At school, we're finishing up Amy Tan's, The One Hundred Secret Senses, which I've decided I love. Remember when I made fancy, applicable-to-life conclusions about Gilgamesh? I have fancy, applicable-to-life conclusions about this book too.
In this book, Amy Tan creates a world of ghost stories, and premonitions, and past lives, and dual identities. And, like any good story that involves other-worldly elements, she creates rules for how characters see the ghosts, experience the premonitions, relate to the past lives, etc. But for every "rule" in the worlds she creates, she provides an exception. Characters that are blood related turn out to not be blood related, or are semi-blood related. We find out that one character sees ghosts, except for the time that she thinks she does when she actually didn't. Premonitions are real, except for the times when they're not. Characters' past lives predict what must happen in the present ones-- except when they don't. Names are shifting and unreliable. The whole book continually asks WHO these people actually are-- and for the most part, we never really know for sure. Tan leaves us with very few SURE answers.
For me, the book boils down to issues of faith. The main character, Olivia, is trying to figure out who SHE belongs to; who her sister Kwan actually is; what Kwan is actually capable of seeing; whether or not her husband, Simon, really is her soul mate. She's looking for a name that will provide her with a history, an identity, a sense of place. But she doesn't get any conclusive answers. In the end, she must decide for herself. She must collect her answers from what she knows, from what she hopes for, from what she wants, from what she senses. She must take a leap of faith, and say-- without any real proof-- that this is what she chooses to believe.
My faith in God has been met with unwavering closeness from Him-- except... when it hasn't. He has answered my prayers in the ways I have asked Him to-- except... when He hasn't. I have felt resounding strength, and sureness, and confidence in my faith-- except... when those feelings have eluded me.
I don't believe God gives us anything as easy as proof. I think He rarely ever spells it out for us. In the end, we must collect our faith from what we know, what we hope for, what we want, what we sense-- what we BELIEVE.
If you're looking for a good book, read this one. The story-telling is unreal.
