Macbeth and Mike Tyson.
What are the odds of reading a blog with both of these characters? Don’t go searching it would be a most thankless task.
I watched the portrayal of Macbeth starring Patrick Stewart that was on BBC Four not that long ago. More4 also showed a film which was basically an extended interview with Mike Tyson covering his life.
Watching both (not at the same time obviously!) I got to thinking about similar themes. Chiefly the theme of tragedy. It is so amazing how tragedy often comes about because of the conflict between what is true and the truth.
Now I’ve got you, haven’t I? What are you on about, Christopher? What are you prattling on about now about what is true vs. the truth? Well it can be hinted at with the issue of statistics and records. If I present you with the results of surveys and statistical data to dazzle you I can get you to believe anything, even if what I’m presenting isn’t really true. It’s not difficult. The more statistics I have in my favour, the more appealing my words will be. It is true because my statistics or my reading of the statistics make it true. If I put it in big and bold enough letters then it’s got to be true, because the truth itself will not always have such a PR campaign.
It’s not just statistics. Take the American Dream. It’s based on what appears to be true. What people would enjoy is liberty, life and happiness. Who could say no to that? When that is painted over with pictures of success in terms of financial and material superiority and a positive outlook where none is better and every obstacle is overcome, well that’s a wonderful picture. It must be true that to live that way is the most desirable way.
The difficulty comes in exploring deeper the Truth of the matter of the fulfilment of humanity. For example the follower of Christ follows the path to life through death, the expression of liberty in being a slave for Christ, and the finds happiness in following the beatitude blessed are those who mourn. That doesn’t seem to make relate well with the precepts of the American Dream especially as presented to others in all its glitz and glamour, but that is the Truth.
Hope you get it now. To summarise, there are things that are true, but when pursued down particular paths come into conflict with the truth.
So Macbeth, for example. I just love how the whole play is built on how a man discerned two life events in the light of a prediction made to him by three witches. Consumed by how two out of three are true – one already true, one about to be revealed to be true – with the assistance of the ruthless wife, he illicitly gets to fulfil the third. From there on his life depends on that which is true despite the fact that he will be met grimly with the Truth. Such is the tragedy of a man who appeared content to do the bidding of his patriotic duty and lost sight of the truth for the appearance of the true.
Watching the Mike Tyson documentary was again so tragic because you had a guy who at times appeared intelligent and reflective on one hand and then childish and vulnerable on the other. Here was a man who was consumed with the true – if he focussed on his boxing he would indeed be the greatest with the riches material and otherwise that came with it. Yet at the moment he achieved greatness, he forsook the truth to take pleasure in what was true – he had the money, he had the women, he had the power, boxing had given him all these. His coach had paved the way for him to get all these. So he immersed himself in what was true, only for the bigger reality of the Truth to smack him upside the head. That truth being, there is more to life than boxing, women, money and power. The truth being that when your life is not built on truth and just what is true, it is susceptible to some rocky conclusions from which it can be difficult to rebuild.
Two men – one fictional, the other with a life made for fiction, both teaching the same story to a world that is hung up with the same delusions that gripped Adam in the Garden. The delusion of deity, the delusion that I am in complete control of all things, rather than being responsible for that which God has entrusted to me.
When Jesus redeemed, He truly did a miraculous work to buy back humanity so enslaved to that which appeared true. So deceived and wrapped up in the pursuit of things and goals that only bring about overwhelming emptiness. He does an amazing work every time I wake up to my sense and realise the Truth is only in Him and not in my own folly as I go by what appears true.
My prayer then is for others to be only too aware of that ongoing struggle to maintain the Truth in the light of what appears to be true.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 