"Animism" or the belief that the natural world around us is alive, and has a degree of intelligence or consciousness, appears to be a spontaneous and common belief among peoples across the entire world.
My academic background was the study of religions - and it was an embarrassingly poor education - with nothing at all taught about Christianity. What struck me though was the profound commonality, underneath exterior differences, of this tribalistic, family-oriented, spontaneous religion and belief system that understood creation as having a spirit, or being actually alive. Animals, trees, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc. all have degrees of personality and spirit.
Perhaps one of the most profoundly "unorthodox" element in the works of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and perhaps also all our most popular children's stories is they capture this worldview. Most often this is simply the expression that some animals can literally talk and think like people do. Even those who don't though have distinct personalities, memories, and even wills - that extends to everything in nature and God's creation.
Child Like Belief
When Christ commands us to have child-like belief, I think this is an element of that instruction. I think we are or should rely on our spontaneous and early understanding of the good, God, and the world to some extent.
One story that I think is worth meditating on is the boy Jesus teaching the wise men in the temple. We should certainly consider this story in light of His command to have child-like belief. Christ, despite being fully man (along with being God), was as a child more learned than the wisest men. Christ is a model of perfect man, and we should learn from this to appreciate that spontaneous, natural worldview and life that God supplies to us - that we are born with.
When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom... After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.Lewis captures this in the Narnia tales. There is much of the supernatural world that only children can see, or at least, that only they can see spontaneously. Adults seem to unlearn these things as they grow, or learn to deny or forget them.
Christ and the Living World
There are several utterances and actions by Our Lord that certainly make sense in this light, the light of a living world of intelligences - if we are willing to not explain-them-away and take them simply.
And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.
Who else does Christ rebuke? At times His disciples, or the Jewish leaders in error. The water and wind obey Him as living creatures because He is Lord of creation.
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
Why does Christ rebuke a tree out of season? I've read various explanations, but they don't always seem particularly straightforward - or perhaps explain the passage on a different level. I think Christ commanded the tree to bear fruit, as He has commanded the winds and waters to be calm, but the tree being disobedient (or perhaps inclined towards unfriendliness and evil) was to never bear fruit again as punishment.
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
Christ matter-of-factly treats the wind as having its own personality and desires. Was He "speaking down" to His listeners in an unscientific fashion, or should we perhaps take Him at face value?
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
In context, like with the above passages, having enough faith (following Christ, becoming more Christ-like) means creation will listen to you (because it is alive) - even a mountain can or will move itself.
He replied, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers [cry out]!"
Another passage that, I think, is more wondrous and makes sense in context taken at face-value (child-like) rather than explained away as a metaphor or exaggeration on Our Lord's part.
In Context of Tolkien
If we take Tolkien's insights as real and true, than the above passages could easily be read as connected to Middle Earth mindset, because it would be the same with our world. In Tolkien too the at least some of the rocks have memories, mountains are alive, and much more.
Disease and Demons
One frequently difficult area for moderns is the connection between disease and demons. We argue that science proves disease is caused by germs (and not demons) so we tend to forget or feel uncomfortable with these passages.
A possible explanation that probably doesn't cover all these is that some or most diseases are evil in their own right - the actual identification of the disease is with evil, or the destruction of good, and that the disease has, to some degree and like the rests of creation, its own desire and personality (however clouded, confused, sickly/broken, etc.)
God Came into Creation
It may also be interesting to establish Christ's close connection to the natural world, as apart from towns and cities. He frequently visits the towns and cities to preach, but often removes Himself to nature or wild surroundings to rest and pray.
This is mainly in contrast to the modern assumption that we are mostly disconnected from nature and material creation, that is totally distinct and separate from of us (as opposed to also alive, conscious).
- Jesus was born in a cave (the manger), and reborn in a cave (the tomb).
- Jesus spent, early in His ministry, 40 days alone in the wilderness.
- The Holy Spirit descended on Christ after being baptized in the river Jordan (not a bath, or with a small vessel, etc. - suggesting the closer connection to nature).
We are also taught by scripture that He raised up all of creation by coming into it, not just Human nature, which suggests an even wider significance to the incarnation that the salvation of our souls - I mean that perhaps all of creation can be elevated to some sense (like at the end of Narnia) and that God Himself is deeply connected to all of the natural world - not just mankind - in imbuing it with different hierarchy and degrees of souls (that is, real and true life).
