Aslan Moments

PrinceOfTheWest

PrinceOfTheWest

Knight of the Stone Table
Royal Guard
Emeritus
As I've been going through the Chronicles again recently, I've been watching for something that I think is important: Aslan Moments. An Aslan Moment is simply the point in the story where Aslan shows up. Attending to what He does (or doesn't do) and says (or doesn't say) helps understand the entire point of the story. I've found a lot more depth and meaning in the books by paying more careful attention to the Aslan Moments. I thought I'd start a thread for posting thoughts and observations about Aslan Moments. What do you see in the Aslan Moments in the stories? What do they tell you, how do they make the story clear, and what lessons do they teach you personally?
 
The Large Voice

I'll start off with some observations out of The Horse and His Boy, which I'm currently finishing. Aslan only speaks in three "scenes" in the book, and the first one is when He accompanies Shasta through the cold night ride across the pass into Narnia. Interestingly, He doesn't even show Himself until the very end - He's just a voice in the darkness. Mostly He doesn't even talk - He lets Shasta do the talking, and listens to his tale of distress. Only at the end does He speak, and then He says the most surprising things. First, He doesn't seem to sympathize with Shasta's difficulty - in fact, He seems to make light of them ("I do not call you unfortunate"). And when the incredulous Shasta provides one example, that of meeting so many lions, Aslan admits to being the one lion who has been such a plague on their travels.

As part of that explanation, Aslan also provides other details - for instance, that He had protected Shasta on a couple of occasions (e.g. at the Tombs outside Tashbaan, and when Shasta was an infant). He intimates that there's a bigger story underneath the events which Shasta has been living through over the past months. He leaves it for others to fill in the rest of the tale, but makes clear that it is He, Aslan, who has been in control.

This calls to mind something that I've been noticing in my Scripture study recently. So often in the New Testament things happen "so that Scripture might be fulfilled" or "to fulfill the Scripture which said..." This is a very persistent theme, to the point that it makes one wonder why it is hammered with such insistence. So Scripture said it - what's the big deal? Why is that so important?

One reason it's important because it demonstrates who's really in charge. All through Horse there are parties who are full of their own determination: Arsheesh and the Tarkaan Anradin, Rabadash, and even to some degree Aravis and Bree. Poor luckless Shasta seems to be the one to whom everything happens. He's nearly sold into slavery, and only escapes because Bree wants to and can make use of him. He's tolerated by Aravis, grabbed by the Narnians, forced to cross the desert and then run like a madman when there's nobody else to deliver the message, and then gets left behind by the Archenlanders. He seems a passive participant, a pawn moved around at the whim of the true movers and shakers of the time.

But Aslan begins to let slip the real story - that Shasta is not a peripheral player, but the central figure in an international, multi-generational drama that spans decades. Aslan has been the real mover and shaker, and it's He who's been doing the kicking and shoving to get the players in place to execute His plans. Those who thought they were Big Shots with Big Plans end up making asses of themselves before Aslan, who uses a beggar boy who happens to be a lost prince to thwart them. Many of the things which happened to Shasta, even the difficult and painful things, happened so Aslan's ends could be achieved - and those ends included Shasta's happiness and contentment.

For me, this is helpful to remember because very often I think of myself as a passive participant, someone to whom things happen. I forget that regardless of the external appearances, Aslan has promised to take care of me, and everything that happens to me is in His control. I forget that (unlike Shasta) I volunteered for the mission of helping Aslan redeem people from slavery. And also unlike Shasta, I know that I'm a prince, albeit one who has not yet come into his inheritance.
 
What about when Aslan meet the kids in Prince Caspian? He gradually was seen by each of them and led them to Aslan's How. And then he took Lucy and Susan on the romp when they freed all people in the villages who would believe or trust him.
And thats also when he turned the water into wine at Caspian's nurse's house.
 
Right - the "appearance" of Aslan in PC (book) is critical -- what I like is that the first time Lucy sees him, she fails to go to him. She lets the other kids talk her out of it. She believes she has seen him, but she goes in the opposite direction.

