When the front door of the mind is locked

What's allowed in? Kevin Bidwell photo - Pexels

J R R Tolkien wrote, “Myths, fantasies, and stories can open the heart’s back door when the front door of the mind is locked”. Already around the middle of last century he had recognised that the common mindset had become "If I can't see it, it doesn't exist". That "front door" is often the "plausibility structure" that individuals unconsciously construct in their way of thinking, and these days many commentators have expressed dismay at the shallowness of thought generally - typical examples here and here. 

A second element that impacts our pattern of thinking - what we accept as plausible - is the lack of ongoing contact with a rich variety of people outside the "we" group determining our reactions. Therefore, there is a lot of "emotional" responses to stimuli as against calmer reasoning as to best behaviour or where the truth lies.

In this connection, longtime readers of this blog will know that one area of interest of mine is how the supernatural realm is sometimes unveiled, but the wonder can be glossed over because of predetermined habits of mind, or simply by the distractions of this digital age. 

In my previous post, the experience of one survivor of the Florida apartment collapse is highlighted because the chain of events that led to her survival readily prompts recognition as a reality that prayers are effective. As she told reporters who took her account, she felt it necessary to thank God for keeping her safe, given she had lit a prayer candle before an icon of Our Lady of Guadelupe, signifying her belief that God answers prayers made through the intercession of other Christians, on earth or in heaven.  

Further, in a post here I report an account of a father who was part of a series of miracles in bringing an adopted son from China and seeing the boy's medical problems overcome. 

Now, I want to offer two more cases of people whose experiences are inexplicable other than that they arose from an encounter with the spiritual realm. The source of this information, the same as above, is a trustworthy author and journalist. He writes:

 A] I know that the divine is truly present in some things and places, and not in others. I also believe that the demonic is likewise present in some things and places. I once interviewed a woman who could not get books to stop flying off her shelves in her house until she burned and buried the ashes of two little humanoid wooden figures she and her late husband had bought at a bazaar in rural Indonesia on a vacation. She had not imagined it, but those objects had been used in some kind of wicked ritual. When she placed them on her bookshelf, she would wake up the next morning to find all the books splayed on the floor. 

B] If you have ever been part of an exorcism or a deliverance rite, you know that holy water is not the same thing as water that comes out of the tap. People who are demon possessed, it burns them. A couple of years ago, I was in Manhattan visiting friends. The wife of the family is possessed, and under the care of an exorcist. When her husband brought out a blessed object he had concealed, she reacted badly, her face changing, and a voice not her own coming out of her, cursing the presence of this object. I saw this with my own eyes. The poor wife apologized, and said, “I’m sorry, that’s not me.”

Store these accounts in your heart. They are not "stories" in Tolkien's sense of being fictional but they can contribute to a deeper mindset, one that accepts that there is a greater richness to life than meets the uncurious eye or the distracted consumerist world view. Each of us has a responsibility to form our "plausibility structure" in an independent fashion in order to better know the truth when we meet it, the truth that will set us free.

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