2. A Satisfying Adventure

[Josh]

So, secondly in a series of threads about how Christianity meets our deepest needs, desires, and satisfies our thirst for meaning, I'm going to address the topic of Adventure.

I'm approaching these topics from a personal angle, admitting some subjectivity right off the bat. My hope is that others will chime in and give their personal perspective on the topic and perhaps explain how important each facet is to them.

I believe that Christianity satisfies a deep, fundamental desire within humanity for true Adventure- a desire that cannot be fully met in the physical world alone, through the lens of materialism.

What are the elements of a good adventure? Let me shoot off a list. Maybe you can add to it?

1. A quest or mission that is not arbitrary, but self-evidently necessary

2. A problem to be solved of self-evident seriousness

3. A real risk or danger associated with the quest- the chance of true loss and the chance of success

4. The experience of something wonderful, exciting, breathtaking, beautiful, mysterious, numinous, etc..

5. An enemy (I'll be focusing more on this in a later thread)

6. A real, objective good and a real, objective evil (and some gray as well)

7. Interesting, complex characters/ actors in the story

8. A good author

9. A free will choice that tests the protagonist(s), involving altruistic sacrifice

10. Some degree of destiny as well

11. A satisfying ending

One of my biggest problems with atheism and strict materialism is that it doesn't allow for several of these aspects and severely weakens the vitality of the others, compared to a Christian worldview, which holds these all in full strength.

This is a more intuitive argument because I am personally convinced that because human so fundamentally desire this kind of adventure, that desire is not there by accident, chance processes, or merely for our survival as a species, but is there because the Adventure itself is reality.

[aimee]

I have to agree with you, those are very special elements to an adventure. I wonder if everyone has the longing for adventure? Is the need for adventure mellowed over time with the cooling of young blood? I have often wished for the kind of physical adventure that requires hiking long distances and setting up camp etc.. I agree that it can't be a completely physical or just for fun to be a true adventure though. I think the element of sacrificing for others is an important one, as well as the evidence of a needed 'something' to be accomplished.

The one experience of adventure I would add is food.... Foraged or, waybread, cooked over the campfire, whatever it is. Whether the person is doing without or has the luxury of food in abundance, I think it adds an element to the journey

[Josh]

How could I have missed it?

12. Food for the journey




One of my favorite lines from the Hobbit is:

"My dear Elrond, your hospitality is magnificent. The food, the wine, the stories, the music...."

[bfriesen]

Food!

And music, romance, larger conflicts that are connected to characters' internal conflicts, sacrifice, suffering, external and internal obstacles - All these things are threads that might be woven into an adventure. Of course these things are not required. The list above strikes me as being descriptive of some successful adventures, but are not necessarily proscriptive for all adventures.

Conflict, mystery, and tension can be used to varying effects. I like mysterious elements in adventures the most. I like stories that can successfully bring us from mystery to satisfying revelation. And I like even more when mystery is just left alone in a satisfying way. In the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is a servant of the "secret fire" and so are many of the characters (without knowing it), though Gandalf seems have knowledge about the secret fire that the hobbits cannot. But even Gandalf's knowledge isn't comprehensive or dismissive.

It is satisfying when stories tie up loose ends that you didn't know were there. But even more satisfying when it lets loose ends hang out there when they are attached to things too sacred to be caged by an answer or an idea or a theory.

I just finished reading The Hobbit and was struck by how miserable everyone was all the time on that quest. I like how Tolkien treats his heroes: their heroism seems to be wrapped up in small human choices in the face of hunger, sleepiness, soreness - those smaller dragons.

[bfriesen]

Hey Josh, I like your #1 and #3:

1. A quest or mission that is not arbitrary, but self-evidently necessary
3. A real risk or danger associated with the quest- the chance of true loss and the chance of success

I like elements of the Pirates of the Caribbean, which made fun of what it was doing even while it was doing it. Fun and real danger in the same story are hard to balance. The Indiana Jones movies come to mind--stories that have both gravity and lightness—like a symphony of high and low notes. Tolkien and Lewis do this too, bringing song and celebration into their stories whenever they can.

This makes me consider the role of reverence in adventure stories. However hidden, the stories do seem to hinge on at least the possibility of reverence toward some truth or some ideal.

[Josh]

Brian,

I've been meaning to reply to this.

First off, Romance is a great addition to the list. How could I have overlooked it?

I love how the word romance has so many varied connotations (romantic love, romantic ideals, God's romance), all held together by a singular thread. Let's see, what is the common thread after all? I'll have to think about that, but I think there is one, and it's more than Roman-esque

Yeah, mystery probably deserved it's very own heading.

It's interesting because "mystery" makes me think of you a lot and some of the philosophical doors that were opened to me through our friendship. I think of your suggestion that I read Annie Dillard and my interaction with her thoughts on "via negativa" vs. "via positiva". In my initial "concrete phases" of theology, I remember seeing mystery as almost an enemy to faith. Now I see it, properly understood, as a necessary prerequisite to faith.

[Josh]

I must add that it's true that these elements don't always apply to all good stories/ adventures. However, I guess what I'm after is a comprehensive description of what the ultimate adventure must be like.

Steve and I were talking about this while hiking in the Alps:

Because these ideas exist in our stories, they must exist in THE STORY all the more so.

Walking out of the first viewing of the Fellowship of the Ring in the theaters, someone remarked to me: "Don't you wish it was real?" and I replied that any longing we have that is evoked by such stories is merely a pointer to the ultimate reality which is far more surprising, mysterious, and adventurous than even the world of Middle Earth. Our stories can't be better than THE STORY, they are mere derivatives.

This means we have to open our eyes to the STORY all around.

[Josh]

Saw this Chesterton quote and LOVED it:

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered."

-- G.K. Chesterton