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On Pacifism, Lewis, and personal interest
Jul. 8th, 2011 01:58 amFirstly, CS Lewis and Pacifism: A Failure of the Imagination? And I'll add that question mark, because if it is not in the title, it is certainly in my own head and reading of that article. But I do admit to laughing at the opening paragraph:
Whenever one disagrees with C.S. Lewis, there is sure to be much fear and trembling. I am a Christian today in large part due to Lewis’ writing, and, if he had the opportunity to respond to me on the subject of pacifism, I suspect I would meet the long shadow of the Great Knock! A fearsome idea if there ever was one.
Anyone who's hung around Slacktivist/Slacktiverse for any amount of time probably remembers from recent or distant history some time when someone argued against Kit with "But according to C. S. Lewis--!" and was met with a steely glare, followed by a lengthy, well thought-out, considerate, and devastating explanation of why, Precisely, that does not matter to the argument at hand. They may even, like myself, remember it with a smile! What they probably don't remember with a smile is the ensuing slugfests during which people would tell Kit that she was being overly emotional, that she Just Didn't Get It, that she was wrong because THEY understood Lewis, that she was simply misconstruing his position on this/everything, and in which Kit and those agreeing with her got increasingly frustrated and tempers frayed on all sides.
The other night, I was going through a bookshelf, trying to put off sleep a little longer, and found The Great Divorce. When I was younger, maybe... oh, I don't know. Was it two years back I found that, or only one? Either way, it seems like longer. Time is slipping through my fingers, these days-- and yet, the days drag, and the tally lingers. Anyway. I remember taking great comfort from that book. Thinking on the idea that one had to choose Hell. That forgiveness was, truly, always available to those who could forsake that part of their spirit which had led them wrong, or at least be humble to their own flaws. I loved the metaphors, and always took the lizard which was slain to be an analogy to mental illness - the voice whispering in your ear, telling you any number of horrible things. Unique in a way, and certainly interesting, but overall rather harmful, in this present world we lived in - but transformed, in Heaven, to something beautiful and glorious. That passage filled me with hope, and I seem to remember tearing up, reading it.
Then there's things like his passing slight of 'liberal theology.' And any number of other things that I now cannot recall, and my wondering, foolishly, on the morn, how Lewis might describe me. And then instinctively flinching from that answer, because I am a bisexual monogamous female who wears terribly androgynous clothing/hair, doesn't wear makeup or jewelry, is argumentative and headstrong towards authority figuresmore often than I care to admit and a vegetarian (I seem to remember him taking a rather derisive tone of vegetarians) and a pacifist (of sorts) and overall, the sort of person who I cannot help but think his initial reaction to would be pretty much "...gah. No." I'd like to think that on further conversation, I might at least persuade him of my humanity, but then my flight of fancy comes crashing to the ground and I realize hey it doesn't matter. He's someone who has no bearing on my life right now, and even if he was still alive this would be the case, and really? I stop trying to please my dad, grow to the point where I am not trying to please my friends... so the psyche shifts to an admired author. Brain you need to stop this.
Anyway. I have come to the conclusion that Paul's advice is the best, still. Echoed by Fred Clark and many others, it boils down to this:
Test everything; hold onto the good."
When this body breathes its last, it is not Clive Staples Lewis I will need to answer to. I doubt that Christ will ask me "Ah, but did you consider before joining the rally that Lewis would not have approved?" He may very well ask "When you joined the rally, how conscious of an effort did you make to ignore your conscience?" or "When you turned away from the rally for idle entertainment elsewhere, how were you showing Love, to your neighbor or to God?" I pray, on that day, that I will have the answers to more of my life than I do now. But in the meantime, priorities are priorities, and I will continue to seek answers wherever they lie, the writings of Lewis included. Test everything; hold onto the good.
I have other insecurities and issues and flailings to do, but none of them really belong here, so I shall leave it and attempt to get some sleep.
Whenever one disagrees with C.S. Lewis, there is sure to be much fear and trembling. I am a Christian today in large part due to Lewis’ writing, and, if he had the opportunity to respond to me on the subject of pacifism, I suspect I would meet the long shadow of the Great Knock! A fearsome idea if there ever was one.
Anyone who's hung around Slacktivist/Slacktiverse for any amount of time probably remembers from recent or distant history some time when someone argued against Kit with "But according to C. S. Lewis--!" and was met with a steely glare, followed by a lengthy, well thought-out, considerate, and devastating explanation of why, Precisely, that does not matter to the argument at hand. They may even, like myself, remember it with a smile! What they probably don't remember with a smile is the ensuing slugfests during which people would tell Kit that she was being overly emotional, that she Just Didn't Get It, that she was wrong because THEY understood Lewis, that she was simply misconstruing his position on this/everything, and in which Kit and those agreeing with her got increasingly frustrated and tempers frayed on all sides.
The other night, I was going through a bookshelf, trying to put off sleep a little longer, and found The Great Divorce. When I was younger, maybe... oh, I don't know. Was it two years back I found that, or only one? Either way, it seems like longer. Time is slipping through my fingers, these days-- and yet, the days drag, and the tally lingers. Anyway. I remember taking great comfort from that book. Thinking on the idea that one had to choose Hell. That forgiveness was, truly, always available to those who could forsake that part of their spirit which had led them wrong, or at least be humble to their own flaws. I loved the metaphors, and always took the lizard which was slain to be an analogy to mental illness - the voice whispering in your ear, telling you any number of horrible things. Unique in a way, and certainly interesting, but overall rather harmful, in this present world we lived in - but transformed, in Heaven, to something beautiful and glorious. That passage filled me with hope, and I seem to remember tearing up, reading it.
Then there's things like his passing slight of 'liberal theology.' And any number of other things that I now cannot recall, and my wondering, foolishly, on the morn, how Lewis might describe me. And then instinctively flinching from that answer, because I am a bisexual monogamous female who wears terribly androgynous clothing/hair, doesn't wear makeup or jewelry, is argumentative and headstrong towards authority figures
Anyway. I have come to the conclusion that Paul's advice is the best, still. Echoed by Fred Clark and many others, it boils down to this:
Test everything; hold onto the good."
When this body breathes its last, it is not Clive Staples Lewis I will need to answer to. I doubt that Christ will ask me "Ah, but did you consider before joining the rally that Lewis would not have approved?" He may very well ask "When you joined the rally, how conscious of an effort did you make to ignore your conscience?" or "When you turned away from the rally for idle entertainment elsewhere, how were you showing Love, to your neighbor or to God?" I pray, on that day, that I will have the answers to more of my life than I do now. But in the meantime, priorities are priorities, and I will continue to seek answers wherever they lie, the writings of Lewis included. Test everything; hold onto the good.
I have other insecurities and issues and flailings to do, but none of them really belong here, so I shall leave it and attempt to get some sleep.
