I take great delight in reading a certain kind of book. Namely, I enjoy Christian books that do not smack of boilerplate messages, which make one think and question, and which would typically shock modern day Christians. In the Christian writing of the past there was much greater freedom to explore systems of thought and belief that would be quickly dismissed as heretical or pagan by today's hyper-Evangelical congregants. In Lilith by George MacDonald I have discovered a tale of Life After Death which veers far away from the standard "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" version of Eternity, and instead chooses to tackle a wide Universe of possibilities and perceptions that likely await beyond the grave. I do not imagine that MacDonald, who after all is a widely respected Protestant theologian and was C.S. Lewis' number one influence, meant for his readers to take him literally in his fanciful tale of the World of the Dead. However, since reading it, I feel myself enriched in an understanding of Death and Resurrection that I doubt less adventurous writers could duplicate.
I won't spoil the book, but if you are reading this note I ask you to imagine its premise. When one is Dead, they enter into a World which bears every resemblance to our own World, and in fact is layered over it. However this World of the Dead is peopled by characters in every stage of existence: from walking skeletons who are cognizant of having just died to individuals who have been dead a very long time, have felt their physical forms decay, and have been confronted with their own Eternity, challenged to make it meaningful or miserable. MacDonald effectively removes the instantaneous nature of the Christian Judgement after Death and allows his Dead to wander in a World which they are not always entirely sure is the World of the Dead. They, just as we in the land of the Living, wonder about the Nature of the Universe. They have by no means figured it all out.
What results is that 'Heaven' and 'Hell' are not places, but conditions. A person may have died into 'Heaven' and he or she will find that World to be wonderful indeed. However, they may easily brush shoulders with those who are experiencing a 'Hell' experience.
A further result of this is that those who are in Hell may yet come to repentance. In fact, repentance is not, in MacDonald's conception, that action of suddenly deciding one will be a Christian, so much as it is a gradual coming to terms with the fact that they have a Maker, that that Maker has a plan for them, and that by going against the Maker's plans they have engineered their own Hell. By saying to the Universe, "I will no longer live for myself, but will be a blessing to others, as I was made to be," they can at length escape the self-made Hell and may "die a deeper death" into a glorious Life on a "new Earth."
MacDonald's Dead clearly occupy a hierarchy. Those who have been dead the longest act as the mothers and fathers to the newly Dead. One's mother or father in this new sort of Family may lead them toward or away from repentance, deeper into Hell or deeper into Heaven. But no cause is truly lost. Indeed, in Lilith MacDonald even says that the Shadow (Satan) will at length come to rest at the House of Adam and Eve (who are among the longest Dead and are therefore charged with leading their children Home), and will wake to Repentance, although he will be the last to rise in the "morning of the Universe."
What I like about MacDonald's conception of Life After Death is that it follows the analogies that Nature suggests: of Night turning into Day, of Winter turning into Springtime, and of Death yet yielding to a new Life. MacDonald's Life After Death is more a Circle than a Line, which the "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" conception clearly is a Line. MacDonald never once suggests reincarnation: however, his notion of Resurrection is so beautiful, because it indicates that by coming to accept the Universe, even once Dead, those who are the most decayed and depraved and depersonalized and confused may still yet "grow young again." Skeletons can re-grow their eyes, begin to dance, put on sinew, and become Real. All in all the picture that emerges from MacDonald's cosmos is of a God who Loves even beyond the Final Moment of Life, and courts even the most rebellious souls through long aeons of self-imposed exile from His Presence. Since all Life flows from God He will eventually redeem and re-claim it.
I don't pretend to have understood everything MacDonald wrote. In fact I think I may have to re-read this book just to be sure I fully understand the plot. His prose is often hard to follow. He writes as though he was constantly tripping on hallucinogens. However, such is the writing of a mystic, and even if you do not accept his conclusions on the afterlife, the work is rich in quotable and very inspiring philosophy. It should especially be of interest to anyone who has come to understand the Scriptural role of Adam as our first father and as the representative of our Race, for Adam is a Christlike figure in his redeemed and resurrected state. It also is an interesting read for anyone who wants to read something that fully sacramentalizes the Earth herself as a spiritual force under the dominion of Christ.
This is the third book by MacDonald which I have read, the first being Phantastes and the second a collection of his sermons. MacDonald is of the utmost interest to me because of how clearly orthodox he is, even in the midst of some highly speculative work. His allegiance to the central message of the redemption of Christ is undeniable, even if he rocks the foundations of what we think about the larger Spirit World. MacDonald knows about angels, demons, fairies, goblins, the occult sciences: he is a writer for those who may have too early dismissed Christianity as a religion for the close-minded. And I recommend him heartily.
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