This blog is in conjunction with the C.S. Lewis DeCal. We will deconstruct the works of one of the most influential writers and thinkers of the 20th century. The course objective is to discuss the following three questions:
1. What structures, images, themes, and plots does C.S. Lewis use? What purpose and effects are created?
2. How are the life and thoughts of C.S. Lewis reflected in these works? (to better answer this question, we will explore Lewis’ diary and literary criticism in addition to Surprised by Joy)
3. How do the books connect to each other; what overarching themes and messages do you draw from the works?
Students should come out of this course with well-formulated answers to the above questions, and an overall deeper appreciation and understanding of CS Lewis and his works.
Responses must be at least: 200 words.
Tips for responses:
1. Ask the above three questions during your reading.
2. Comment/discuss issues discussed by other classmates.
3. Pick and image or passage that stands out to you, and discuss. Keep in mind: passages from outside sources (books, diaries, journals, etc.) do not count as part of the word limit.
“It [joy] was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer. While that other was in doubt, the pointer naturally loomed larger in my thoughts. When we are lost in the woods the sight of a signpost is a great matter…But when we find the road and are passing signposts every few miles, we shall not stop and stare.” (Pg. 238 Surprised by Joy)
ReplyDeleteThe main subject of the book is Joy. So it then seemed strange for Lewis to end mentioning that Joy had lost all importance to him. For most of the book Lewis describes the objects in which he found the Joy but was quick to mention that the objects themselves did not contain the Joy but rather acted as the vehicle for which Joy could pass through. It is also interesting to note that every time he tried to hold onto Joy, it escaped him. This was because Joy was never the true object of his desire. He realized that Joy itself had merely been a pointer, a signpost as he calls it, to the “road.” It wasn’t until his conversion that Joy became less important because in his conversion he had found the true source of the Joy. Whereas many of the objects he described could never continually give Joy, as a Christian, Lewis had found what Joy was truly directing him towards – God. It would make no sense to continue to admire the signpost when the content of the signpost is trying to direct you to something greater. It was encouraging to see God’s mighty hand in C.S. Lewis’ life and that God never gave up on C.S. Lewis.
Check and Checkmate. These titles begin to outline for us the nearing end of Lewis' search. He portrays God as chasing him, and so we understand Lewis himself to be put into check and eventually checkmated. Ironic to be "defeated" in one's own biography, but reluctant as he first is to accept the God he has refused to acknowledge for so long, he does not seem regretful at all. For a long while, Lewis seemed stuck beneath the assumption that all Christians fit the stereotype that he had somehow formed. Yet the more he encountered Christian authors and friends whom he respected, the more his idea was challenged. He was a believer in the saying "Christians are wrong but all the rest are bores", yet admitted to never delving deeper into whether or not they actually were wrong, due largely to his ironically absolutist views. Somehow, God was able to chase him down and allow him to actually make what he described as one of the most free acts he had ever committed.
ReplyDeleteOnce he understood his elusive "Joy" as being a desire, he was able to understand that that joy/desire had to be connected/directed to Someone. In fact after all his years of yearning for Joy, he realized that it was utterly without value, that it was the object of joy's desire that was of real worth.
Lastly, I love how he describes the last vestiges of his resistance and how he clung tenaciously to his opinions to the end, even after he no longer truly believed them. But his "Adversary" only had to repeat, "I am the Lord", and "I am" and Lewis could no longer deny. And again there is the picture of the Lord's love, for as Lewis describes it: "...the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms...who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?"
"The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation."
In chapter 15 to close out the book. C.S Lewis speaks of the conclusion of Joy. Which obviously the story is about, but he goes on to say that joy being the subject had lost interest to him. That the old stabs of joy which were once sorta bittersweet to him come to him more sharply since being a christian. He realizes that all of these things that he had experienced that used to bring him stabs of joy were really a “pointer to something outer and outer” (p. 238). He gives the example of people who are walking somewhere trying to find their way out of the forest since they have been lost. When they approach a sign they don’t stop and stare but simply keep moving knowing that the sign is leading/pointing them to where they are supposed to go. This example really resigned with me as I think about how many times in life I encounter signs and wonders and miracles and it gives me a better understanding of God and it points me in his direction. Many times,like C.S Lewis, give too much importance to small things. Things we feel may be very important when in fact it is very small in the realm of eternity. There is something much larger,much more important, much more valuable than the things we pursue here on earth. That thing is a loving relationship with god, it is the only thing that can bring us lasting,fulfilling, and satisfying Joy. C.S Lewis is a great example of this.
