The Importance of Naming

One of my favorite themes in A Wind in the Door is a theme that Madeleine brings up repeatedly in many of her books, both fiction and non-fiction. That's the importance of naming, of knowing and calling someone by their true name. Madeleine believes (and partly because I heard her say it so many times and in so many ways, I've come to believe it deeply too) that our names truly matter, and that naming someone is a true gift.

I think she means that in ways both big and small: using someone's name when you speak or write to them can make them feel heard of listened to; offering someone your name when you first meet is a gift (and receiving their name a reciprocal gift); but "naming" also takes on deeper connotations for her. The ability to name someone, as Meg named Mr. Jenkins in the story, is to let them know that you know who they are on a deep heart level, that you've recognized their uniqueness, or something about what makes them truly themselves, flaws, gifts and all. Naming in Wind also has a lot to do, I think, with calling forth the gifts of someone, helping them to realize their own strengths and calling even when they don't necessarily feel they are strong or capable of a certain task. So "naming" and "loving" (with all the corollaries of strengthening and encouraging) become synonymous for Madeleine.

I remember many years ago when the Bonastra group (a L'Engle listserve I joined about eleven years ago) was more active. We had a huge and very fruitful discussion about the importance of naming, both in Madeleine's books and in our own lives. I wish I could recall more of the discussion or had saved it somewhere (I wonder if it might be available in the site's archives?). I do remember one of the things we talked about was whether or not we felt strongly about our given birth names or other important names from our lives (nicknames, terms of endearment)...if we felt those names really represented who we are.

So how do you feel about your name(s?)

Angels and Snakes

I just remembered this little post that I started a long time ago... One thing that's interesting about A Wind in the Door is the way L'Engle incorporates both angels and snakes. Proginoskes doesn't look anything remotely like most poeple would imagine an angel looking. Art really has a way of cementing certain images in people's minds. The image of the cherubim with many eyes and flames, dragon-like as Charles Wallace observed, has a Biblical precedent but everybody always thinks of the paintings of winged humans...

I like the fact that the snake is a force for good rather than evil. Snakes have had a pretty bad reputation all through history, so it's nice to see something postive about them once in a while. Both seem to relate to not judging things based on their appearance, but looking deeper to discover that just because something looks scary, it doesn't mean it's necessarily bad.