First Bubblings
As you know, I am at The Kilns in Oxford, England right now as a Scholar in Residence for the C. S. Lewis Foundation. It has been an amazing week and right now I am having my morning coffee sitting where Jack (C. S. Lewis) would have been sitting in the Common Room. I came out here intending to finish reading Out of the Silent Planet but instead looked over at the bookshelf beside me and pulled out Boxen: Childhood Chronicles before Narnia. Douglas Gresham wrote the Introduction and in it said, “So there was a sort of emotional and intellectual gap in Jack and Warnie’s literary experience” (p. 8 in Boxen). Gresham was referring to the books available in the house which were too old (advanced) for them. Their parents had no taste for faery (English spelling) tales. So, they bridged that gap. Imagine that C. S. Lewis was only eight years old when he described power and the rise and fall of nations in ‘History of Mouse-Land’ (p. 30 in Boxen).
Interestingly, Jack and Warnie did not write Boxen for anyone but themselves, but it could be a leadership book. Here’s what I mean (descriptors in parenthesis are from me):
- King Hacom used his power well and used counsel (collaborative/open minded).
- King Bublish I was conceited and full of pride (humble).
- King Benjamin was popular and knew everyone (Relationship builder).
- Governor Leppi I was a great scholar, but cruel, foolish, stubborn, and weak (pretty self explanatory).
As I reflect this morning, my mind is going in several different directions. Douglas Gresham called Boxen the “tangible and readable first bubblings forth of the springs of literature that were, years later to be the source of a great river from Jack and a healthy tributary from Warnie…” (p. 10). We talk a lot about making sure we are teaching creativity to our children and that we are making space for creativity in adults, but we need to make sure we give everyone the opportunity for “bubblings” no matter what state of life. I, in my sixth decade now am bubbling over from all the new thoughts in my head. Oh, to be sitting here having coffee with and talking to Jack!
Byron's Babbles 
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