Transformation in Heaven's Foothills
Sanctification in C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, & My Interview w/ William Albrecht
Whenever I go for a run or a hiking trip, I find that the first few miles can be the most uncomfortable. Why? Most oftentimes it is because I live a life that is too comfortable, and I take long breaks between running or hiking. I can feel the pain in my calves, the weight of my own body, and the fire in my lungs. My brain is telling me to stop and do not keep going. “Your too old!” “This is only going to get worse!” “Go back home.” However, once I reach a certain point, my body and brain adapt, and the pains go away. Even though there is still a challenge that awaits and likely still some pain, it is transformed and absorbed into the adventure itself.
This is why I love the metaphor of foothills and mountains that both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien employ in their fiction. Particularly in the Great Divorce and Leaf by Niggle, we see that the foothills are a time of growth, adaptation, illumination, and ultimately, letting go of our own attachments to selfishness and vice. Our brains are telling us to become comfortable and not to change our hardened ways, but our spirits, transformed by Christ, are telling us to head up through the foothills and into a life of ‘further up and further in.’
The author of Hebrews in chapter 12 really expands upon this same idea in Scripture:
“Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross… lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”
As many of us begin a time of deeper reflection and repentance this Advent & Nativity Fast, it is important that we do not settle for the comforts of our false home and neglect the journey toward our True Home. Our comfortable home is in the valley and requires no personal change. Our True Home is deep in the Mountains and requires us to pack up and begin passing through those first foothills. We may begin recognizing those things about ourselves that need changing which brings about some initial pain and discomfort. But remember, this is the sign that you are actually on the journey and not stuck in the comforts of your ‘false home.’ As Bilbo Baggins reminds us, “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Both Lewis and Tolkien believed that if we did not complete this journey through the foothills and into the Mountains during this lifetime that it would continue on in the next. This is why they placed ‘the faithfully departed’ in ‘Heaven’s Foothills’ to complete their process of ‘letting go’ and ‘clinging to God.’
If you would like to learn more about our final journey of transformation in the afterlife, you can check out my recent interview w/ William Albretch which premieres tonight at 9:30pm Eastern Standard Time. I present the teaching of Scripture and the Fathers on why we pray for the deceased and the variety images used to express why we pray for them (comfort, love, healing, cleansing, etc.) Although the image on the cover is quite a later Western depiction, I think you will find that the interview is quite ecumenical and leans much more in the C.S. Lewis & Eastern theological direction (an ascent, further up & further in, a journey of final healing and testing, etc). Feel free to hop on and write questions in the chat, and I’ll be sure to respond. The more the comments the video has, the more likely it is to be seen by more people!
Also, if you would like to read an article that I wrote which proposes that our final purification and healing could occur in the aerial/angelic realm, you can read it below: