Language and Creation are Linked
How reflecting on the Logos inspired my magic system
I’ve always loved how magic in fantasy could represent so many things: power, talent, materialism, and corruption. Magic, and how it’s used, reveal so much about a character and their world.
When I decided I wanted to write a story that featured a library, I began to wonder what sort of magic would fit into that world.
Naturally, thinking about a plot centered on the written word led me to think about The Word.
Words are the basis of my own creativity; I’m a writer, a talker, a storyteller. Words are important to me, and they’re important to God, too. The Word can refer to Jesus, the living Word, the bible, and the words God used to speak all reality into existence.
Logos is a Greek word used in theology and psychology. The simplest translation is ‘word,’ but Logos is so much richer in meaning. Logos refers to the spoken word out of a reasoned and well-formed mind, the highest expression of which is God’s Word in Jesus Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).
This mirrors Genesis 1, where God repeatedly uses words to create all things. Genesis 1:26 says, Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.’
Being an image-bearer means many things, one of which is that our words have power.
What the bible says our words are for
Warnings and encouragements about our language are all over the bible. Here are just a few.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 18:21
Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. Proverbs 16:24
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Colossians 4:6
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door to my lips! Psalm 141:3
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6
James does not mince words in that last verse. Our words have the power to condemn us. I wanted this to be reflected in the allegory of my magic system. That’s why the following quote was so important to me:
Swap out the word magic, for language. Swap it out for any created gift from God, really.
Language is already magical as far as I’m concerned.
I find it quite fascinating that I can have a new and original thought in my mind, which I put into words. Those words fly through the air into another person’s ears, which then become thoughts, and if I’ve communicated effectively, they are having the same thought I just did. It’s miraculous. I just put a thought into the electrical firestorm that is your brain.
Language is learned from the womb. Babies have dialects in their babbling. I’ve taught my children to sign their needs as early as 9 months old.
We want to communicate as early as possible, to be understood, and I think this reflects the heart of our creator, who does understand us.
How do words work in the world of the Liminal Library?
In Misshelved Magic, spells must be written and spoken aloud by a person who has magic. Magic is its own language, called Yaien. Spellcasting is part poetry, part chemistry, and totally dependent on the raw magic that’s a natural resource the creator put into the atmosphere.
God has granted us participation in the reality he’s creating, and while none of us can ‘ruin’ anything he intends to do, it’s up to us to cooperate with or oppose His work. That’s the decision I wanted to place before my characters: Will you cooperate with God, or decide you know best? Will you speak spells that are in accord with God’s moral law, or in accord with your own pride? When they cooperate with God and one another, the fullness of the good is realized, and when they let arrogance or fear rule their decision-making, it “sets the whole course of one’s life on fire” as James says.
And I pray that I use my own language to cooperate with God, and I pray the same for you.
What do you think of my magic system?
Memento Mori,
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The Lord will fight for you. You need only be still. Ex. 14:14