"The notes have been about myself, and about H., and about God. In that order. The order and the proportions exactly what they ought not to have been." Why do you think he ordered it this way? Do you agree that it is misproportioned in content?
"Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a hap- hazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them—never become even conscious of them all." (64)
Lewis argues that the reason for our grievances is our limited senses (that are few in number), which confuse and essentially harm us. Do you agree?
“Lord, are these your real terms? Can I meet H. again only if I learn to love you so much that I don’t care whether I meet her or not? Consider, Lord, how it looks to us. What would anyone think of me if I said to the boys, ‘No toffee now. But when you’ve grown up and don’t really want toffee you shall have as much of it as you choose’?” (68) Is this really the “terms” and is this entirely a bad thing? A good thing?
Is it bad that Lewis decided to stop writing? Does his comment about there being "no reason [he] should never stop" (59-60) a concrete argument against continued writing?
"I need Christ, not something that resembles Him. I want H., not something that is like her. A really good photograph might become in the end a snare, a horror, and an obstacle." (65) How his comparison of a photo of Joy to the actual person go hand in hand with having an idol instead of god?
Lewis talks about how H left and took memories and times she wasn't there for, is it the nature of humans of be able to move back to a previous way of life?
"But then of course I know perfectly well that He can’t be used as a road. If you’re approaching Him not as the goal but as a road, not as the end but as a means, you’re not really ap- proaching Him at all. That’s what was really wrong with all those popular pictures of happy reunions ‘on the further shore’; not the simple-minded and very earthly images, but the fact that they make an End of what we can get only as a by-product of the true End,"(68). In what other instances do/have people use(d) God as a "road" than approaching him as the "true end" that Lewis mentions?
"No sense of joy or sorrow. No love even, in our ordinary sense. No un-love."(73) Is this Lewis finally moving on? Or is he just shocked by the "business-like" way of death?
“On the contrary, every horizon, every stile or clump of trees, summoned me into a past kind of happiness, my pre-H. happiness. But the invitation seemed to me horrible. The happiness into which it invited me was insipid. I find that I don’t want to go back again and be happy in that way.” (60)
Can a person truly go back to the happiness they had before they meet or lost the person they loved?
what do you think of Lewis’ statement that “We could almost say He sees because He loves, and therefore loves although He sees”(72)?
ReplyDelete"The notes have been about myself, and about H., and about God. In that order. The order and the proportions exactly what they ought not to have been." Why do you think he ordered it this way? Do you agree that it is misproportioned in content?
ReplyDelete"Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a hap- hazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them—never become even conscious of them all." (64)
ReplyDeleteLewis argues that the reason for our grievances is our limited senses (that are few in number), which confuse and essentially harm us. Do you agree?
“Lord, are these your real terms? Can I meet H. again only if I learn to love you so much that I don’t care whether I meet her or not? Consider, Lord, how it looks to us. What would anyone think of me if I said to the boys, ‘No toffee now. But when you’ve grown up and don’t really want toffee you shall have as much of it as you choose’?” (68)
ReplyDeleteIs this really the “terms” and is this entirely a bad thing? A good thing?
Is it bad that Lewis decided to stop writing? Does his comment about there being "no reason [he] should never stop" (59-60) a concrete argument against continued writing?
ReplyDelete"I need Christ, not something that resembles Him. I want H., not something that is like her. A really good photograph might become in the end a snare, a horror, and an obstacle." (65) How his comparison of a photo of Joy to the actual person go hand in hand with having an idol instead of god?
ReplyDeleteLewis talks about how H left and took memories and times she wasn't there for, is it the nature of humans of be able to move back to a previous way of life?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"But then of course I know perfectly well that He can’t be used as a road. If you’re approaching Him not as the goal but as a road, not as the end but as a means, you’re not really ap- proaching Him at all. That’s what was really wrong with all those popular pictures of happy reunions ‘on the further shore’; not the simple-minded and very earthly images, but the fact that they make an End of what we can get only as a by-product of the true End,"(68).
ReplyDeleteIn what other instances do/have people use(d) God as a "road" than approaching him as the "true end" that Lewis mentions?
"No sense of joy or sorrow. No love even, in our ordinary sense. No un-love."(73)
ReplyDeleteIs this Lewis finally moving on? Or is he just shocked by the "business-like" way of death?
“On the contrary, every horizon, every stile or clump of trees, summoned me into a past kind of happiness, my pre-H. happiness. But the invitation seemed to me horrible. The happiness into which it invited me was insipid. I find that I don’t want to go back again and be happy in that way.” (60)
ReplyDeleteCan a person truly go back to the happiness they had before they meet or lost the person they loved?