Insides & Outsides // Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites

In Terry Pratchett's novel, Equal Rites, there's a scene that illustrates a thread I keep seeing in his writing. 

An older woman, a mentor-figure, is trying to teach a young girl how to use magic effectively. One of the things she teaches the girl to do is "borrow" the mind of an animal, like an eagle or bear, to use the animal like a periscope - see what they can see, sense what they can sense. 

The older woman warns the girl not to take control of the animal's mind, only to ride alongside it, but the girl ignores her warning. She seizes the mind of an eagle and flies away with a triumphant screech while her human body falls into a coma. But because she doesn't know the limitations of the eagle's body, it gets tired and falls to the earth on a remote mountain.

But the older woman tracks the eagle, brings it home and warms it again. Patiently she coaxes the girl's consciousness out of the eagle and back into her human body, and it passes from a coma into a restful sleep. 

The next morning, the girl—her consciousness shaped by days spent in the form of an eagle—tries to flap her wings to alight from the bed. The thump when she hits the floor brings the older woman to her room, and the older woman explains what happened:

"You thought it would be a fine thing to steal another’s body. But you must know that a body is like—like a jelly mold. It sets a shape on its contents, d’you see? You can’t have a girl’s mind in an eagle’s body."

For all his grouchiness toward religious traditions and authority figures, Terry Pratchett is on to something here. There is a profound relationship of likeness between the inside and the outside of a person: What you do shapes who you are, and who you are shapes what you do.

Jesus' teaching points to this same truth: 

"Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart" (Matt. 12:34).

He sees their words as a reliable indication of who they are—children of the Serpent—and their character constrains them so that they can only speak evil.

His teaching moderates Terry Pratchett's: where Pratchett sees mind (the inside) shaped entirely by body (the outside), Jesus sees actions (the outside) shaped almost entirely by the heart (the inside):

For each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from brambles. The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart (Luke 7:44-45).

This sounds pretty straightforward: Someone's actions (especially speech) are a reliable guide to who they are inside.

That isn't all Scripture says, though. Even for those who have been changed from death to life, whose insides have been renewed by the Spirit of God, it's still necessary to say things like this: 

Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting—all of which are out of character—but rather thanksgiving (Eph. 5:4).

And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph. 5:18-21).

These commands point to another element: who we are inside is determined first by whether God has renewed us to inward goodness, but second by our Spirit-enabled effort to cultivate inward goodness. Our effort is focused on practicing the behaviors appropriate to the inward character of goodness.

So while Terry Pratchett omits the importance of the inward renewal that only God can bring, he does offer wisdom on the second part of inward renewal. The outside shapes the inside, even if it isn't enough alone to renew the inside (Matthew 23:25-26).