I am reminded of a thought from Thomas Merton: " God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of Himself....if I am true to the concept that God utters in me,..I shall be full of His actuality and find Him everywhere in myself, and find myself nowhere. I shall be lost in Him, that is I shall find my (real) self. I shall be saved."
The only authenticity I believe we will have in the end, the only reality we will be able to stand on is that which was eternal, that which was truly of Him. The rest must go. Only the eternal will be able to pass through to the other side. When He looks at us with those piercing eyes in that day, I believe He will be looking for only one thing. The reality of Himself.
Thank you for this post. We need things like this in this day. All of our endless arguing won't do it. But perhaps words spoken in truth or prayers prayed in them can.
I especially like this insight: "Evil is real in the same sense that a hole in the ground is real. It is an absence. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas taught that 'evil is the privation of the good'.” It is the Divine design, thanks to the gift of free will – life is pleasant when we choose wisely and harsh when we choose foolishly.
That is a very true idea: the more sin you commit, the less full you are. Lewis seems to make that a literal idea in this book, and in reality it is stemmed in truth. Great article, thank you!
As a bit of a Tolkien scholar, I always love seeing where his thoughts align with Lewis. Reading this (and I absolutely love “The Great Divorce,” by the way), I was reminded of Tolkien’s orcs, how they were once fair elves, but evil twisted them into something lesser. The same goes for the One Ring - the longer one has it, the lesser one feels. Bilbo feels thin, like “butter scraped over too much bread” (Fellowship). So interesting… great article!!
I read this article or one similar some time ago, written by you. I remember I went to the Anglo library to ask for the book, but no luck. They didn't have it, and only three of the Aslan books. As soon as I have spare time (canine guests arrive for the summer), I shall enter the Gutenberg archive.
I imagine Lewis has an answer because he was a very smart man, but: it seems to me there is a difference between choosing not to do good (stepping over the beggar without helping) and choosing evil (kicking him as you do so.) Is it really just a difference in passive vs. active not-goodness?
What really landed with me here is how Lewis shows that heaven isn’t harsh at all. It’s simply real. The "ghosts" aren’t being punished. They’re just discovering they have no weight.
That’s why our own moment feels so risky. We’re taught that reality has no solidity, that everything is just preference and interpretation. But when nothing has weight, we don’t either. It ends up making us feel like those figures who can’t even press down a blade of grass.
The hopeful part I guess is that even the smallest turn toward the good gives you substance by gathering you.
C.S. Lewis’ writing sparks so many good conversations! Our story team just recorded a podcast about the significance of and our personal insights to “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” I’m excited to post it next Monday as a contribution to this good conversation!
But I think Lewis still leaves unanswered (unanswerable?) the question of "from where does evil come?" Evil may be the absence of good, the hole in the ground, but this feels to me to be an artifice that skirts the issue. The hole is there. We observe evil. It has presence in our world. But if God created all there is, then God … ?
I am reminded of a thought from Thomas Merton: " God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of Himself....if I am true to the concept that God utters in me,..I shall be full of His actuality and find Him everywhere in myself, and find myself nowhere. I shall be lost in Him, that is I shall find my (real) self. I shall be saved."
The only authenticity I believe we will have in the end, the only reality we will be able to stand on is that which was eternal, that which was truly of Him. The rest must go. Only the eternal will be able to pass through to the other side. When He looks at us with those piercing eyes in that day, I believe He will be looking for only one thing. The reality of Himself.
Thank you for this post. We need things like this in this day. All of our endless arguing won't do it. But perhaps words spoken in truth or prayers prayed in them can.
So interesting. Ive never heard of this book and such a cool counterpart to The Divine Comedy.
I especially like this insight: "Evil is real in the same sense that a hole in the ground is real. It is an absence. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas taught that 'evil is the privation of the good'.” It is the Divine design, thanks to the gift of free will – life is pleasant when we choose wisely and harsh when we choose foolishly.
That is a very true idea: the more sin you commit, the less full you are. Lewis seems to make that a literal idea in this book, and in reality it is stemmed in truth. Great article, thank you!
As a bit of a Tolkien scholar, I always love seeing where his thoughts align with Lewis. Reading this (and I absolutely love “The Great Divorce,” by the way), I was reminded of Tolkien’s orcs, how they were once fair elves, but evil twisted them into something lesser. The same goes for the One Ring - the longer one has it, the lesser one feels. Bilbo feels thin, like “butter scraped over too much bread” (Fellowship). So interesting… great article!!
The great divorce might be my favorite of Lewis's works
I read this article or one similar some time ago, written by you. I remember I went to the Anglo library to ask for the book, but no luck. They didn't have it, and only three of the Aslan books. As soon as I have spare time (canine guests arrive for the summer), I shall enter the Gutenberg archive.
I've also noticed it missing from bookstores here. Your best bet is ordering a copy online!
I imagine Lewis has an answer because he was a very smart man, but: it seems to me there is a difference between choosing not to do good (stepping over the beggar without helping) and choosing evil (kicking him as you do so.) Is it really just a difference in passive vs. active not-goodness?
This opens the door for several major considerations.
As an intern, we were taught to realize
That
Even if we had made NO
decision that a decision has been MADE,
There were consequences
NO, they did NOT say that we SHOULD make an overt decision.
Just that NOT deciding was a decision.
In this case, (I follow this every day),
I take every available opportunity to put this into action. (There are many!)
Usually, I can do "a little something" to acknowledge someone's humanity.
Most often I can do "something. " a meeting of our gazes, a slight nod of my head.
No, I'm not a saint.
Not a guilt-ridden obsessive compulsive annoyance.
There are at least several other considerations.
I'm so glad you pointed out these possibilities.,
We see this idea in a very prominent form in eastern philosophies like Advaita.
Test
What really landed with me here is how Lewis shows that heaven isn’t harsh at all. It’s simply real. The "ghosts" aren’t being punished. They’re just discovering they have no weight.
That’s why our own moment feels so risky. We’re taught that reality has no solidity, that everything is just preference and interpretation. But when nothing has weight, we don’t either. It ends up making us feel like those figures who can’t even press down a blade of grass.
The hopeful part I guess is that even the smallest turn toward the good gives you substance by gathering you.
C.S. Lewis’ writing sparks so many good conversations! Our story team just recorded a podcast about the significance of and our personal insights to “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” I’m excited to post it next Monday as a contribution to this good conversation!
Very nice presentation. Thank you.
But I think Lewis still leaves unanswered (unanswerable?) the question of "from where does evil come?" Evil may be the absence of good, the hole in the ground, but this feels to me to be an artifice that skirts the issue. The hole is there. We observe evil. It has presence in our world. But if God created all there is, then God … ?