Thoughts from Lewis November 15, 2007
Posted by Anya in : I won't keep things purposely vague , 2commentsMonday I read Letters to an American Lady by CS Lewis. As all of his work does, it revealed some new insights into his mind. And there were, of course, some fun quotes. Some reminded me of something in particular, some I just found interesting to think about. So here goes, in order of appearance:
“Heb. Kherub is from the same root as Gryphon…Â That shows you what they [cherubs]’re really like!”
“Not… that your relief had not in fact occured before my prayer, but as if, in tenderness for my puny faith God moved me to pray with special earnestness just before he was going to give me the thing. How true that our prayers are really His prayers; He speaks to Himself through us. (Romans 8:26-27)”
“But I have long known that the talk about Brotherhood, wherever it occurs, in America or here, is hypocrisy. Or rather, the man who talks it means ‘I have no superiors’: he does not mean ‘I have no inferiors’. How loathsome it all is!”
“Do our prayers sometimes go wrong because we insist on trying to talk to God when He wants to talk to us.”
“Remember what St. John says “If our heart condemn us, God is stronger than our heart.” The feeling of being, or not being, forgiven and loved, is not what matters. One must come down to brass tacks. If there is a particular sin on your conscience, repent and confess it. If there isn’t, tell the despondent devil not to be silly… You see, one must always get back to the practical and definite. What the devil loves is that vague cloud of unspecified guilt feeling or unspecified presumption by which he lures us into despair or presumption. “Details, please?” is the answer.”
The Scottish paraphrase of Psalm 137:8-9:
“O blessed may that trooper be
Who, riding on his naggie
Wull tak thy wee bairns by the taes
And ding them on the craggie”.
“One pines for light and, scarcely less, shadows, which make up so much of the beauty of the world.”
“And again, how strange that God brings us into such intimate relations with creatures of whose real purpose and destiny we remain forever ignorant. We know to some degree what angels and men are for. But what is a flea for, or a wild dog?”
“I also get a quite new feeling about “If you forgive you will be forgiven”. I don’t believe it is, as it sounds, a bargain. The forgiving and the being forgiven are really the very same thing.”
