Uniting the Scarecrow - the Tin Man - the Lion

How does someone like the Wizard of Oz take over the land of Oz? In such a time as that, the people of the land live in fear and anxiety - though some prosper as they go along with the wizardry of the pronouncements of greatness.

Today I wondered if those three characters - the Scarecrow - the Tin Man - the Lion - are meant to be one character. I wonder if they are meant to show me who I am - who I can be - who I must be - in a time of a golden road leading to a bejeweled city of power.   I then wondered if it takes something like Dorothy to be that Lady Wisdom who brings these three together into a odd force able to topple and transform the ruling power of deception. Hmm.

That Scarecrow didn't know one way from another. How can we get there? Well, follow that way - or no - maybe you better go that way.  In a land that has learned to treasure pronouncements and claims to power and visions of grandeur, it can be easy to become like a Scarecrow who seems to be without a brain - seems to not know how to critically evaluate that which is deemed to be powerful and grand. The Scarecrow simply hung around and let the world go by - this way or that way. Nothing was being said - no comment was brought forth - the lost were left to go their lost ways - the advice that was being given was misinformation-  that kept people not knowing the way, the truth, the life.

Too often, the Scarecrow in me attempts to lead a life of non-involvement claiming, "Well I'm not sure what way is the way to go?" Mostly it is when I am a lazy, limp scarecrow unwilling to investigate and critically evaluate that which is happening right around me. It is much easier to listen to one opinion than let that one lead and guide me even if it is supported by nothing but air - or worse - hot air - or worse - bought air time. It takes a bit of work and time to look at the world around us and the mechanisms that seem to rule the day and then to evaluate how those mechanisms impact the world of which I am a part. Having a brain means being able to think outside of myself and my situation. It means being able to note how those around me have to live, so that, I am not consumed in a pattern of thinking that keeps me hung up on a poll of my own musings.

Dorothy disrupts the poll dancing of the Scarecrow and introduces a dilemma that this self-consumed, poll dancer never dreamed was an issue of the day. We need Lady Wisdom to confront our limp thinking and pull us away from the polls in order to start walking down the road that leads through a whole world of thoughts and insights and disagreements and new notions of reality that just may make us more fully human - But not completely.

That Tin Man was frozen in the middle of his swing. He could not follow through - he could not put his heart into what he was doing - there was no organizing center from which his life was shaped. He chopped wood - but why? Was he simply an instrument created to do that which someone in control did not want to do anymore. Therefore there was no connection to the rest of life. Chop. Chop. Chop. That is all his existence was. His life was so much so, that he didn't even know to get out of the rain because that is all that counted - Chop - Chop - Chop. What if he thought about others? What if deep in his heart he knew of those who counted on that wood? What if the welfare of others were a part of each piece of wood he split? The Tin Man had one purpose - chop wood. That was life that could only lead to death - worthlessness - expendability. Simply saying and thinking, This is what I do is one way to stop living. It is one way to become divorced from the community. The world will go by and I will simply keep chopping wood.

I must keep aware of the Tin Man in me. The one who goes about the day doing what I am asked or told to do - doing only that which is in my box - waiting for the next piece of wood to chop. Oh, it happens every day - chop, chop. Yet, I know that I am connected to a story that instills in my core values that make me look up and consider that which I would usually ignore. The heart of this story draws me into the plight of the neighbor - lifts my head so that I can see more than a routine that keeps me going. All of the sudden, the stranger - the ones at the edge - those who are quite contrary to my way of being, are taken to heart. Ha! Taken to heart. When that happens, there is no longer the routine of taking care of the business right in front of me. There is now a whole world to which my heart has become engaged and that is the oil that loosens up my life to experience more.

Dorothy disrupts all the heart-less chopping of the day. She steps into the life of the Scarecrow and becomes that which will enable a turning of the head - a loosening of the grip - a smooth movement out onto the road that will lead the Tin Man's heart to engage and embrace and take to heart a world in need of the life skills of this well-disciplined, determined ax man.

That Lion had a mighty roar - but no substance to it - no life that emerged after the initial burst of roaring wind. It is not as though the Lion did not see or hear things. Instead, the Lion would not, and maybe could not, move in and participate in all that life. It was too frightening to say something - what might people say back, Oh My. It was too frightening to confront others - how will they respond, Oh My. It was too anxiety producing even to think about raising a voice or making a move - what if they respond back, Oh My. The Lion lost the ability to draw up the power of being that makes all life worth its place no matter how the situation at hand reacts. The courage to be a beloved creature with power that could be used to disrupt other powers that attempt to rule had left him out in the woods - alone.

I often introduce myself as a coward - I am like the Lion in the woods. And yet, I keep learning that my voice - as small as it might sound in a world of booming voices - must be used. This is a voice that needs to be lifted up despite the consequences - it has a place - it is a part of how things change. It may not be a voice that roars - but it needs to be used to counter those voices that care little or nothing about the voices of others. A simply meow may be the voice that turns heads and changes the course of how things are going.

Dorothy disrupts the dis-couragement of the Lion by running into the woods to confront the Lion. The Lion sees in this one who usually would be food for the Lion's day, a voice of courage and action that faces down that roar that is meant to frighten her away. Then, she encourages that voice to have a bit of life behind the roar.

It is the power of the Spirit of God that unites that who we are (the beloved of God) to display ourselves as that Beloved one in the wildness and among the threatening agents of the everyday world. Dorothy (along with Toto) is that uniting power - that power that shakes up what is and helps it become that which it is meant to be. We are to be fully human. That means using our minds to face up to all the voices that try to lead us here and there and then discern which way we will go. And then, to listen again after we  think we have found the way. Our minds become united with hearts that avail ourselves to the world of others - their joys - their desperation - their challenges - their gifts. So now, with mind and heart - we begin to see how our humanity does walk a common path and our thoughts can be changed when we entertain a dialogue instead of a monologue. But then there is always the need for the Spirit to get us off of our asses - out of the woods of our self-contentment. - and begin to act. That usually is the part of the power of the Spirit of God we like to keep contained for we cannot control the events into which we walk - and therefore, we let fear and anxiety are left to rule us and guide us.

The Spirit of God - Lady Wisdom - has this ability to skip into our lives and invite us to face up to our calling to be truly and fully human. Yes, it may look like nothing but some straw and tin and mangy hair, but it promises to take us into the humanity we are created to be. In that place, we can each begin to face the beasts that attempt to rule us and distract us and leave us lost alongside the road between here and there. As that Spirit whips around us and leads us beyond the worlds in which we are willing to remain stuck, our true humanity may be seen in the simple move of Toto when that little dog pulls back the curtain as the great and powerful Oz goes on and on - even after being exposed - trying to convince everyone of the power and greatness that should be able to control everyone and anyone.

Sometimes in our imaginations and in our whimsical stories there is a bit of truthfulness we let ourselves miss as we move through the day-to-day realities that attempt to frighten us and control us and leave us less than that which we are: The Beloved of God.
TRRR