Between the Lines VI: Writing to change the world
What David Darke in Holy War wants to do is produce journalism that changes the news. He calls it prophetic journalism. It means writing about people and events in such a way that things like manipulation of a nation’s morals and judgment by a foreign actor – or, if we take the current news, an atrocity like Russia-Ukraine or Israel-Palestine – doesn’t happen, or happens less frequently, or is less severe. Darke believes he can help keep America safe if he can inspire his readers to adopt a more compassionate, intelligent, perceptive, patient view of humanity. In this way he can bring more light to his country and the world through his journalism. It’s the point of the whole of Holy War, really: exploring what morally strong and spiritually astute individuals, whether journalists or otherwise, can do when it comes to influencing current events.
But let’s look beyond journalism for a moment. How does one lift humanity through other forms of the written word, such as fiction? I’ve tried to create characters in Holy War who have enough moral and spiritual capacity that they are able to touch lives beyond their own. These characters are not intended to be realistic in the classic sense. That is, I do not intend for readers to come away feeling as if they know Tamar or David or anyone else as well as they might know, say, a good friend – what they look like, how they dress, their telltale gestures, what their mood swings are like. These are superficial traits, and they don’t tell much about who a person really is. The appearances and personalities of human beings are not as important as their internal lives – what their deepest desires are, what they fear, what they hate and love and truly understand. Those internal states are what influence the world around them.
In the same way, the principal locations in the story – Tbilisi, Washington, Moscow (in chapters to come) – are not intended to be faithfully rendered portraits of these cities (although they are as accurate as I can make them) so much as environments for demonstrating the power of moral and spiritual thought. There is enough detail to get characters from point A to point B, but little else. As with the people, I don’t want to draw a lot of attention to the physical surroundings. The mental world is where the action is.
The plot of Holy War exists for the same reason. There is a definite story arc, but its purpose is not so much to entertain, or to engross the reader in a realistic physical environment, as to form a structure for grasping the mental journey of Tamar and David and other characters, to witness some of how people can shape their world through moral and spiritual struggle. This is why, for example, I ran into problems (see Between the Lines II) when I tried to describe in detail the death of Tamar’s brother in chapter 2. The approach was all wrong – it shifted the focus from Tamar’s mental journey to the physical drama. This was misleading, and I had to make the correction before I could move on.
I don’t pretend that my approach is the only or best way to do this. It’s just the way I see things. I want the reader to focus as much as possible on the moral and spiritual currents running through the world, on the reality under the surface of what we see and hear, because I believe that is where people truly live and move, who they truly are, and, frankly, who a community and nation truly are. The physical not only reflects the mental, it’s determined by the mental. We live in a mental world. That to me is where the drama is.
To write effectively about moral and spiritual truth, to bring to the page some sense of its power, you have to be aware of the reader. In biblical words, you have to “write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it” (Habakkuk 2:2). I want to write words that inspire in the reader hope, love, grace, peace, joy, and through those qualities to bring some measure of healing to the world.
What about evil? Basically, my intention is to expose it, including its nature and methods, as much as possible without turning it into a threat. This isn’t easy, as witness the way journalists today struggle with how to cover some of the most virulent actors on the world stage. To expose evil without increasing fear is easier said than done, but what choice do we have except to figure out a way to do this? Evil is not entertainment or even “news.” It needs to be neutralized so it can destroy itself.
There’s no formula for doing this. Ultimately, both writers and readers need to get beyond words and prove truth in their lives. I experienced a small example of the power of this approach in my healing of a fever as described in Between the Lines II. If you and I prove, in healing, the reality and power of hope, love, grace, peace, joy, integrity, patience, wisdom, we have brought the internal into the external world. That goes beyond storytelling, but storytelling can help to lead the way.
This all may sound far beyond what we can accomplish today, but we need to start somewhere. I want to touch readers where they pray – not only deep in the heart but deep in the soul. I believe we can change not only the news but the world if we do this right.