swishism

This, under certain circumstances,  describes someone well on there way to confirmed faith, future or fortitude.

There is a flip side to this truism though, it describes a kind of ignorant impostor:
subject.who.imitates.sovereign… hapless

Here’s how it caches out:

1. If the subject is NOT very good, but the sovereign is excellent, the subject can and should learn (hopeful)
2. If the subject thinks he is good and the sovereign is excellent, the subject can still learn, but a  slower and harder way (hopeful)
3. If the subject is truly good, he is merely imitating a truly wonderful Sovereign (hopeful)
4. If the subject is NOT very good and/or the “sovereign” is an unyielding fake, then they’re both without hope.

Characters from C.S Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, illustrate this well.

• Lucy is a hopeful subject of a hopeful Aslan
• Edmund is the hapless subject of a hapless, charlatan Queen Witch
• Edmund though hapless at the start, becomes the subject of a hopeful Aslan (though Ed gets a smaller crown at the end). Perhaps the space between hapless and hopeful should be called grace?

swishism entry imitate, master, mentor-mentee, Narnia, protege, relastionship, rulership, sovereign, student, subject