Integrative Essay

Catherine Kramer

C.S. Lewis: Integrating Reason, Imagination and Faith

Ribeiro

January 25, 2011

Word Count: 1,659

Integrative Essay

                Longing and desire is a part of every human’s experience. Examples of desire are everywhere, easily spotted in today’s music, literature, television, movies, and other media outlets. But these expressions of desire are nothing new to culture. For centuries people have been conveying their deep-seated longings. In both the past and the present, many of these desires have to do with love and romance. For example, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers had such strong desires to be with one another that when Juliet died, Romeo killed himself in hopes that they would be reunited in the afterlife. Additionally, for centuries poets have used their way with words to show love. But, as demonstrated by the physicality of many poems, a good portion of these people were motivated by lust, not love. Just as common in today’s society, they confused selfish sexual desire, Venus, with compassionate Eros. Modern day examples of this sexual desire can be found in current music videos and the pornography industry. Obviously, many common longings exist in this world, including the longing to be loved, accepted, and needed. But ultimately all of these longings point to the deepest desire and longing of all: the desire for God. Both C.S. Lewis and Cornelius Plantinga Jr. give their views on longing, desire, and the hope that comes from knowing our ultimate satisfaction awaits us in Heaven.

                First, C.S. Lewis spends much of his “The Weight of Glory” sermon on the topics of longing, desire, and hope. In fact, Plantinga pulls several quotes and ideas from this sermon in for his first chapter of Engaging God’s World. One of the first things Lewis points out is that “we are far too easily pleased.”¹ At first, it seems as though this cannot be true. When one looks at all the unsatisfied people in this world, and our own discontentment with our current state of affairs, it certainly feels like no one will ever be satisfied. But Lewis insists:

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.²

Thus, it is made clear that the things on Earth that we use to satisfy ourselves temporarily show that our longings are weak. In light of the promises of God for His people, Christians have so much more to look forward to, so much more to expect than the empty happiness of this world. As a result, there can be hope, because God’s people are not made for this world, and such as those desires will only be finally satisfied when reunion with God is found in Heaven. Lewis describes these deep desires as “the inconsolable secret…the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience.”³ He expounds on the idea of the inconsolable secret in terms of how this world cannot satisfy our desires: “The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret.”⁴ He additionally describes how there remains things in this life that offer hints of the splendor to come, that suggest the nature of our true longings: “These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but….they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”⁵ He also says that “at present we are on the outside of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure.”⁶ Using these word pictures as a guide, one can see that any fleeting satisfaction is only a slight glimpse of the everlasting joy to be found with God in Heaven. As Lewis puts it, “God will be our ultimate bliss,” but since “God is more than a Person,” humans should not “imagine the joy of His presence too exclusively in terms of our present poor experience of personal love,” because in this fallen state one simply cannot fathom the magnificence of Heaven and love of God. Thankfully, even though it is impossible to understand what Heaven will be like, it is very possible to have hope in the promise of it. Lewis puts it beautifully when he says: “The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.”⁷

                Plantinga also has many interesting things to say on the topic of desire and longing, and our subsequent hope in the life eternal. Like Lewis, he uses beautiful and useful imagery to help explain his points:

What Augustine knew is that human beings want God….God has made us for himself.  Our sense of God runs in us like a stream, even though we divert it toward other objects.  We human beings want God even when we think that what we really want is a green valley, or a good time from our past, or a loved one.  Of course we do want these things and persons, but we also want what lies behind them.⁸

With this he begins to develop the idea of humans and their misdirected longings. Although we all want God, we are prone to misinterpret our own desires and thus try to fulfill them in an incorrect way. This is illustrated in the aforementioned examples of lust and longing present throughout the ages in poems, plays, art, and music. But Plantinga takes longing a step further and gives ample reason for Christians to view longing as a key part of hope. He incorporates Lewis B. Smedes’s idea that “genuine hope always combines imagination, faith, and desire.” The final component, desire,  is important in hope, because when “he desires the good state of affairs he imagines and believes in…his desire may rise to the level of passion.”⁹ This passion, shown in individuals such as Martin Luther King Junior, combines using the righteousness of God and the hope that people have in God and his promised deliverance from this world of sin, which will signal the end of evils such as racism, lust, and theft. This promise is of a time when all will be united, regardless of class, color, or characteristics. This idea appeals to many people because this is what all desires point to: Heaven, where we can achieve unity with both God and others. Moreover, we Christians hope for shalom. In the strictest sense, shalom translates as “peace,” but in reality it means much more than our simple definition of peace implies. Shalom, as beautifully described by Plantinga, is “universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, all under the arch of God’s love.”¹⁰ Shalom is what God will restore the world to when He brings His kingdom to Earth after Jesus comes again, as it says in Revelation 21:

Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.’ They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.¹¹

This is what we as Christians hope for: peace and fulfillment between the Lord and His creation. This is also what we long for, because all our desires, in the end, lead to God and the everlasting comfort only He provide. This idea is crucial to the Christian faith, and as a result, both C.S. Lewis and Cornelius Plantinga Jr. spend a significant amount of time focusing on it in these writings. They provide copious insightful quotes to help explain the concepts of desire and longing, and how those are involved in the hope we have concerning our future in Heaven. Through rich imagery, both authors explicate the frustrating feelings of unsatisfied longings, the reason behind them, and the final solution for contentment. After realizing first, that we look all around for fulfillment only to come up empty-handed every time; second, that we cannot find satisfaction here because we are not made for this world; and third, that hope abounds because we know that once we are reunited with God in shalom, all our longings and desires will subside, as we have everything we could ever want in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

References

1.       Lewis, C.S. "The Weight of Glory." Oxford. Nov. 1941. Lecture, 1.

2.       Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” 1.

