Prince Caspian

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the children learned that the time in Narnia does not run parallel with time in our world. Though they reigned for years and years in Narnia, when they reemerged from the wardrobe, no time had elapsed in England. Mrs. Macready and the visitors were still out in the passageway. Is this a part of the magic of Narnia? I say, "No, this isn’t magic, it is a way that C.S. Lewis can illustrate the biblical motif of time and accentuate the differences between magic and mystery.

Before I proceed on a discussion of time, let me comment on the words, magic and mystery. Lewis sometimes uses the word magic when I would be more comfortable with mystery (alas, he didn’t ask me). Actually, in the child’s world the two are very much alike, but an adult reader should begin to sense the difference. For example, the Witch uses magic to turn creatures into stone, while Aslan returns from death because of a deeper magic that the witch did not know. Are these two forms of "magic" alike? The answer is clearly, "No!" Here’s the reason. A magician deals with illusion. The Witch (as you will learn in a later book) is a magician. She uses deception to convince others that she has power to rule and power over life and death. The Great Emperor beyond the sea, however, has the real power, and when that is revealed the Witch’s magic is foiled (spring arrives and the dead statues are returned to life.) On the surface, magic seems like the exercise of real power, but it is not. For children (and adults), part of the maturing process is to decide what is real and what is illusion. There are mixed feelings that come with this maturation process, for not all magic is unpleasant. For example, the appearance of gifts under a pine tree is magic to a child. Finding out the source of these gifts can be disillusioning, that is, the end of the magic, but it does not have to be the end of the mystery. The mystery of gift-giving is the recognition of the heart of the gift-giver, but not everyone makes this transition from magic to mystery. It is easy to become cynical and say that everything that seems magic is an illusion that has yet to be explained. In other words, people come to the conclusion that there are no true mysteries. This is where time enters the equation. The Deep Magic , as Lewis calls it, is from before the dawn of time. This is what I would prefer to refer to as mystery. Mystery is the word that is used in religious circles to describe the fabric of the creation in terms of the recognition of the heart of the Creator. In this sense, it is beyond the words that we use to conceptualize events. Words are the children of time and space, the Creator is beyond both. The time difference between our world and Narnia gives Lewis a way to illustrate the constancy of God in a world of change and decay.

When the children arrive in Narnia the second time, they arrive in a place where they lived many years. In spite of this, they could not recognize the space. It was overgrown and in ruins. Oddly enough, they were the same children, untouched by time. When the captured dwarf is brought down to be drowned in the sea, he assumes that they are ghosts. The children assure Trumpkin that while they are the Kings and Queens of old, they are not ghosts, but very much alive. Do you catch the illusion which time creates? In the world of time, they are ghosts of an age long past. They are historical characters that have passed beyond the time of the living. In short, they have died to the world of ancient Narnia, but not to Aslan. Their lives are no longer bound to time and space, but to the will and call of Aslan. Another illusion that they have to face is that of change and decay. It is obvious that this familiar world has become strange to them. The forests are thicker, the valleys deeper, and demograhics (to use a modern word) are radically transformed. The will of Aslan, the intention of the Great Emperor, and the Deep Magic have not changed in the least. In fact, the children’s problems center on their temptation to place their confidence on what they can remember of the old Narnia (which has changed) instead of on the vision of Aslan (which never changes). In other words, they are no longer the experts on life in the here and now, they have become part of that cloud of witnesses who are alive to God, if not to the world.

Over the series of seven books, we are given a circular view of history. In the first two stories we see only the current era, and therefore catch a limited view of reality. In Narnia, as well as in scriptures, time is circular not linear. The source is also the destination. The Creation is from God and to God, the God who is beyond time and shrouded in mystery. When all magic is unmasked, the mystery of the gift-giver will remain. One mask that veils the creator is death, another is time. When they come off, then we shall see face to face, and know as we are known (cf. I Corinthians 13).

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