Isn't this very often what happens to us believers, especially at young ages? I know it was so in my own life: I had "seen" Jesus in church and in my family all while I was a child, and so I ought to have known Him and followed Him. But as a young adult, my blood was hot, and I lost my vision of Him and let other people and circumstances "talk me out of" following Him.

(Not that other people are to blame, it was my decision to go along with the crowd, just as it was Lucy's decision to go along with the other kids, in the opposite direction from which she knew Aslan was calling her. As he explains later, she could have come to him on her own. She was afraid to do so.)

The great thing is, although she muffed this first opportunity to go with him, and followed the wrong road with the rest until they'd wasted a lot of time and nearly been killed by the attack of the Telmarines when they blundered into the wrong area, she could trace her way back to him and start fresh!

This time, they all determined to follow him, and the more they stuck to their guns, the better able they were to see him! This is so true in our spiritual walk, isn't it? At least it has been in mine. I landed in a lot of hot water by my failure to follow Jesus right from childhood, and wasted a lot of years and nearly got killed (mostly figuratively, but you know as they say, hit rock bottom). And then finally from the smoking ruins I tunneled out and decided to follow Aslan after all.

It was a shaky start; I was beat-up and beaten down. But the more I determined to follow Him, the more "real" He became to me. The more time I spent pursuing Him in silence and solitude, the better able I became to hear His voice. And so, just like the others slowly being able to see Aslan the more they followed him, that's how it was for me.

Further, he was just happy they had finally chosen to follow him. There was no punishment, no price they had to pay for their previous failure. He just took away their fears and blessed them. This, too, is exactly a mirror of my own spiritual walk and return to Christ ... He didn't want to extract any punishment for my having run away and hurt Him. He was just so happy to have me back. :)
 
That was an important growing point for Lucy, and a difficult choice for all of us. She was under Peter's authority and part of the group that was travelling together, so to defy his leadership would have been a difficult thing. But Aslan's instructions always take precedence, and we have to trust that He would have made things come out all right. It's a tough lesson for me to attend to, for I am very sensitive to what others think of me and want their approval. To buck the trend and risk scorn or derision is very hard.
 
My Aslan moment is pretty simple...I just feel an overwhelming sense of love and peace every time I read a scene with him in any of the books. Same goes for the movies too.:)
 
When Caspian lay in the water in Aslan's country and Lucy had to pluck a thorn and jab it into Aslan's paw to let the blood drip in the water...that almost makes me want to cry.
 
"When Caspian lay in the water in Aslan's country and Lucy had to pluck a thorn and jab it into Aslan's paw to let the blood drip in the water"

ES, reread that and tell me where you went wrong :p

I liked the Aslan moment in VotDT where Lucy talked with him on Duffle Island. He chided her for eavesdropping and telling her that she won't ever forget what she heard.

Also in the book, I loved the time when Aslan just appeared at Deathwater Island, not saying anything but just being there in his presence.

Finally, when Aslan appeared to Lucy as an albatross. "Courage dear heart" is a great line meant just for his great disciple.

MrBob
 
One of my favourite Aslan moments is in the Magician's Nephew as Digory is searching for fruit from the land of youth to cure his mother. Digory is so desperately hoping that he will get some fruit that he focuses on the fruit instead of on Aslan. Aslan gently leads Digory through various things that make Digory give up hope on getting the fruit, but gradually he comes to realise that Aslan is actually more concerned for his mother than he is himself, but that there are also things more important than preserving the life of loved ones.

Peeps
 
A very intriguing Aslan Moment is in Dawn Treader when Lucy is reading the Magician's Book and comes across the spell to make one beautiful beyond the lot of mortals. Through the pictures on the page she is given the chance to see the consequences of her action (one time when a Narnian character is told what would have happened.) Despite seeing the terrible consequences that will follow her saying the spell, she resolves to say it, even though her conscience is screaming at her not to. Only the stern image of Aslan appearing on the page deters her.

