C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 70.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friendship (2nd Love, Part 6)
The mark of perfect Friendship is not that help will be given when the pinch comes (of course it will) but that, having been given, it makes no difference at all. 
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 70.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 70.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friendship (2nd Love, Part 5)
That is why those pathetic people who simply “want friends” can never make any. The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends. 
Where the truthful answer to the question Do you see the same truth? would be “I see nothing and I don’t care about the truth; I only want a Friend,” no Friendship can arise—though Affection of course may. There would be nothing for the Friendship to be about; and Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travellers.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 66-67.
Where the truthful answer to the question Do you see the same truth? would be “I see nothing and I don’t care about the truth; I only want a Friend,” no Friendship can arise—though Affection of course may. There would be nothing for the Friendship to be about; and Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travellers.C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 66-67.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friendship (2nd Love, Part 4)
Something is going on at this moment in dozens of ward-rooms, bar-rooms, common-rooms, messes and golf-clubs. I prefer to call it Companionship—or Clubbableness. This Companionship is, however, only the matrix of Friendship. It is often called Friendship, and many people when they speak of their “friends” mean only their companions. But it is not Friendship in the sense I give to the word.
By saying this I do not at all intend to disparage the merely Clubbable relation. We do not disparage silver by distinguishing it from gold.
Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 65.
By saying this I do not at all intend to disparage the merely Clubbable relation. We do not disparage silver by distinguishing it from gold.Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 65.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Friendship (2nd Love, Part 3)
Lovers are always talking to one another about their love; Friends hardly ever about their Friendship. Lovers are normally face to face, absorbed in each other; 
Friends, side by side, absorbed in some common interest. Above all, Eros (while it lasts) is necessarily between two only. But two, far from being the necessary number for Friendship, is not even the best. And the reason for this is important.... In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets.... Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 61.
Friends, side by side, absorbed in some common interest. Above all, Eros (while it lasts) is necessarily between two only. But two, far from being the necessary number for Friendship, is not even the best. And the reason for this is important.... In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets.... Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend.C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 61.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friendship (2nd Love, Part 2)
To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it. We admit of course that besides a wife and family a man needs a few “friends.” But the very tone of the admission, and the sort of acquaintanceships which those who make it would describe as “friendships,” show clearly that what they are talking about has very little to do with that Philia which Aristotle classified among the virtues... C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; Harcourt Brace: 1991) 57-58.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Site Under Construction
I apologize for the delay in this "daily" reading website. Jack would not be impressed with me! The good news is that I've been reading lots of Lewis and have lots of daily readings planned out; I just haven't had enough computer time in the last few weeks to get them posted.
Daily readings from C.S. will resume this week. Please keep checking. Thank you for your patience.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Affection (1st Love, Part 4)
...Friends and lovers feel that they were ‘made for one another’.... By having a great many friends I do not prove that I have a wide appreciation of human excellence. You might as well say I prove the width of my literary taste by being able to enjoy all the books in my own study. The answer is the same in both cases — ‘You chose those books. You chose those friends. Of course they suit you.’ The truly wide taste in reading is that which enables a man to find something for his needs on the sixpenny tray outside any secondhand bookshop. The truly wide taste in humanity will similarly find something to appreciate in the cross- section of humanity whom one has to meet every day. 
In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then to smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who ‘happen to be there’. Made for us? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; HarperCollins: 2002) 45, 46.
In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then to smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who ‘happen to be there’. Made for us? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed.C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960; HarperCollins: 2002) 45, 46.
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