Hi folks, I hope you are doing ok, this week we are meeting at the Enigma Tap at 7.30.
This weeks Blog is written for us by Emily.
It’s probably no secret that I’m a bit book-mad. So when I heard about this series on books/art/music etc, I knew that I wanted to (attempt) to write a blog.
My favourite book is called “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami. Murakami is a Japanese writer and tackles the weird and wonderful. A lot of his work is based on that of Franz Kafka.
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle follows Toru Okada, who is searching for his missing cat at his wife Kumiko’s request. During his search he meets May Kasahara, a curious teenage girl who has been watching him from his back yard. They form a friendship and after talking about it, she takes him to an old, abandoned house as she thinks this could be where Toru’s cat could be found. There, they find an abandoned well (which becomes significant later).
A little while on, Kumiko goes missing and her brother informs Toru that she has been seeing another man and wants to end her relationship with Toru. Toru speaks to clairvoyant Malta Kano and her sister Creta Kano and they help him to unravel Kumiko’s brother’s nefarious past.
These plot points are the basic ground work of the story but there is so much more to it than just the plot.
For large portions of the book, Toru sits at the bottom of the well at the old, abandoned house, reminiscing about the past he had shared with Kumiko and experiencing dream-like sequences which allows him to pass between his reality and another, uncovering secrets that may connect his dreams with reality.
When Toru is in the well, he searches for meaning, both in the real world and in this dream world that he has created. Toru’s lack of concept of self is really highlighted as he 1) realises how easily he was replaced at work after he left and 2) how easily he could be replaced within his relationship with Kumiko. He shows no true sign of motivation to do anything about either of these things, hence him sitting in a well and ruminating.
Toru is a man who, ultimately, is lost in his reality and has no idea how to find himself again.
As I was reading, I was reminded of Job from the bible, a man who lost everything: his children, wealth, livestock, crops, health and relationships with his wife and friends, which I imagine made him feel pretty lost in his reality.
Some of you may know that recently my school joined an academy and this has changed everything for us. At times, I’ve certainly felt lost and I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the past, the present and entering a similar dream-like state to Toru, thinking about how I would like the future to look.
I wonder what the well in itself means to you. To me it symbolises being stuck and not knowing where to turn or who I am. How well do we truly know ourselves? Do we actually know ourselves?
It’s so easy to say “God is with you in the unknown” and compare yourself to Job, who praised God instead of cursing him. But in reality, it’s not always that easy.
Reading the bible can feel like its own “dream world” as it is so far removed from what we know in this century. As Christians, does this sometimes contribute to our feeling of being lost?
Some questions:
If you could enter any fantasy world (Marvel, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings ETC) What would it be? And how would it play out?
Where do you ‘go’ (like the well) to ruminate?
What is the ‘well to you?
What does it mean to be lost?
How do you relate to Job and his story?
In what way does your faith journey feel like a dream state?
This post is written by one of our many friends. At BeachcomberFX we love to hear what others have to say and are always on the lookout for people who want to share their thoughts or stories with us.