I've been in those situations before, when I've known that I shouldn't do something yet have set my will to do it anyway. As of yet, there's been no image of Aslan to deter me, so I often end up doing it - sinning. And Lucy as good as sinned, because she had determined to do the forbidden deed, and only force and fear kept her from doing it.

It's interesting to note what follows. She's given another chance to chose well (the Eavesdropping Spell) and doesn't - she says the spell. There she isn't deterred, though she makes certain to say it quickly to insure there's no chance for deterrence. Following that she finds the spell for Refreshment of Spirit, which does refresh her.

Then, after she finds and says the spell to make invisible things visible, Aslan appears, implying that He's been there all along. Note what He doesn't do - He doesn't stand away from Lucy. She's still allowed to come to Him and enjoy His presence. He reprimands her for reading the Eavesdropping Spell, though no mention is made of the more serious offence she came so near to making. He accompanies her to meet the Magician, and Lucy enjoys the longest period with Aslan that occurs in Dawn Treader (not that it's long).

On the surface, this seems to me unfair. Lucy, the "Beloved Disciple" of Narnia, has just committed the greatest transgression she'd ever commit in Narnia. She was willing to plunge that world into war and chaos in order to feed her envy of Susan's beauty. And how is she rewarded? With a foretaste of heaven (the Story for Refreshment of Spirit) and a relatively lengthy visit with Aslan Himself. In my wisdom, it would seem she's earned some retribution, not favour.

But I guess that's the difference between Aslan's standards and mine. When He swept Lucy through that picture frame - in fact, when He opened the back of the Wardrobe - He knew that she'd someday stand before that book and set her teeth to read that lethal spell. Yet He loved her anyway, and did not withdraw from her even when she fell. A hard lesson to learn, and an even harder one to live out.
 
Wow, I never thought of this sequence in those terms, Roger, but I must say, I like your analysis very much.

She is rewarded for not doing something which would have been akin to what Jadis did in Charn. She's not rewarded for doing some fabulously good thing -- she's rewarded for not doing some horrible thing ... in fact, she's not even asked to review that decision ... she's given advice about future temptations to eavesdrop, but nothing is said of the other more grievous temptation at all.

I think this is truly showing the character of God as it appears through the grace of the New Tesyament -- we escape punishments we deserve, and we receive rewards we don't deserve. Happy are we. :)
 
But why would he discipline her? First, he already did so by appearing in the book and was growling at her, making her fearful of him. Second, why would he reprimand her for something she hadn't done after the fact?

Also, the Spell for the Refreshment of the Spirit was not a reward, it was to, well, refresh her spirit. She was not rewarded with that spell, she found it and chose to read it. She could have just as easily not read it as she did with the other spells in the book. Remember, this was the Magician's Book, not Aslan's Book. Aslan did not give her that story, she gave it to herself.

As for Aslan being there with her, well he was always with Lucy. She needed him more than the others ar that point as she was performing the hardest task on the island, to keep her and her friends safe by going into what she was told was a dangerous man's lair ro read a spell.

This was actually a constant theme in the book. Aslan was with Lucy when she needed him the most. He was there walking invisibly with her to read the book, he was there on Deathwater Island to keep Edmund and Caspian from doing battle with each other, he was there with Lucy and the crew when they were seemingly stuck at Dark Island. Aslan was always with Lucy, and everyone.

MrBob
 
Well, He did discipline her, in the truest sense of the word (i.e. discipline = the way of the disciple). He knew full well that she intended to say that spell, and was willing to cause all that strife and suffering just to feed her envy. He shouldn't have needed to appear in that page growling at her. Those picture vignettes should have been enough to warn her off - but they weren't. She'd determined to go ahead, and that was the offence.

It's true that the spell for Refreshment of Spirit was there in the book and Lucy would come to it in the normal course of reading. But don't forget that it was ultimately Aslan who put that book there, whatever agents He used to do it. He caused the book to be written in the order it was, and when He did, He knew full well that someday Lucy would do what she did. That's what I meant when I said that Aslan "rewarded her".

