Tags
A Wrinkle in Time, essays, Faith, feminine, God, interconnection, interdependence, Madeleine L'Engle, masculine, Totally Pretentious
Re-reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle made me curious about the author herself so I started reading her memoirs. It was through her memoirs that I found a kindred spirit and her presence now appears often among my recent reads.
And It Was Good: Reflections on Beginnings is the first in The Genesis Trilogy and its essays and stories cover creation to Abraham.
I read all my books with a pen in hand, but it was essential for this book. One of the themes I found interesting within the book was the idea of the feminine and masculine being present together in the image of God.
Madeleine used this passage to illustrate that “both male and female go to make the image of God.” Later in the text, she discusses that although many take the assumption of Mary into heaven literally, she appreciates the viewpoint that it shows an attempt to return the feminine to the Godhead. She feels it’s important to understand both the feminine and masculine within each of us.
She continues with the image of God, later discussing how we co-create the image of God hand in hand with others.
Any single one of us, alone, cannot be the image of God; discovering that image within us is not a do-it-yourself activity. Before I can be an icon of the image of God, I must be with someone else, hand in hand.
We are our most free when we see this interconnection and interdependence yet our society today values independence and speaks badly of those who rely on the help of others to survive. This attempt to be independent pushes us further apart from one another. Madeleine feels it’s imperative to move closer together so that our circles may overlap once again.
I’m curious what she’d think of our current situation with such separation between those who are different. One of the things I really appreciate about my new formal presence on YouTube are the channels like Lukas’s (Totally Pretentious) in which people are free to have open discussions articulating their thoughts and beliefs without any pressure to conform or convert others to a specific viewpoint. This is the respectful discourse that is not only possible but needed in our world to build community.
Compassion means to be with, to share, to overlap, no matter how difficult or painful it may be.
I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in viewing Genesis from a different perspective. Madeleine L’Engle is a creative with a deep fascination with science and brings her whole self into this book creating a very unique spin on things.