described by Lewis as valiant: Queen Lucy the Valiant, Trumpkin the Dwarf, and Reepicheep, the most valiant of all the Talking Beasts of Narnia. The theme of valiance, as manifested by Reepicheep, plays an especially prevalent role in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  That book was described by Lewis (in a letter to a fan quoted in Prof. Ward’s “Planet Narnia”) as “presenting the spiritual life (especially in Reepicheep).” Why is valiance so important to the spiritual life? Why does R’ Nachman of Breslov (in the above maxim) call not being afraid an ikkar, something centrally important? We will try to answer this question by understanding Reepicheep. 

There are a few useful things to know about Reepicheep: 

First, Reepicheep is bad at chess. Of course, lots of people are bad at chess, but Reepicheep is bad at chess because he sees himself in the pieces he controls. If Reepicheep was a piece, he would certainly put himself into a dangerous battle position irrespective of the likely consequences.  

Second, Caspian warns Reepicheep not to challenge a dragon single-handedly. Caspian does not see fit to warn anyone else. 

Third, Reepicheep has no problem landing on an island that is pitch-black in the middle of the day. No one else thought this was a very good idea. 

Fourth, Reepicheep jumped into the sea to fight seemingly dangerous mermen even though there was no sign of danger and no other obvious reason to do so, except that a challenge was given.   

The above clearly shows that Reepicheep is valiant. But does one really have to be so valiant? Maybe sometimes one should try to avoid danger, rather than jumping in headfirst? Maybe a bit of caution? 

There are a few stages in our quest (if we’re following Reepicheep it should be a quest) to understand the value of valiance in the spiritual persona. We will try to explore them over a few posts. 

Let us start with the concept of fear, the actual subject of R’ Nachman’s verse (now turned song). True fear, not fear that you might miss your bus, but existential fear must be reserved for God alone. Anything else borders on blasphemy (though God has commanded fear of, for example, one’s parents, this is likely because they reflect God). Certainly, one cannot fear a physical enemy knowing that God can sweep them away in a moment! 

Besides the theological pitfalls of fear, lack of fear enables freedom of action. Reepicheep is described as one who lacks fear, “... no one had ever known Reepicheep to be afraid of anything.” He, therefore, can properly judge whether Lucy should face the magician. Others have to be concerned that perhaps they are motivated, or demotivated, by fear thus coloring their judgement. Reepicheep, “could say this (that Lucy should face the magician) without feeling at all awkward.” Thus, it is Lucy’s valiance, combined with Reepicheep’s, that propels Lucy forward. 

However, lack of fear cannot explain the actions of Reepicheep. Lack of fear will allow one to explore the Dark Island, but alone it will not demand the island be explored. Reepicheep must be motivated by a positive force from which his valiance arises. We will explore this force in later posts.