ReplyDelete“…night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him who I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet.” (p.125)
ReplyDeleteLewis states that his conversion at that time was a conversion to Theism, not Christianity specifically. Theism was the first step on his path to Christianity, but like he says, it was a reluctant conversion, and it was something that he had feared and fought against for some time. But his description of this humbling experience is so moving, and it is so amazing that he can look back on this critical period of his life and see the “Divine mercy” that took place at that time. The fact that he had to admit God’s sovereignty despite his efforts to avoid Him is truly incredible. Lewis’s life, and his journey to Christianity gives me hope, and Surprised by Joy has reminded me of certain aspects of my own faith that I constantly forget. And Lewis titles the last chapter as “The Beginning,” because conversion to Christianity is not the objective. He realizes that what he had been searching and longing for, the ‘stab’ of what he considered to be Joy, is paled in comparison to his faith and Christianity. As I stated before, when one’s eyes are truly opened, they are opened for good; how can a person revert back to a dim world once they have seen the world with clear vision? Once Lewis became a Christian, his longing for ‘Joy’ faded away because he knew that it was only pointing to something greater.
"In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. i did not then see what is the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility will accept a convert even on such terms."
ReplyDeleteThis was probably one of the most influential sections of the book to me. It seems that Lewis’ conversion was, as he said, more of a grudging acceptance; however, to God, it is still an acceptance. It’s hard to think about such attributes of God at times, but it’s comforting to know that they exist and are always present. However, I was confused by some of Lewis’ actions later in the book. Perhaps in writing to a Christian audience, he neglected to add this part to his retelling, but “Checkmate” makes it clear that he was converted to Theism by the Bible, a Christian text. Why then, in the final chapter, does he speak about finding Hinduism and Christianity to be the only two suitable religions? I’m nowhere as familiar with the Hindu faith as I should be, but I don’t recall Lewis saying that he read any of the major works prior to his first conversion. I may be thinking through this too much, but it would be an interesting point to discuss in class. Despite this, Lewis’ time to think about religion in such depth is refreshing. All too often, we think of it as just something we “do”, and aren’t quite sure why. Lewis brought a new outlook onto a familiar premise, and made me look at my own values a different way.
-Weston Scott
“I thought I had seen a warning; it was to this, this raving on the floor, that all romantic longings and unearthly speculations led a man in the end.”-
ReplyDeleteOne of the main themes of chapter thirteen, The New Look, is fear. Specifically, Lewis comes to fear the (negative) power which the romantic has over him. Lewis cites two episodes as being responsible for eliciting these responses. First; he describes the “contemptible” Irish parson who wished to live forever; second, his close contact with a man who was going mad. In this second case he falsely believed his friends madness as having stemmed from the embracing the apparently “unearthly speculations” of theosophy, yoga, spiritualism and psychoanalysis. In this accounts Lewis seems to fear the power, the overwhelming strength of the ‘romantic’; (which here he conflates with the supernatural and unearthly) in the first account he fears the ”fierce monomania’(at the expense of reason) brought on by the parsons desire for personal immortality; in the second, he seems to fear the loss of sanity, which romantic desires and unearthly behaviours could cause. Here the quote at the beginning of the chapter, from Robinson Crusoe, is relevant; “This wall I was many a weary month in finishing, and yet never thought myself safe till it was done.”
What strikes me as interesting in this chapter is ;first, the sheer amount of uphill work Lewis seems to do in this period to construct this realistic, and rational “new look”; and second, the utter confusion in his fear of the ‘romantic’, a view which apparently arose out of a desire for great rationality in his thinking, and world view. He seems to conflate everything from a youthful contempt for a frightened old man to a deeply self-interested worry about the loss of sanity in his idea of the ‘romantic’, which up until now had been described exclusively as the fantastic, the fanciful and the natural. Because of this confusion his concept of the ‘romantic’ seems to me to be less rational than in previous chapters. It is interesting that this intellectual confusion which seems in its particulars (like the fear of going insane through the practise of yoga, for example) so silly and childish occurs at a time when he is apparently receiving his highest form of education yet.
