Lewis's On Stories: Myth maintains an open mind

By Katherine Forbes
January-February Entry
Posted March 9

In Chapter One of On Stories, Lewis describes individuals like himself who prefer the experience of a myth to many experiences one could enjoy in “real life”, a preference which would appear to come naturally to some and not-so-naturally to others. I would like to argue that this love of stories is natural to every person, despite varying degrees, but this desire can be either fostered or squashed in childhood. Once it is gone, it is extremely difficult to regain. Yet there is significant indication that this desire remains, buried and dormant. In Democracy in America, Alexis DeTocqueville describes an interesting and unique trend in democratic peoples characterized as a ruthless pursuit of material wealth in the environment of equality of opportunity, and a corresponding backlash. This backlash is caused by the deprivation of spiritual engagement a life spent pursuing materialism often creates, and such individuals become vulnerable to radical religion which promises (and may fail to follow through with) spiritual fulfillment. This is different from philosophical longings to answer the “important” questions regarding existence; instead it is a desire for something fulfilling erupting to compete with material desires. This desire would likely be quenched by the joy an individual could gain from a good myth, but once someone has lost that child-like open-mindedness to stories and myths, can it ever be retained?
It may have been that Lewis become one such close-minded individual, guided by reason alone after his severely rational education from Kirkpatrick, had his love of myths not been fostered and maintained throughout his life. Myths were a wedge in his mind’s door which later gave him the desire to seek out and understand joy, and all that came with it. In the same way the Pevensie children were able to sustain an open mind after their experience in Narnia, sustaining their affinity for all they learned there into old age. Eustace, had he not undergone the transformation he underwent in Narnia, likely would have grown up to be a severe critic of “myths” and his mind may have been sealed off for his whole life, never open to the possibility that he had missed something about life.
One of the key points I think Lewis wants us to take away from On Stories is that myths engage the imagination and open the mind to new possibilities. This manner of thinking doesn’t necessarily lead us to believe unicorns are behind every tree, but they are an exercise in curiosity and a willingness to seek out what’s not presented to us at face value.