Narnia: Puddleglum's Faith

*Spoilers for The Silver Chair*

The Silver Chair is the penultimate Narnia story and one of its famous aspects is the speech which Puddleglum, one of the characters, gives on the nature of faith. It's a great reflection on the nature of belief and many commentators use it as an example of Lewis' understanding of his own faith and particularly his arguments for the existence of God.

The Silver Chair is probably my second favourite Narnia book, with the Horse and his Boy holding the principle spot. It hasn't had a major film adaption yet, but did have a 90s BBC television series with Tom Baker giving a great performance of Puddleglum; the Doctor in Narnia, what more could you want? Puddleglum is perhaps the most imaginative character unique to the book, he is a Marshwiggle, a being found in the north of Narnia, and is very pessimistic. Like a grumpy and eccentric old man, he spends most of the book thinking up worst case scenarios but still never shys away from anything and faces tough situations head on. So for a character with a negative mentality it may be somewhat surprising that he gives the most hopeful speech of the book and proudly declares his faith despite overwhelming obstacles.

Within the narrative, a witch, the villain of the story, is trying to magically convince Puddleglum and his friends, named Jill, Eustace and Prince Rillian, that pretty much all they know is wrong. That all of the world is underground, that Narnia isn't real and that Aslan isn't either. It's a dark moment in the book so Puddleglum's direct rebuking of these lies is a victory and, alongside him destroying the magical fire supporting this forgetfulness spell, defeats the witch. Within the story it works well and reading it just as that leaves the speech powerful. But of course the deeper religious messages in Lewis works mean that this speech is also an exploration of faith and particularly a belief in God. Here it is in full,

“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”

"The made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones"

Let's break this speech down then, starting with a philosophical hat on. Puddleglum's argument here is that he, and his friends, can think of a world so much better than the underground world which they are trapped him. He argues that this mere idea of a better world is enough for him to go out and search for it. This is pretty similar the ontological argument for the existence of God, which states that as we can think of a universally supreme being then one must exist. It argues that something that exists in reality is better than it just existing in out minds. We can conceive of the existence of God in our minds and so the only thing better could be God actually existing in reality. Therefore, God must exist in reality. This theory has drawn much debate around it (see here for more - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmTsS5xFA6k) but it remains a popular argument for God. Puddleglum uses this idea of thought to be evidence of reality to argue that Narnia is worth looking for and Lewis uses his speech to tip his hat to philosophical theory he was undoubtedly familiar with.

"I’m going to stand by the play world"

Stepping away from philosophy (which often makes my head hurt), Puddleglum offers us an argument which we are probably more familiar with. He simply says that the underground world just isn't worth living in - there must be more to life than this. Have you ever wondered this? Maybe at the end of a long, tedious day when you seem to have done so much and yet nothing at all and you just wonder what you are doing and why life appears to be so boring or bad. Puddleglum has this view here, that life underground is so 'dull' than he will start seeking something else even if it doesn't exist - "I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia".

What's particularly interesting here is that Puddleglum never actually says that Narnia or Aslan must exist but rather that the idea of them is better than the reality he is facing. So you could use this speech to argue that it is best to deceive ourselves about how the world really is and live instead with rose-tinted glasses to a seek a goal which isn't real but worth pursuing. I suppose that this is like the idea of God-less religion, that it is still worth being part of a religion for the community, social action, support etc which it provides without actually believing in the existence of God which underpins it all. You can try and live as the best person you can be, but believe that this standard is just a human invention or an unreachable phantom goal. It's an idea but I don't think that it is what is really promoted in this passage.

As the reader, we know that Narnia and Aslan do exist, we know that what Puddleglum believes he might look for in vain can actually be found. There is an Overworld and so Puddleglum's belief in it is based on truth and fact, not just an imagined goal. He also puts everything on the line in his search, Puddleglum says that he will probably die in his search but will do it anyway. This is faith, putting all you have into your belief and you probably wouldn't do this for something you know is imaginary. I think that instead of Lewis arguing here for the benefits of God-less religion he is saying that even in the darkest times we can hold onto our faith and that our faith will always be superior to what a life without it could offer.

"I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it"

I suppose what Puddleglum is effectively saying here is that he is discontent with the world around him and so choses to follow a belief that there is a greater world out there - unhappy with the underworld he wants to believe in an Overworld. What's interesting here, and especially with the quote above, is that he doesn't actually give any arguments for Aslan's existence but thinks that is better to believe that Aslan exists or not. I think that there are two ideas found here, the rationality of faith and the idea that we expect something more than what is apparent, which if you don't mind I will look at each in turn.

So, apart from an allusion to ontological argument, Puddleglum doesn't actually pose any rational arguments for the existence of Aslan or Narnia. He definitely believes in them and has reasons for this, but doesn't give any logical arguments for this. So taking this whole speech as an allegory for an argument for the existence of God does this then mean that faith is irrational? Can logic prove or disprove the existence of God?

This is a big question which seems to have been around, in various forms, since the beginning of conceptions of divine beings. I won't attempt to answer it here because this has been done in various places elsewhere (although let me know in the comments if you'd like a post specifically about an argument or arguments for the existence of God). Suffice to say that after study I do think that logical arguments (like the cosmological and teleological theories) go a fair way to prove this existence of God but I don't think that they fully do this. I am a very logical person, a Vulcan you may say :-), but despite my thinking that we can't totally prove the existence of God I still believe in Him with all that I am. I think that God doesn't want to force us to believe in Him, which concrete proof of Him would do, and rather values our freewill. There's also the limitations of our own human understanding and given how little we know I don't think that we could even wrap our heads around God logically.

So is faith rational then? Mostly, would be my argument, logic points towards God but it is our faith which must make that final leap. Faith isn't a wild stab in the dark but a combination of factors, including reason but also feelings and experiences, which orders that we believe in something. That's why I think that it's fitting for Puddleglum not to use logical arguments here. He is admitting the trust he has in Aslan which goes beyond what his mind can think and how this trust and belief in centre of many things not just logic but experiences and desires.

Moving away from that quagmire which I could write about for years, Puddleglum's speech also points to the idea that our discontentment can indicate that we should be experiencing something else. As the reader, we understand that Puddleglum is discontent with living underground because he was made to live on top, in Narnia and knowing about Aslan, without this things he isn't complete. In the same way, Lewis seems to be arguing that our personal discontentment shows that we are in the wrong place. This doesn't have to be understood in a religious sense; being bored at a job could be because you need a different one where you can use your talents more or not being happy in a certain relationship could indicate that they aren't the right person for you. I know when studying, that when I become bored with a topic it is often because I understand it know and it is time to move onto something harder.

But focusing on believing in God and a life centred on following Him, we can use Puddleglum's speech to say that if we are discontent with a life without Him then the obvious way to change that would be to live a life with God in it. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that 'if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world'. This makes sense. I am against injustices so I yearn for a world of justice, I am sick of lies and so am meant to know truth, I despise violence and so belong to peace, I see the pain of loneliness and so rejoice in health relationships and communities. All of these things I believe can only be fully known through Jesus and so I stand by the thought that I am made for a different world than this broken one. Like Puddleglum, I too think that there must be more than life than this.

Thanks for reading :-)