3.       Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” 3.

4.       Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” 7.

5.       Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” 3.

6.       Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” 8.

7.       Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” 7.

8.       Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God's World. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. 6-7.

9.       Plantinga, Engaging God’s World, 8.

10.   Plantinga, Engaging God’s World, 15.

11.   NIV Study Bible, Revelation 21:1-4.

Human Pain

In this chapter of Lewis's book "The Problem of Pain," he talks about the what, how, and why of pain. He defines pain and also gives its operations. As I have to expect, Lewis takes a topic that all of us are familiar with and brings new light and a fresh perspective to it. In this case, he makes pain feel different, though still very hard to deal with (he describes it as "anxiety that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spreads out like a desert, and the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery, or again of dull aches that blacken our whole landscape or sudden nauseating pains that knock a man's heart out at one blow"), it is somehow more understandable. He explains that "Christianity teaches us that the terrible task has already in some sense been accomplished for us--that a man's hand is holding ours as we attempt to trace the difficult letters and that our script need only be a 'copy,' not an original." In typical Lewis fashion, his enlightenment brings hope.
One part that really stuck out to me in this chapter:

"I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless fashion...when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down....I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times....For a day or two [I] become a consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back."

This scenario plays out in my life time and time again. I often ignore God when things are going well in my life, and I do not even realize how distant from Him I have become until something goes wrong and I find myself on my knees, praying to God with the frequency and intensity that I should possess every day. This was a great reminder to me to always rely on God instead of only when I need something.

Engaging God's World, Chapter 5: Vocation in the Kingdom of God

In this chapter, Plantinga makes very interesting points about what vocation means to us as Christians. He notes that it is not what we do, but how well we do it, and if we do it for God's glory. I found a lot of this chapter quite inspiring, because it is good to remember that no matter what you do, you can honor God through it. I really liked when he talked about being a prime citizen of God's kingdom. He says:
 "A prime citizen passionately yearns for the kingdom. A prime citizen has been redeemed far down in her spirit, way downtown in her heart, so that she deeply loves God and the things of God. She relishes in God's Word. She rejoices in God her Savior....In her best moods she longs not just for happiness, but for joy; not just for joy, but for God; not just for God, but also for the kingdom of God. Because of her enthusiasm for the kingdom, she doesn't merely endorse justice in the world; she hungers and works for it."
This is a picture of what I should be, what I strive to be in my life as a follower of God. I like looking at my spiritual and life goals in this way. It is a good challenge to try to live my life by focusing my kingdom on God's kingdom. I had never before thought of myself as having a kingdom of my own, one that must work with other kingdoms and under the domain of God's kingdom. As Plantinga says, “none of us reigns in isolation. Much of the time we only have our say in community with others….Success also depends on meshing our kingdom with the kingdoms of others—learning to share living space, for example, or to take part in good teamwork. Successful living depends especially on fitting our small kingdom inside God’s big kingdom, always recalling where we got our dominion in the first place.” This idea of each of us having our own kingdoms makes me feel a new sense of responsibility, because my decisions affect more than just myself. It is also a reminder to serve God through the way I live my life.

Man or Rabbit?

"'Can't you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?'" That is the question that Lewis tackles in this chapter. Throughout this excerpt, he gives several great responses to this question. One is "If Christianity should happen to be true, then it is quite impossible that those who know this truth and those who don't should be equally well equipped for leading a good life. Knowledge of the facts must make a difference to one's actions." He then goes on to explain how if a man was starving, you might give him a big meal that could kill him. Even though you were only trying to help, but because you did not know the facts, you ended up doing harm instead of good. Without the facts, we are "in the dark," and our endeavors are bound to end poorly.
Lewis also says "He is deliberately trying not to know whether Christianity is true or false, because he foresees endless trouble if it should turn out to be true....You may not be certain yet whether you ought to be a Chrsitian; but you do know you ought to be a Man, not an ostrich, hiding its head in the sand." I like how Lewis directly confronts those people who are aware of Christianity, think it may be true, but are too lazy and complacent to find out. Instead, they try to avoid the issue, "to evade of the Son of God," hoping that being a 'good' person will be enough to get them into Heaven if such a place exists. Lewis basically calls them cowards, because men at least take the time to learn and discern whether or not something is true instead of avoiding issue entirely.
Finally, I think my favorite part is when Lewis says: "The people who keep on asking if they can't lead a decent life without Christ, don't know what life is about; if they did they would know that 'a decent life' is mere machinery compared with the thing we men are really made for....in setting up 'a good life' as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence." That just really resonates with me. It is just hammers home why being a good person is not enough. Being a good person is not the point. It is not what we were made for.

