Why Did Psyche Sin?

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by David Bates for the Pints with Jack podcast. I hope you will enjoy the episode with is scheduled to come out on the intermediate days of Passover.  Of course, we spent a good amount of time talking about Narnia, but we spent some time on Lewis' other books as well including Till We Have Faces (TWHF).

In our discussion of TWHF I mentioned a question to which we did not probe further: Why did Psyche sin? She knew her husband was a god, she knew she was in the right, and she should have been willing to sacrifice even Orual (who was threatening suicide) for her husband. So why didn't she?

Actually, Psyche explains why to Orual. She says, in reference to her husband, "He cannot be cruel like you. I'll not believe it. He will know how I was tortured into my disobedience. He will forgive me." But he doesn't and she knew that he might not saying, "before sunrise, all my happiness may be destroyed forever." So, Psyche is banished and subject to hunger, thirst, and hard roads. 

But in fact, if Psyche truly loved her husband, the question of punishment is irrelevant. We honor the words of He who we love, not for reward or fear of punishment, but because He commanded them. And this is so even at the expense of one's relatives, as Moses describes the proper actions of the tribe of Levi and the Fox tells Orual, "And mother and wife and child and friend will all be in league to keep a soul from being united with the Divine Nature." So why did Psyche disregard his words?

I have a couple of suggestions which, along with everything else I've written about TWHF, should be regarded as speculative. Hopefully I'll expand on them at some other time, but for now I just want to say what they are:

(1) Psyche did truly love the god of the West Wind but did not fear him. The Torah commands that we both love and fear God, and it is fear that the Psalmist identifies as the beginning of wisdom. Of course, fear need not be fear of punishment, though it could be that too, but it may be awe. Or it may be fear of losing one's love. Either way, Psyche, though she pays lip-service to fear saying she is "afraid - no ashamed, to disobey him," does not fear her husband and is thus willing to sin against him. 

(2) Psyche realized there is ugliness in the gods. Could it be that Psyche finally saw the gods from Orual's perspective and realized there was ugliness about them? Or that if she could not convince Orual (or, presumably, others) of their true nature there was no point?

Anyway, I'm not sure for now, but perhaps something to think about. 

Narnian Ba'alei Teshuva: Rilian (Part 2)

It's been too long since we started talking about Rilian and his return to Narnia. See here for our previous post. 

In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, we meet Hans Pritcher, a captain in the Foundation’s armed forces known for his incredible abilities and daring, but never promoted due to a streak of rebelliousness. As this was a time of Mayoral tyranny in the Foundation, Pritcher also secretly served the democratic underground. The assent of the Mule, a mutant with extraordinary mental powers, greatly interested Pritcher who immediately and correctly identified him as the greatest threat to the Foundation. Indeed, Terminus (the Foundation capital) is eventually taken by the Mule and Pritcher’s last attempt to assassinate the Mule is foiled. Pritcher is captured and “converted” by the Mule, under whom Pritcher becomes a general and the Mule’s most trusted advisor.

The Mule’s enchantment of Pritcher (unlike the Lady of the Green Kirtle’s enchantment of Rilian) was completely involuntary, and in fact was fought against to the very last. Yet, what happened when the enchantment wore off? What became of Pritcher when the Mule died? He did not return to the Foundation, but instead took over the Mule’s kingdom. He tried, and failed, to be the Mule’s successor to continue the work of his captor. Though Pritcher’s will was no longer bound by the enchantment, the enchantment still controlled him.

The Talmud states, "A man commits a transgression only if a spirit of folly enters him."  Note the Talmud's formulation. Sin occurs when someone is overtaken by something from the outside. The person becomes enchanted with another's spouse (as in the discussion of the Talmud), an object that belongs to someone else, or a foodstuff that does not fit dietary restrictions. No doubt this happens to all of us from time to time despite our best efforts to the contrary. the ultimate question then becomes, what to do when the enchantment wears off? 

Having fallen once do get up, admit to what we have done wrong and try to do better next time? Or do we stay under the enchantment even though it no longer has sway?

Rilian could have crawled back under the enchantment. His thought process would have been, OK, I’m free now, but being a prince (even in name only) with a beautiful Lady at my side isn’t all that bad, and I’ve grown pretty comfortable with it. Maybe we can swing a deal? After all, going back to Narnia will be a lot of work, I don’t know any of the latest fashions (a la Bree) or what's happened to my baseball team, maybe they won’t even want me. 

But he doesn’t do that. Despite his earlier failings Rilian remains true to Aslan and to his people.

In fact, even the one enticement he almost falls speaks to his loyalty.

“My father went to the world's end," said Rilian thoughtfully. "It would be a marvellous thing if his son went to the bottom of the world."

Even here he speaks of following in the footsteps of his father, not following a different path.

Thus, Rilian is a complete repentant and is welcome home to Narnia.