Narnia

Today I finished reading the last of the Narnia series. The last chapter of the last book struck a chord with me the very first time I read it, however many years ago. Before I understood all the spiritual metaphors in the book. Each reading after that has shown me more meaning. I want to go through them all again, to highlight all my favourite hidden messages. "The inside is larger than the outside" says Tumnus. As you peel away the layers of our universe and go in deeper, each one reveals more than the one before. Unlike an onion which only gets smaller, or a russian doll.
I was thinking of russian dolls yesterday, each one complete but on a smaller scale, as are the patterns found in nature. For example, the pattern created by water, is repeated as it runs through our veins as blood, or through leaves and trees, and on a larger scale in branching rivers. There is a predictable pattern to be found where-ever water flows. Expansion patterns are found in our dry skin as it contracts through hot and cold, found also in bark, and cracked mud. Perfect mathmatical spirals are created by sea creatures, snails, sunflower seeds and repeated in the spiraling pattern of galaxies. The fibonacci sequence in spirals, follows the golden ratio of 1:1.618, which is also found in the proportions of the human body. Wave patterns in the ocean mirror wavelengths of energy, sound, light etc. I am sure these patterns would be found in all larger systems also, if we were able to get to a broad enough view to see them. Our inner world, without the boundaries of the mind, would dwarf our current view of the universe. Each higher level of spirit, by shedding the illusions of duality and separation, would be more expansive than the last. I wonder if this is what Lewis was thinking?
I see how religions have stumbled in the past. The more you use language to explain something outside of our 5 senses, the further away from the concept you get. As we narrow our vocabulary, with sms speak and chat room jargon, we also limit the words we have in our own minds to analyse these ideas.
Lewis explains his view about what exists beyond our physical world, using Plato's "allegory of the cave". Once removed from the physical world ( through death or enlightenment) we see the true world, that ours was no more than a shadow of. This has always rung true to me. On the last page Aslan says softly "The dream is ended: this is the morning." It makes me feel so intensely, I almost cry! This is my belief of Heaven/Nirvana/Life after death. But this is also where I feel we are right now, only we are looking through filters, that don't allow us to percieve it all. I love the way he describes, in a few of the books, how someone can not allow themselves to see or recieve the spiritual world, despite it being right in front of them. The words of Jesus "He who has ears, let him hear" seem to me to be getting at the same idea. That two people will hear very different things in the same message. Some of us perceive blessings and miracles in the world, while others witness trials and challenges in the same story. In Prince Caspian, only Lucy can at first see Aslan, the others do not let themselves, for they would then have to reflect on their ideas about themselves. How often do we pull the wool over our own eyes, so we can continue in ignorance? I think of the seven deadly sins as being the seven delusions that divert us from true contentment, rather than actions to be judged by an external God. (one website described them as transgressions which are fatal to spiritual progress) Narnia shows the characters being sidetracked from their journey, and from what they know to be truth. I will definitely be reading these books again someday.
(on a side note, understanding my profile , helps me understand why I look for the abstract message in a lot of books. I think my analysis, killed my husbands enjoyment of Narnia as a story)