mannabooks.org

Questions and Answers

Ashes into Gold: The Journey of Spirituality

Question 1: What exactly is the journey of spirituality?
Answer: In my book, Ashes into Gold, the spiritual transformation that God may bring to our lives as a result of the descent into ashes is portrayed as a journey. Describing spiritual transformation in terms of a journey is an old metaphor that goes back to the early centuries of Christianity. Today the journey image is embedded deep in our western consciousness. In a broader sense, our entire lives—I am speaking of Christians now—can be described as a spiritual journey. We are wayfaring strangers traveling through this world of woe, as an old spiritual song put it.

Question 2: Tell us more about the decent into ashes. What does that mean?
Answer: Sooner or later, each of us descends into the ashes of life.  By that I mean we undergo a difficult experience that brings sorrow, suffering, and grief. I am not referring to the ordinary disappointments and difficulties of daily life. I am talking about major events, ones that have the potential to break—or make—us. There are many paths that lead to the ash pile of life. In today's culture, divorce, abuse, and addiction are common roads into ashes. Others descend into ashes because of a debilitating illness, the loss of a loved one, or even the loss of a job or career. Regardless of the particular event, the descent into ashes is a time of sorrow, suffering, and grief.

Question 3: What happens when we find ourselves in the ash pile of life?
Answer: For many of us the decent into ashes is—or at least can be—the beginning of the journey of spirituality. In other words, the descent into ashes may mark the beginning of profound spiritual transformation in our lives.

Question 4: Why did you use the Exodus story as the overall framework for this book?
Answer: The Exodus story is an archetypal story; that is, this story is universally true. In other words, the Exodus story is the story of all people in all places throughout time. Therefore, the story applies directly to both you and me, as well as to those we love. To say it more picturesquely, sooner or later we are each called to journey from Egypt to the promised land.

Question 5: Are you saying that the Exodus story really has something to do with our lives today?
Answer: Absolutely. The Exodus story can be summarized briefly as a drama of descent, transformation, and ultimate redemption. This story is a perfect picture of the journey of spirituality; in fact, it is THE story of the journey of spirituality. The Exodus story, like the journey of spirituality, has three distinct parts: 1) the descent into ashes, represented by the Israelites slavery and suffering in Egypt; 2) spiritual transformation, represented by their wandering in the wilderness, and; 3) ultimate redemption, represented by their entrance into the Promised Land (after a long tenure in the wilderness!). All of us, at some point in our lives, experience the descent into ashes. The Exodus story provides hope in that it shows how God can use our painful experiences—that is, the ashes experience—to transform our lives and redeem our pain for ultimate good. That is why, incidentally, I entitled this book, Ashes into Gold.

Question 6: Do you believe the Exodus story really happened, or is it merely part of the folklore of an ancient Semitic people?
Answer: I believe the story really happened. There is a problem, however, that often arises around the ancient stories recorded in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. These stories are usually described as either historical events or merely the embellished folklore of an ancient band of Semitic nomads. The problem here is a false dichotomy. We do better to look at these ancient stories as both historically true and as highly instructive metaphors for the human experience.

Question 7: What do you mean by a metaphor for the human experience?
Answer: I mean that the Exodus story—as  well as all the great stories from time immemorial—have stayed with us for millennia because they represent our common human experience. They describe life as it really is. I am talking not only about life in general, but about your life and my life in particular. God caused these great memorable events to unfold in human history because they are the stories of us all. They portray the human drama as it really is. We should study the ancient stories carefully, with reverence, because they are talking about us!