In Media Res aka What's Going On Here?

I recently heard about an author who writes about life in a post-WWII rural English village. I've enjoyed similar books so I picked up a couple of them from the library and dove in. The first one was well-written but a little quiet in its characters and plot. The second one, however, grabbed me from the first few pages, and I ended up enjoying it much more than the first. As I considered why I liked it better than the other (since they were set in the same time period, the same place, etc.), I realized it was because the second one begins in media res--it begins in the middle of the action. From the start, you are thrown into a village event without any lead up or introduction and meet character after character whose life is being affected by the event of the day. It is exciting and busy and full of life.

After this recognition, I had the thought that this is kind of how life is for us here on earth. Like many other religions, ours believes that death is not the end--there is life after death and we take with us, not possessions or prestige, but who we have become inside and any knowledge, skills, and talents we acquire. And like many cultures and some religions, we believe that our birth on earth was not the beginning. (For more information, see Professor Terryl Given's book that discusses many cultures that believe in a pre-existence.) In fact, we believe that before we came here, we lived with God, who organized a "plan of salvation and happiness" so that we could gain physical bodies and experience opposition, adversity, and form eternal families. With these kind of experiences and with help and healing from the atonement and love of Jesus Christ, we can one day have the kind of joy and knowledge that Heavenly Father has and be able to live with Him again with our families.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog Caspar David Friedrich

So those of us, born here on earth, enter the world in media res. (I am going to keep italicizing that phrase. I'm not sure why, but the fact that it is in Latin--and I don't know much Latin--seems to merit at least that...) It seems like we are kind of thrown into the middle of things. We aren't quite sure why we are here or where we are going, but we are trying to figure it out along the way. For some reason this whole in media res idea makes me think of the painting to the right. For me, it just evokes a kind of "What on earth am I doing here & what am I supposed to do with this" attitude. But the man's stance seems to suggest he wants to figure it out.

I am so thankful for the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the word of God to living prophets and the answers I have received to my own questions and prayers. They help me to see why I am here "in the middle" of things.

Elin
- Who walked outside into 70 degree Fahrenheit temperatures and feels really good about it. Bring on the autumn and the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins!

If you want to read more about this topic, here are a couple of people who say it better than I can:

“The course of our mortal life, from birth to death, conforms to eternal law and follows a plan described in the revelations as the great plan of happiness [. . .]

“The plan of redemption, with its three divisions, might be likened to a grand three-act play. Act 1 is entitled ‘Premortal Life.’ The scriptures describe it as our first estate (see Jude 1:6; Abraham 3:26, 28). Act 2, from birth to the time of resurrection, is the ‘Second Estate.’ And act 3 is called ‘Life After Death’ or ‘Eternal Life.’

“In mortality, we are like actors who enter a theater just as the curtain goes up on the second act. We have missed act 1. The production has many plots and subplots that interweave, making it difficult to figure out who relates to whom and what relates to what, who are the heroes and who are the villains. It is further complicated because we are not just spectators; we are members of the cast, on stage, in the middle of it all!” (Boyd K. Packer,The Play and the Plan [address to young adults, 7 May 1995], 1–2).

and

Gary E. Stevenson's talk Your Four Minutes