Freedom from nouns

I mentioned last post about the book "The Shack." The first time I heard about this book was from a sermon from a guest preacher at my church. The sermon was in Chinese, with a little bit of Taiwanese sprinkled in, and I was only able to follow the first part of his introduction to the book. I got two things out of it: 1) The book detailed some great, scary tragedy that resulted in some kind of great mystery and 2) The book is originally in English and I should read it.

So I read it last week. Some of the things I found in its pages shook my preconceived notions, and filled me with a speechless wonder. In a good way. For that reason (speechlessness), seems that there is not much for me to say this week in terms of blogging. So I thought I'd share an excerpt of a chapter that particularly hit home for me, especially given my background.

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"Is that why we like the Law so much--to give us some control?" asked Mack.
"It is much worse than that," resumed Sarayu. "It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainty out of uncertainty. And contrary to what you might thing, I have a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they have only the power to accuse."
...
Sarayu smiled at Papa and then back at Mack. She began to speak slowly and deliberately. "Mackenzie, I will take a verb over a noun anytime. ... I am a verb. I am that I am. I will be who I will be. I am a verb! I am alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving. I am a being verb."
Mack still felt as if he had a blank stare on his face. He understood the words she was saying, but they just weren't connecting yet.
"And as my very essence is a verb," she continued, "I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules--then something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless 'I am,' there are no verbs, and verbs are what make the universe alive."

-Wm. Paul Young, "The Shack," p. 205-206