The Inner Ring

I love how poignant and relevant everything in this is. When I first hear the word "clique," I am prone to think of high school and Mean Girls and constant fight to have the right clothes, hair, friends, and hobbies in order to "fit in." But the fact is that group exclusitivity certainly does not stay in adolescense. In fact, "The Inner Ring" serves as a warning about the future for college students about the circles that form in the real world, found in the workplace and beyond. No matter what your age, there is always an Inner Ring at play. It is in our nature to always be trying to get into the next ring, because when we are in a certain ring, we realize it is not as glamorous as it appeared from the outside. As Lewis says, "The circle cannot have from within the charm it had from the outside. By the very act of admitting you, it has lost its magic....You merely wanted to be 'in.' And that is a pleasure that cannot last. As soon as your new associates have been staled to you by custom, you will look for another Ring. The rainbow's end will still be ahead of you." I think it is easy to lose sight of this when we are fighting for acceptance into a certain Ring. We forget that if we are trying to make these friends simply for the status that they can bring, we will eventually be discontent and want to join a new group. But if we instead have "four or five people who like one another, meeting to do things that they like," then we have actual friendship, which "Aristotle placed...among the virtues. It causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world, and no Inner Ring can ever have it."
I think if we take the time to realize this, we can hopefully become aware of the futility of trying to enter the Inner Ring. As Lewis puts it, "You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left." In light of this, we can instead try to pursue relationships with people with whom we actually have things in common with, and be the best workers we can be in our jobs regardless of the invisible hierarchies that form around us.

The Four Loves: Eros

I found this reading very interesting. I like how Lewis points out the differences between Venus and Eros. While Venus is the sexual element, while Eros means "being in love," which can exist without sexual activity and which includes more than that. Venus also can occur when Eros is not present. Lewis shows how "sexual desire, without Eros, wants it, the thing in itself; Eros wants the Beloved." On a similar note, he points out that "without Eros sexual desire, like every other desire, is a fact about ourselves. Within Eros it is rather about the Beloved." I think it is interesting how this kind of love can make us forget about ourselves in favor of someone else, the one you love. It is important that we be able to focus on someone else, and to show love for them by putting that person before yourself.
But we must be careful about our love, which at times can consume our lives. As Lewis put it in the recording today, "love only ceases to be a demon when it ceases to be a god." We must not put our love for another person first in our lives: that place is reserved for God. We must be on watch so we do not fall victim to the overreaching that can accompany falling in love. Lewis talks about this also when he says, "When natural things look most divine, the demoniac is just round the corner." Therefore we must make sure we remember to put God first, both in the relationship itself and in all areas of our lives.
I found his thoughts on men "wanting a woman" to be very striking. His bluntness comes through when he says "one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes," in reference to a man who wants a woman only for the pleasure she can give, and not who she is. Directly following this passage, though, Lewis says: "Now Eros makes a man really want, not a woman, but one particular woman." I think this is a very appealing idea to women, because as we read in "We Have No 'Right to Happiness,'" they tend to favor monotomy. Thus, the thought that in Eros a man can solely desire the woman he has is quite encouraging in our view of men in love, as opposed to men in lust, who are more likely to treat a woman like a cigarette carton, whether he realizes it or not. In this way, I think that parts of Eros can help redeem parts of Venus.

Learning In War-Time

In my humble opinion, this is Lewis at his best. So much of my copy is highlighted because nearly every sentence is note-worthy. Some of my favorites, including both those we did and did not discuss in class, are:
"There is no essential quarrel between the spiritual life and the human activities as such. Thus the omnipresence of obedience to God in a Christian's life is, in a way, analogous to the omnipresence of God in space. God does not fill space as  a body fills it, in the sense that parts of Him are in different parts of space, excluding other objects from them. Yet He is everywhere--totally present at every point in space--according to good theologians." I like the idea that we can participate in human activities that are not strictly "religious" and still be obedient and still glorify God through these activities. I also just like his description of God in space, and how His omnipresence is all-inclusive, just as our obedience to Him need not exclude certain activities simply for not being "religious" or "spiritual."
"An appetite for these things exists in the human mind, and God makes no appetite in vain. We can therefore pursue knowledge as such, and beauty, as such, in the sure confidence that by so doing we are either advancing to the vision of God ourselves or indirectly helping others do so." I just love the idea of God giving us the appetite for learning, and therefore we can spend this time as students glorifying God through our work here and we can also help others through it.
"Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment 'as to the Lord.'" I think this is such an encouragement for college. Everyone asks us about our futures and expect us to have it all figured out. But as many of us have found, deciding on a career path at 18 is not the easiest thing in the world. It is nice to have these words to remind us that what really matters is if we are living our lives for God in the here and now. It is important that we get our futures over to God and focus on the things we can do to live for Him this very day.