-Althea Francis
Presentation Outline:
ReplyDelete1) The relationship between Joy and Lewis's other pursuits
a) Joy and literature
b) Joy and sex
c) Joy and occult/other religions
d) Joy
i) Description of Joy
ii) Relationship between Joy and Christianity
2) Road to Christianity
a) Quasi religious experiences
b) Theism
c) Conversion to Christianity
3) Subjectivity in writing
a) "The New Look"
i) Robinson Crusoe
ii) First line
iii) Relationships with others
“For there was one way in which the world, as Kirk’s rationalism taught me to see it, gratified my wishes. It might be grim and deadly but at least it was free from the Christian God” (pg. 95)
ReplyDeleteI found the passage in chapter eleven where C. S. Lewis described why Christianity did not appeal to him at the time to be thought-provoking. First he talked about how his earlier experiences with Christianity had involved fear and that over time this experience had been exaggerated in his mind, so part of the reason he rejected Christianity was in the desire to escape pain. He also found the idea of death being the ultimate end to be more appealing then there being an eternal life after it. He said that Christianity was without an exit and this was a frightening thought to him. He talked about how what he disliked the most was the “interference” that he saw in the idea of the Christian God. He talked about how he did not like the idea that all of his innermost thoughts being open to “a transcendental Interferer”, expressing a desire to hold on to a space inside himself that no one could touch except himself. What I found interesting about this passage is that it expressed many of the issues that cause people to turn away from religion. C.S. Lewis’ disenchantment with the church stemming from earlier experiences is something I see in a lot of people who were forced to be involved in the church in their youth and in turn reject it when they come to college. The other big issues that he touched on is the concept of life after death as well as the idea of a supreme being who is all knowing and from which nothing is hidden. I think these are the two things which most people grapple with in Christianity and it is fascinating to read about C.S. Lewis's struggle with it and how he eventually came from rejecting these concepts to accepting Christianity in the end.
In the last four chapters there are two prevalent themes: one is Lewis’ experiences through the war, and the other is his gradual conversion to theism. It is interesting to me that Lewis spends only a short time talking about the war, and in that time he mainly describes people he met and their characters, not battlegrounds and fighting. Throughout the book it seems evident that Lewis concentrates on who other people that surround his life are, and what effects they have on him. Even through war time, Lewis’ reminiscing is that of interesting characters, of what he learnt from their behaviors (like Wallie’s behavior), and of what he admired in them (like his friend Johnson).
ReplyDeleteIn the second theme, that of his conversion to theism, his being influenced by people is again evident. In the same manner as he does throughout the book, Lewis first describes who these people where, and then how and what kind of influence they had in his life; how his friends and teachers shift his point of view on the matters of atheism and theism. Lewis uses this technique over and over throughout his book, and it works really well to give us an understanding of how ideas came about in his life and how he decided what to believe in, what to adopt, or what to dismiss.
"Only when it became obvious that there was very little town left ahead of me, [...] did I turn round and look. There, behind me, far away, never more beautiful since, was the fabled cluster of spires and towers. I had come out of the station on the wrong side and been all this time walking into what was even then the mean and sprawling suburb of Botley. I did not see to what extent this little adventure was an allegory of my whole life" (178). C.S. Lewis describes that his entire life (and I think, his search for joy) can be related to this one image-- he looks for Oxford, where he needs to take his test, and instead wanders deeper and deeper into the wrong place. Similarly, in his search for "Joy" Lewis finds himself in hunts that lead to the wrong conclusions. Of magic and sex he says that "slowly, and with many relapses, [he] came to see that the magical conclusion was just as irrelevant to Joy as the erotic conclusion has been. Once again one had changed scents" (170). Only as he looks back does he see that the beautiful Joy he was seeking lies completely elsewhere. Lewis uses imagery of a hunt, comparing himself to following "scents."
ReplyDeleteIronically, Lewis does not seem to find Joy at the end; rather, Joy finds him. Chapter titles "Check" and "Checkmate" follow how God and Christians surround him and lastly, take him.
“But what, in conclusion, of Joy? for that, after all, is what the story has mainly been about...But I now know that the experience, considered as valuable as only as a pointer to something other and outer. While that other was in doubt, the pointer naturally loomed large in my thoughts.” (Page 130)
ReplyDeleteI selected this passage in particular because I feel that this pretty much sums up the entire book. Throughout the entire book, C.S. Lewis details various experiences, some of which helped bring about the "stab," while others brought about a period of "atheism" and "longing" for the "stab." Through all of these experiences, he was always left empty, always wanting the "stab of Joy," yet when he experienced it it seemed to elude him. At one point, he also explains how joy "is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still 'about to be.'" After C.S. Lewis' conversion he is able to look back at all of this and see that this Joy always eluded him because we weren't created to be satisfied with this Joy itself. C.S. Lewis life of constant searching and trying to find this Joy is reminiscent of what our society and people are like, always searching for something that will fulfill them, for something that will make them happy, something that will complete them. Fill in the blank, the point is that we as people are constantly wandering, searching, speculating. However, we will never arrive at anything or anywhere, nor be satisfied if we don't begin with God, who He is and what He has done through His Son Jesus Christ.
These pointers that C.S. Lewis found in nature, literature, or music were and are exactly that, just pointers. He realized that they were merely pointers to "something other and outer"-namely, God Himself.
