I love these stories...
I am reading the Chronicles of Morgaine, and I am fascinated by the ethical issues these stories are raising! Vanye is disturbed by Morgaine's seemingly cold heart for not looking back (at the destruction she has left behind), yet he begins to understand and regret having looked back to see the destruction by his own hands.
I was thinking about my own life, my own journey, and how I have noticed how on more than one occasion, there is a wake of debris from the destruction that my process has left behind...yet, when I look back I am disempowered by what I see.
Are we supposed to not look back?
I'm thinking now about the Bible, and the story of the pillars of salt. I don't recall the intricacies of the story, but I do remember that God instructed them to not look back once they left the city, lest they turn to pillars of salt.
Is that a general spiritual mandate from God that we not look back?
I think there is a deeper truth in this. Yes, it is good to reflect on the past to learn from it, but is that process fundamentally different from looking back? Is there a difference between looking at the destruction left behind and personal accountability? If we don't look back, have we relinquished accountability for the consequences of what our actions have helped to bring about?
I can't wait to read on in this story...to see how Vanye continues to evolve. He seems to have such black and white thinking, whereas Morgaine is much more open to shades of gray.
Wow! Don't look back! Thers is just something very powerful about this truth tonight...