When the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy....
The Christian says, ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.’
Quotes from Mere Christianity, Part 45
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins 2001) 135, 136-137.
There has always been something in Lewis' writings that touches my deepest core. I find myself saying things like, "That's so obvious; now why didn't I think of that!" He seems to be able to boil the thing down to its essence and put it into modern thought. Thanks for starting this blog, Ken!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer, Welcome to Mere C.S.Lewis!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments on the quotes. Hope you continue to enjoy all that Lewis has to offer us.
Hi Jennifer, Welcome to Mere C.S.Lewis!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments on the quotes. Hope you continue to enjoy all that Lewis has to offer us.
In other words, I wish it were true, therefore it must be true.
ReplyDeleteEvolution "created" us so that we were capable of satisfying our desires to the extent that we might live and reproduce. But what makes yoou think that all of your desires must always be satisfied eventually?
Mr. Lewis, the universe does not owe you happiness. What nonsense!
Is it possible that "Adam's" first sin was desire, God knew this in his heart, so he made woman. He was 'put to sleep', in which sense for us would be falling from grace at that point in time, and when he woke up, he was dead but did not know it until God came along and he and Eve realized they now had a conscious. Conversely, to live again means to die to death in order to Walk in the Spirit, which is in, of, and around us always and forever. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we arise in The Spirit of Truth through the Lighted Gate of our Redeemer. Some say they see a Light when they die. I want the Light to Know me at that time. (granted, 'theory'). We have two choices ultimately in this world, to live in the Tree of Life on Fruits of the Spirit or munch on books, opinions, presumptions and assumptions.
ReplyDeleteThat's the point he is making. For the universe truly only knows our desires ultimately, but we keep trying to satisfying that which we 'think' will make us happy with earthly pleasures but the search is endless (look around) until one rests in peace. Thankfully now, one can rest in some modicum of relative peace and serenity before dying in the flesh. He had to be aware of these things or otherwise could not have written as much as he did, he had found that place in this heart . :-)
ReplyDeleteSo, this is confusing. First, you ask if something that no one believes or at least no one has argued for, is possible, which is fine, if you are into making opinions, presumptions and assumptions. Then you say that we have two choices, "to live in the Tree of Life on Fruits of the Spirit or munch on books, opinions, presumptions and assumptions."
ReplyDeleteHuh?
"Some say they see a light when they die"? But if they actually died, they wouldn't be able to report back to us. This is the basis of people's sadness at the death of a loved one. They will not be able to report back to us of their comfort, lack of pain, understanding of their purpose and the purpose of the process of life. We are all in the dark because anyone who comes back to report their death, is either delusional or deluded. A "near-death" experience is not death. Many of the recorded reactions and feelings about death can be explained physiologically by oxygen deprivation, not full-out, actual death. I wish I could be convinced, but if a vision explaining all came to me, I would assume that I was delusional. The are none so blind, but I believe that someday I will see and understand to some extent. I think this life is like the SATs for the next life which will have a more difficult and more fulfilling curriculum.
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