Mythic Eyes and the Mythic Life (as explained by both an orthodox rebel and an Original Orthodox Rebel)

I created a term years ago called "mythic eyes". A "myth" is a story that leads to some truth. If something is "mythic," then it either has this quality or the ability to spot this quality. "Mythic eyes" means being able to see the truths (the reality) behind the visible, physical world. Specifically in regard to Christianity, it is about seeing God in the midst of real life: His invisible attributes (Rom. 1:20) and His glory (Psalm 19). In short, it is a practical and consistent application of II Corinthians 4:18.

This idea did not come to me out of thin air. Obviously, it found its first anchor points in Scripture, but it was first elucidated through the writings of Oswald Chambers. The following is an excerpt from his book If You Will Be Perfect (pp. 223-24). Here he spells out the idea of "mythic eyes" in simple, straightforward terms.

-Jon Vowell (c) 2011

To be a son or daughter of God is to be free from the tyranny of the show of things. Adam preferred to take the show of things [instead of] the substance; that is, he preferred not to see that the "garment" was not the person. He refused to listen to the voice of the Creator behind the garment, and when the Creator moved quickly, all Adam could do was to hang on to the skirts of the garment, clutch at the show of things, and the human race has been doing it ever since. [...] The spiritual has been bartered because we preferred the natural.

The natural is only a manifestation of what is behind. If we walk in the light...as God is in the light, we see behind the show of things [to] God. We become the offspring of God by a regenerated internal birth, and when that regenerating principle inside takes its marvelous sway over the natural on the outside, the two are transformed into exactly what God intended them to be. That is the full meaning of the redemption, but in order to get there the natural must be sacrificed.

If I prefer to hug my Father's [outer garments], I must not be surprised at finding myself in darkness when He gives it a sudden pull; but if I let my Father take me up in His arms, then He can move His [garments] as He likes: "Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea" (Psalm 46:2). I am no longer caught up in the show of things. The saints who are alive when Jesus comes will be "changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (I Corinthians 15:51-52): all the show of things will be changed instantly, by the touch of God, into reality.