My earlier post 42: The MBA gets it wrong has got some good feedback.
Rajesh writes in Life Beyond Code :: Harvard MBA was wrong; defending the fisherman and John in Blogotional: Point Well Taken.... Sadly both noticed my poor writing and/or logic (I blame the time I wrote it and weakness caused by dieting ;-)
Rajesh is reflecting on the power of story and it is a very worthwhile task. He is thinking about the way that stories cause us to get carried away and suspend logic. Of course there is truth in that, however, we might not agree about whether this is a good thing or not. For me there is far more to truth and life than simple or pure logic and storytelling is a helpful way to help us move beyond logic.
It is one reason why the teaching of Jesus was and still is so powerful. His stories included fiction but contain immense truths that we could not gain by logic alone. Fortunately, the message of Christ is that God's grace, love and mercy surpass all understanding. God's logic does not make sense to us and thank the Lord for that.
It is also interesting to see how meaning is found and the way the control of that moves from the writer to the reader of a text. The context in which we read shapes our understanding so that the meaning we find can be completely different to that intended by the writer. No matter how we try we cannot read texts without our understanding being influenced by our own context. Hence all the problems when we try to claim an exclusive understanding of the real meaning.
In this example my reading of the story makes me think of my parents. Therefore it is going to push all kinds of buttons inside me that it won't push inside either John or Rajesh (because their contexts and personal experiences are different). Therefore it is inevitable that my understanding is different. This is the nature of communication and in particular written communication, it is one way in which the richness of literature is found as we gather and share our understandings.
In line with John's thoughts I am very privileged to have had both parents (and all 4 grandparents) with strong Christian faiths and a determined discipleship expressed in their lifelong committments to the work of God, particularly through the Methodist Church.
As with people I am visiting at the moment, my parents could only face cancer together because of their faith. I could not have handled it without faith. Faith goes beyond logic which is why we need stories to guide us towards it.
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