The End of a Good Story
Jack Heitman writes on the importance of stories.
Think about your favourite story - a favourite book, TV show, movie, theatre performance, or even an opera. Now, think about how you felt when you reached the story’s end.
A good story leaves us with joy, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment, but it is also often bundled with sorrow and loss—sadness that we must leave the world and characters we had come to be connected to. This distinct culmination of emotions is something that we all experience at some point or another, but how would you describe it to someone else? As you well know, not all emotions have names.
As a linguist, I am inclined to anchor the ubiquity of this emotion to the Greek language. Meta Eumythos [me-tə-yoo-mee-thoes] (μετευμυθοσ) – translates to “the end of a good story”, a story that leaves an individual with sadness and loss but also an overriding sense of love, joy, and satisfaction upon its completion. It is the story’s culmination and its impact - both a state of being and an emotion.
Stories, just like the Greek language and the gospels, are universal, and thus, so is the emotion of meta eumythos. But what is the importance of meta eumythos? And is there a meta eumythos to our Christian story? Stories are, after all, the fabric of human experience: the cloth of the past in which we weave our identity and the thread that sews our future.
Greek, the Gospel, and Stories: Their Universality
I shall not dare to delve too deep into the depths of early gospel hinterland. There are many great works that you can find that help us understand the universality of the gospels and Jesus’ story. Still, I want to emphasize this: Jesus sent his disciples on what many would remark as an impossible undertaking. Jesus tells his disciples in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” In ancient Palestine (1st century AD), four main languages were present: Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek; in the wider world, the diverse sociolinguistic forces of peoples and cultures would be even more dramatic. How remarkable is it, therefore, that a story centred on a minority of people could expand to become an inspiration for civilizations across the world, regardless of language? Greek certainly played its role as a lingua franca, so capable of spreading the euangélion, the good news, but the power of the story of Jesus’s life, its ability to topple empires, to grow from one man into a fire burning in the hearts of billions, cannot be so easily ascribed to, or defined within, a set of certain linguistic variables.
At the end of Jesus’s time here on Earth, we can imagine the meta eumythos experienced by his disciples. He was beloved, and as quickly as his light was spreading through the people of early Palestine, his “end” would seemingly come as sudden. The hope, like a seed, he placed into his followers was nourished upon his return from the grave; his rise confirmed what was promised. And so, Jesus said, according to Luke 24:44, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms”. The disciples, while at first frightened, knew him to be their Lord and, understanding the complete revelation of events, felt joy and amazement. This joy remained even after his ascension into heaven. Did they feel loss or sadness at his departure that they could no longer physically walk at his side, man to man? Yes, surely anyone seeing a beloved friend and companion leaving would feel so, but the key is that their joy remained, and so would he remain within them through the Holy Spirit and the True Presence. It was thus the disciples experienced the greatest meta eumythos of mankind’s history - past, present, or future.
One might say the end of the Gospels was the end of Jesus’ story; however, it was not the end of the Christian story, nor our individual Christian stories. Even after this end, the disciples decided to continue Jesus’ mission and spread his good news for the saving grace of all mankind. Where once was loss, what followed was love, joy, and hope—a story that transcends time.
Critical to this, we must also understand the universality of stories and of meta eumythos. Stories define the way we as humans view the world. It is how we remember our past and formulate our heritage and identity – from oral tales of long ago to the news, sports, and business stories of today. We all view our lives narratively – always ending or starting a new chapter, ever ‘turning the page’ towards a new day. Stories have long been how humans convey morality and points of learning, and they will always be so. Stories are indeed universal, just as the Gospels are universal. So, this story that began in the Old Testament, manifested in Jesus’ life, and continued with the disciples, goes on. Our Christian story continues. It is only fitting, therefore, that we strive to achieve the perfect ending, for all things do indeed come to an end. Sadness is intrinsic in any ending, but we must also ensure that this ending is crowned by eucatastrophe[1], and therein achieving meta eumythos. But how and what is the perfect ending? Where can that perfect ending be found?
The Meta Eumythos of Our Christian Story
Naturally, we may wonder about the state and vitality of our Christian story and how we can ensure it fulfils its meta eumythos. Fortunately, achieving meta eumythos is perhaps as simple as achieving our Telos—according to Aristotle, the end, goal, and purpose of any entity. Our Christian story must, therefore, first be divided into the Christian story of the living Church and our individual lives. Keep in mind that just because we are discussing the emotion that comes at “the end of a good story”, does not in any way make it fictitious – in fact, this emotion and state of being appears to be a fundamental truth of reality.
As the Universal Church is the living body of Christ, so must the mission of the Church continue to grow and thrive, even in today’s secular society. It must inspire growth, prayer, community, and, most of all, love. Through sharing the Gospel in both word and deed, acting as a lighthouse to all mankind, the Church achieves its meta eumythos day in and day out, one chapter at a time. The Good News is actively spread throughout the world, preparing us for the perfect end in Jesus Christ in the New Jerusalem.
The meta eumythos of our own individual Christian Story is something else entirely. Just as God has placed in each man and woman a unique grace (which is inherently good due to its nature as a gift from God), so does our own story vary from person to person. These differences are part and parcel of what makes this world so beautiful, but it also means it is up to us alone to discern our vocation: what God is calling us to do. Through the challenges, hardships, and distractions that are our journey through this life, still being able to achieve our telos while following the commandments is an almighty victory. The success of God’s will, the ultimate betterment of our society and our world, transcends beyond our time here on earth. Fulfilling your telos, your vocation from God, while remaining in unity and fellowship with Him, is thus the one true way to ensure that your life achieves meta eumythos.
Achieving meta eumythos, the undeniable truth that is given with any good story, enables our lives to benefit and inspire the world to come. We strive thus through Christ our Lord.
Jack Heitman
Jack T. P. Heitman is an American writer who lives in Scotland and attends the University of Edinburgh as a PhD candidate in Linguistics. He enjoys the pursuit of wisdom in storytelling, philosophy, linguistics, and history, and his goal is to inspire others through the written word. See him on X @jack_heitman
[1] A sudden and favorable turn of events in a story bringing tears of joy (Tolkien).
The month of October draw nears us with important Saints such as St Rule of the town of St Andrews to celebrate along with some interesting female Saints, such as St Tridunna with a wide area of veneration that includes Orkney, Caithness, Edinburgh and Forfarshire. This week contains the feasts of St Kenneth and St Comgan as well as the mysterious St Fyndoca. Most importantly, October is the month of our beautiful Lady’s rosary, which is an excellent time to reacquaint or start afresh with Mary and her prayer.