Literally, “philomythus” means “lover of myths”. But I guess that doesn’t really explain why I chose this for the name of my blog.

I have always been a big fan of C.S. Lewis, since reading the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid and Lewis’ apologetic titles later on. I also really liked J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (the books before the movies…it’s interesting that both of these book series have recently spawned movie series so close to each other. I guess I’m not the only one to have found so much interest in the books). I had heard that there may have been some connection or acquaintance between Lewis and Tolkien, but I was never certain what that was. So to learn more about Lewis, I decided to read his biography, and ended up reading The Narnian by Alan Jacobs which is not a biography exactly, but more an understanding or explanation of Lewis’ development of thoughts and philosophies in his writings and specifically in the Chronicles of Narnia. After reading into Lewis’ university days, he does meetup with Tolkien, and it turns out that Tolkien was instrumental in Lewis becoming a Christian.

Anyways, so the specific reference is in a poem that Tolkien writes to Lewis titled Mythopoeia in which Tolkien calls himself “Philomythus” (“lover of myths”) and Lewis is “Misomythus” (“hater of myths”). This was before Lewis become a Christian and before he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. Through their conversations and friendship Lewis came to an acknowledgement of God (albeit, intially grudgingly, “kicking and screaming” was the way Lewis put it) and ultimately a relationship with Christ.

The reason I picked Philomyth.us as the name of my blog is in reference to the thought process in Lewis’ acceptance and eventual defense of Christianity. The author of The Narnian explains how Lewis came to understand that truth was not limited to a simple description (physical or otherwise) of something. For example, water can be described as two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. This is a true statement, however, this does not wholly describe what water is. So it is insufficient to limit truth to only what we can see, touch or even understand. Consequently, “myth” is the acknowledgement of the truth that we have yet to comprehend.

What the heck does this mean to me. Well, for those that know me, you know that I normally see things as right and wrong, good or bad, without much opening for discussion or expansion of understanding. I think what I have been learning (albeit, grudgingly) is that there is more to “truth” than what I know about it. So my desire to become a “lover of myths” (in addition to enjoying good fiction books) is a confession that I need to become better at hearing the “myths” around the truths that I assume to know. Don’t get me wrong, Truth is truth, but I can’t assume or limit my understanding of the truth to what I know or understand, and I have to open my thoughts, thinking and understanding to other voices or myths around me.

Please feel free to comment or e-mail me, because that’s the whole point of this blog, not just for me to spout my thoughts but to generate a discussion which hopefully leads to my own better understanding.