The principle of hell is – “I am my own”
ReplyDeleteThis is a quote from the chapter Checkmate in Surprised by Joy that is not from Lewis but another man, named George McDonald, who was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian Minister. I know that I use a lot of one-liners from C.S. Lewis but those are the things that hit me the deepest, and I can remember them easier. This is a powerful quote because the statement “I am my own” implies you are the ultimate ruler of your own destiny in the view that you are the divine power of your life. And don’t get me wrong, God has given us free will to either accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior or not, but thinking that you are your own God over your life is wrong, as McDonald explains it. Therefore, when we pursue a relationship with Jesus, those thoughts and ideals of selfishness and self governance and step into the path that the Lord has for us which is the most satisfying in my own experience compared to the selfish path. Giving your life to a cause greater than your own is the greatest experience and life changing factor that anyone can imagine.
“If only such a moment could return! But What I never realized was that it had returned—that the remembering of that walk was itself as new experience of just the same kind. True, it was desire, not possession.” (pg. 93)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 11 “Check,” C.S. Lewis talks about this elusive Joy as being a concept that is attained in a rather unusual way. The mere desire and want of the Joy is, in itself, Joy expressed in a different kind of experience as compared to the original experience of such a memory. Lewis’ pursuit of this Joy was something that led him to understand that Joy is not “possessed” but rather something that is longed for. The “thrill” that he so longed for and associated with Joy was not the actual Joy that he was looking nor longing for. This “thrill” was becoming harder and harder to find until he realized that it was not a “thrill” that he was searching for but actually the feeling of the desire for this Joy; the longing for the possession of Joy was, in itself, Joy in another form. The longing for Joy allowed him to contemplate on Joy and experience it at a new level. No longer was he searching and searching for ways to attain it for he now knew that it was not attained but experienced. He further explains that this experience is not merely a pursuit of pleasure. Although pleasure can often accompany Joy, it is often a fleeting substitute for Joy.
Jeremiah Lee
"I was in fact offered what now appears a moment of wholly free choice." (pg123)
ReplyDeleteI have always thought it so cool how we get free choice. I don't think it stands out quite as much to everyone else, but for some reason free choice has always stood out to me as a key of why I consider myself a Christian.
In some sense I think it is one of the most crucial parts of Christianity. So this part stands out to me as Lewis explains that he feels that he had free choice, he didn't have to choose one or the other, and he wasn't convinced to choose. It was simply up to him.
This is exactly how I feel the world is like now, each of us has the freedom to choose. God or no God, we can choose.
To me the fact that there can be doubt that God exists, is proof of free choice.
If we had no room for doubt, then would we really have free choice?
So, to give us free choice, God has to allow doubt to exist.
Only then is there a moment of "wholly free choice".
Josef John
It is interesting that the end chapter is titled “The Beginning” with the quote that read “For it is one thing to see the land of peace from a wooded ridge.. and another to tread the road that leads to it.” The title suggests that Lewis sees his newfound faith as the beginning of a new chapter in his life. It may be the end of his autobiography, but it is the beginning of his new life with Jesus Christ. The quote is also interesting because it suggests that looking into the land of peace is much different than the journey to that land. Lewis is suggests that though this road may be difficult the end result, peace, is completely worth it. He does not suggest that life is now going to be easier; in fact, he suggests that life is going to be more difficult because of the temptations of the Devil, but the joy he finds in the Lord surpasses any temporary joy he would obtain from temptation. The path that he has chosen is the righteous one, and this path will ultimately give him what he’s been looking for-joy that isn’t fleeting, joy that stands the test of time.
ReplyDeleteSarah Vaughan
Lewis claims that the “History of Joy” had returned, manifested in the mythology he had so loved. However, in chapter 11, there is a different take on Joy. Whereas in previous chapters Lewis described Joy as a fleeting sensation which he was always pursuing, here he realizes that it is a feeling that loses all allure when pursued for its own sake. He says that the “determination to recover the old thrill” is the reason for the inability to find it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that he identifies how exactly he can achieve Joy. He claims that only when you are not thinking about it, when your “whole attention [is] fixed on something else”, then you receive Joy as a by-product.
Like Jeremiah said, Joy was not achieving what you want, but rather the wanting itself. To me that means that the sensation of being alive and having a momentum within us propelling us towards something, is Joy. Just like his brother’s toy garden, which he claims was his first experience of Beauty, Lewis continues to search and regain that lost feeling, which for most of his childhood he does without success. However, his realization that searching is the very obstacle preventing him from finding Joy, is in itself a momentous step in the right direction.