Jo Bower's Blog

I’ve  come to appreciate the concept of the essence of God being love. Always is the beginning with me.I read “In the beginning, God created  …  and I hear a voice saying, “Out of love, in the beginning, God created … .  From the first time I saw Star Trek on Television, I was hooked. I’d read my share of sci-fi and high school, but somhow this was different. As I consider writing sci-fi, I must consider  this:

If, even in fiction, we encounter other ‘beings’ we have to assume God also would have created them. And because God creates out of love, he would love them, just as he loves humanity. Therefore, God would have created a way to communicate with them, and if necessary, bring them to himself. Even in fiction that’s a useful concept. It leads to all kinds of allegorical stories.

The second assumption is God deals with each of us (and each Being) according to what they understand. And that is the basis for lots of stories.

My imagination starts with the idea for a new planet..Some friends work for Wycliff’s Summer Linquistics Institute. From them I learned the way to build a planet using questions to ask about the atmosphere, plants, soil, and so on. The planet’s make-up determines the charactistics of the Beings who inhabit it.  The Being’s nature determines how they would approach  and see God.  And the plot grows from there. Fun huh?

 The Cutezarians (The Tells of Cutezar) live in an atmosphere that is characterized by intense electrical storms. Everything grows from that. The Twins of Zae eat a plant that causes twins …  The Artists of Morvita live on a jungle planet and their approach to belief reflects that, and the Snow People of Shushimee are all about warmth, so they see God differently than the jungle people.

Joseph Campbell says we creat the image of God in our own image. But I think the same God is speaking to us according to each of our natures, and we express it out of who we are.