Article 1 - The Appropriateness of Fire

Young and mature groups alike use fire ritualistically, as a focal point for exchange of ideas and song. Whether Scout/Guide Troop or Executives on an "Outward Bound" course, a gathering around a fire will cement bonds at a deeper emotional level than the more formalised and prosaic rituals of training and discussion (the classroom, the clubhouse). Competences will still be transferred, narratives exchanged; but the attractions of the flame and the music speak to something more fundamental in our human makeup.

One of the most familiar and powerful metaphors in the English language is the equation of fire with language. The imagery of "tongues of fire" and "licking flames" makes a clear visual association between the shape, colour and motion of fire and the physical organ of speech itself. The link is extended through the abstract use of "tongue" as language.

A more fundamental association is the one drawn between fire and change. Fiery destruction is often redeemed by rebirth (as of the Phoenix) and the notion of burning is thus presented as a continuous process of ending and beginning, of transformation, one's passing from one state and the attainment of another. In ancient Greece, fire was considered to be one of the four basic elements, the substances from which all things were composed, with fire as the life-force coursing through the other states of matter. The philosopher Heraclitus maintained, in turn, that change was the basic state of the universe, with all matter and life the conduits for a burning life-force that flowed through everything, at once consuming and creating.

One of the greatest Greek myths is that of Prometheus, who took fire from the Gods and brought it to humans; his theft earned him a terrible punishment (chained to a rock, his liver daily eaten by an eagle and growing back overnight), thus equating this appropriation of fire with the original sin of Christianity. The stealing of fire is common in the myths of many other cultures; it is a basic human idea that flame is precious and contains the essence of life itself - the power to destroy and create that equates, at a philosophical level, with the ability to change things.

Emotional responses to fire oscillate, like our disposition to change, between those most basic of human feelings, fear and attraction. We fear destruction (and pain) but embrace warmth and light, the sustaining and creating aspects of flame. Back at the campfire, groups often sing a lovely round which evokes teamwork and gives a sense of achievement and harmony (as long as everyone comes in at the right time):-

• Campfire's burning, campfire's burning,
• Draw nearer, draw nearer,
• In the gloaming, in the gloaming,
• Let us sing and be merry

The subject, though, is fire; and to emphasise our respect, we recall the counterbalance to this celebratory rhyme. Same tune, different lyrics (sometimes in specific reference to London's Great Fire):-

• Fire's [London's] burning, Fire's  [London's] burning,
• Crickle-crackle, crickle-crackle -
• Fire-fire! Fire-fire!
• Pour on water, pour on water!

Fire is indeed fundamental to human culture and is divine or sacred to many peoples. Fire personified as a god is a characteristic feature of many sun-worshiping religions, fire being considered the earthly representative or type of the sun. The most revered cult in Rome was that of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, whose dedicated virgins guarded the holy fire. The connection between any remote Greek colony and Athens, the city at that culture's heart, was embodied in the colony's central fire, kindled at the time of settlement from a brand brought from the mother city. The Olympic flame is a symbol whose force and function serve to bridge even time, uniting today's nations, competing in sport, with those ancient and disparate colonies of Greece and their symbolic preservation of the dual link with the real city of their origin, Athens - and with the mythological site of their divine creation, Mount Olympus.

The English phrase "home and hearth" likewise shows how basic fire is to the concept of shelter and community. The association with communication is reinforced yet again, the notion of fire as a place for exchange of ideas coming to the fore. It is also worth noting that the social concept of the bonfire actually derives from the Old English "bone-fire," or funeral pyre. Great ceremonial burnings, in turn, link to the idea of signal fires that could unite far-flung communities with signs of both celebration and warning.

Our awe is understandable. Fire: communication and transformation; energy, passion, life-force; danger, pain, destruction; creation, light, heat and joy. Its changes can be agonising (loss of life, limb, home) or ecstatic (our prey is cooked for our more pleasurable consumption, our internal combustion engines take us where we want, our tribal connection is established, our safety from invaders is strengthened, we are inspired). This potent image is embedded in the popular consciousness at every level.

For example, the title of the 1957 song "Great Balls of Fire," written by Otis Blackwell and sung by Jerry Lee Lewis, is actually derived from Southern American slang that refers to the fire of Pentecost, the moment in the Acts of the Apostles when the Holy Ghost manifested Himself in "cloven tongues like as of fire" and the inspired Apostles spontaneously spoke and understood different languages. The exclamation "Goodness gracious!" in the lyrics is delivered flippantly but contains a literal allusion to profound moral and religious qualities.

The ideas of communication and vital change are united in Pentecostal Fire, one of the Western World's most familiar flame-metaphors and a memorable episode in that Easter story of death and resurrection. The New Testament recounts how, upon the Pentecost ("the fiftieth day" after Passover and soon after the Ascension), "tongues of fire" descended on the heads of the assembled Apostles, accompanied by their miraculously speaking in tongues unknown to them, but recognisable to others in the room as foreign languages.

Acts 2:1: "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

As the supernatural term "spirit" comes from the more physical word for "breath" or "vapour," so the term "tongues of fire" conveys an image of increased passion and radiance, here applied to powers of speech and communication. Acts thus describes the phenomenon in terms of a "miracle of communication" that enables people from different cultures to understand each other.

Still our "love-hate relationship" with fire (and change, and communication) persists. Some authorities consider the Pentecost story a positive counterbalance to the grim Old Testament tale of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). The hitherto confluent languages of humanity were divided by God as a punishment for the Tower's builders' vaunting ambition, resulting in an alienation and confusion (hence "babble") as terrible, in its way, as loss of Eden with our innocence or Prometheus' unending agony. As the New Testament, however, so often sheds light on the darker morality of the Old, so the tongues and nations of humanity are reunited at Pentecost, enabling the wide proclamation of the Gospel by the inspired and empowered Apostles.

Most Christians recognise the event of Pentecost as the birth of a global Church, whereby nations divided by language could be united in belief. The associations between Pentecostal evangelism and the quest by champions within companies for beneficial culture change is a useful one. It may also be pertinent to recall that elsewhere in the New Testament Paul describes the experience as speaking in an "unknown tongue," and goes on to discourage spontaneous speaking in tongues - lest opponents think the practitioners "mad" (1 Cor 14:23, 27). Such scepticism is not unfamiliar today.