The Learned Man and His Shadow Hans Christian Anderson tells the story of “learned man” who moved from a cold country to a hot one, where he became listless, shrunken from the heat. It seemed his shadow also contracted, becoming smaller than it was in that stark, cold land where they’d come from. In the evening, though, as the sun went down, and the air cooled, and the lanterns were lit, the shadow spread onto the walls, coming to life again. On these evenings, from a home across the courtyard, the learned man could hear music. He never saw anyone there. Flowers grew, radiant and riotous, so he knew someone…
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The Temptations of Jesus and Our Inner Demons
Jesus Is Tempted Three of the four canonical gospels describe how Jesus was tempted by Satan. The first one written, that of Mark, offered few details. After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness. “He was in the wilderness forty days,” Mark wrote, “tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:11-13). Afterwards, he went off to start his ministry. Matthew and Luke offer a richer version. In their gospels, Jesus fasted for forty days, becoming “famished.” At that point, the devil appeared and offered three temptations. The first was that Jesus should prove himself to be…