You're right, MrBob, in saying that Aslan was always with her, even after she had offended. That was kind of my point - I was juxtaposing His ways and mercy against mine. If I'd been in charge, and had to warn Lucy off reading the Spell of Beauty, my reaction might have been, "Now you've proved yourself untrustworthy. No more spell browsing for you - turn exactly 173 pages ahead to the spell for making invisible things visible, read it, and then get out. Had you behaved, you would have gotten to read a most wonderful spell, but since you didn't, you lost your chance." His ways are not my ways.
 
My ways are Aslan's ways than your ways. I would so something similar to what Aslan did. I would chide her for wanting to do the spell only right at that point. His growl in the book was that speech, just much shorter. Afterward, after she did what she was suppoed to do, with nothing having gone wrong, I would be there for her.

It was not unprecedented. Aslan did have a long talk with Edmund, but did not want his siblings to talk to him about his betrayal of them. He also doesn't get upset with Jill for misinterpreting the signs and, in fact, helps her find one of them. In the end, he tells Jill, "You have done the work for which I sent you into Narnia."

You notice that Aslan keeps Lucy from saying the spell that would cause harm to others but not the one that caused harm to herself (eavesdropping and changing her friendship with Marjorie). That is what the best parents do, protect their children from the worst while allowing them to make the more minor of mistakes.

And personally, I think Lucy deserved some reward. She was "sacrificing" herself in order to save the others by going alone up the stairs to read from a powerful magician's book. She was very frightemed to do that when she did. She was already disciplined (as I wrote about abive) for wanting to read the beauty spell, eavesfropped on her friends, and then got to read the refreshing spell. That helped her to calm back down and do what had to be done. It was read the book or die. She should have been rewarded for doing that alone.

MrBob
 
She did get a reward -- she got to meet the magician and have lunch with him, in addition to seeing Aslan -- things that the others didn't experience.
 
I reread all the books last July, noting a lot of Aslan moments for the first time, taking extra note of those that personally felt like direct parallels to God. Aslan's breath on Susan when she sees Him in PC going down the gorge in the dark, and a specific part in LWW that I noticed was when the White Witch comes for Edmund, it says that after all he'd been through with the talk that morning, it didn't matter what the Witch said, he just kept looking to Aslan. It made me realize how true that is, that when we keep our focus on God, we don't notice the threats our enemies make - because He's all we see...
 
Rache_san said:
I reread all the books last July, noting a lot of Aslan moments for the first time, taking extra note of those that personally felt like direct parallels to God. Aslan's breath on Susan when she sees Him in PC going down the gorge in the dark, and a specific part in LWW that I noticed was when the White Witch comes for Edmund, it says that after all he'd been through with the talk that morning, it didn't matter what the Witch said, he just kept looking to Aslan. It made me realize how true that is, that when we keep our focus on God, we don't notice the threats our enemies make - because He's all we see...
Click to expand...

Like when Jesus walked on the water and Peter did too until he looked away from Jesus. Then he started to sink. As long as we focus on Jesus we won't sink. Huh, never noticed that part before.
 
"She did get a reward -- she got to meet the magician and have lunch with him, in addition to seeing Aslan -- things that the others didn't experience."

And I gave a reason for her deserving that reward, inky. She lived up to her Valiant moniker and went upstairs alone to potentially confront an evil magician so that no one died. Had she not done this, they would all have been killed by their invisible foes.

Aslan was with her because she needed him to be there with her. As for how long she was up there, well it was right after breakfast that she climbed the stairs, about 1:00 when she made everyone visible, and 3:00 when she finally went downstairs. She felt sorry for keeping her brother and friends so much longer (only two hours longer), but she did deserve the reward for what she did.

Another moment I liked was the Romp. In partiular, I loved him turning the schoolhouse into a jungle, the boys into pigs, and bringing Gwen to her grandmotehr's (?) house where he brought Caspian's former Nurse back to see him.

MrBob
 
Back
Top