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Surprised by Joy
by C.S. Lewis
I'm often tempted to think that someone as influential as Lewis never struggled, never doubted, never questioned. In truth, those like Lewis who have questioned have the strongest faith because they have struggled with God and found Him. This book records C.S. Lewis' journey to God, where he finds at the end, "The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men," and that God relentlessly pursued His prodigal son throughout his early years.
I found the book a little slow at times, but I loved Lewis' starkness and honesty about his feelings. He is a mixture of romanticism and logic, as he reveals not only through his anecdotes, but also through the very tone with which he writes. For those people who would like to know a little about the author who has influenced so many Christians in this past and present century, this book is a little window into his life. Lewis writes, "I now know that the [conversion] experience, considered as a state of my own mind, had never had the kind of importance I once gave it. It was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer." As with all his books, Lewis points his reader to the Almighty who gives salvation freely.
Mild warning: a dictionary may be required - sometimes I would look up 2 or 3 words on a page, but then no words for 20-30 pages... ;)
Some excerpts:
"Grief in childhood is complicated with many other miseries. I was taken into the bedroom where my mother lay dead; as they said, 'to see her,; in reality, as I at once knew, 'to see it.' There was nothing that a grown-up would call disfigurement - except for that total disfigurement which is death itself. Grief was overwhelmed in terror."
"One reason why the Enemy found this so easy was that, without knowing it, I was already desperately anxious to get rid of my relition; and that for a reason worth recording. By a sheer mistake - and I still believe it to have been an honest mistake - in spiritual technique I had rendered my private practice of that religion a quite intolerable burden."
"These were symptoms of something more all-pervasive, something which, in the long run, did most harm to the boys who succeeded best at school and were happiest there. Spiritually speaking, the deadly thing was that school life was a life almost wholly dominated by the social struggle; to get on, to arrive, or, having reached the top, to remain there, was the absorbing preoccupation."
"I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Anti-theists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world."
"It is no doubt for my own good that I have been so generally prevented from leading it, for it is a life almost entirely selfish. Selfish, not self-centered: for in such a life my mind would be directed toward a thousand things, not one of which is myself. The distinction is not unimportant. One of the happiest men and most pleasant companions I have ever known was intensely selfish. On the other hand I have known people capable of real sacrifice whose lives were nevertheless a misery to themselves and to others, because self-concern and self-pity filled all their thoughts. Either condition will destroy the soul in the end."
by C.S. Lewis
I'm often tempted to think that someone as influential as Lewis never struggled, never doubted, never questioned. In truth, those like Lewis who have questioned have the strongest faith because they have struggled with God and found Him. This book records C.S. Lewis' journey to God, where he finds at the end, "The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men," and that God relentlessly pursued His prodigal son throughout his early years.
I found the book a little slow at times, but I loved Lewis' starkness and honesty about his feelings. He is a mixture of romanticism and logic, as he reveals not only through his anecdotes, but also through the very tone with which he writes. For those people who would like to know a little about the author who has influenced so many Christians in this past and present century, this book is a little window into his life. Lewis writes, "I now know that the [conversion] experience, considered as a state of my own mind, had never had the kind of importance I once gave it. It was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer." As with all his books, Lewis points his reader to the Almighty who gives salvation freely.
Mild warning: a dictionary may be required - sometimes I would look up 2 or 3 words on a page, but then no words for 20-30 pages... ;)
Some excerpts:
"Grief in childhood is complicated with many other miseries. I was taken into the bedroom where my mother lay dead; as they said, 'to see her,; in reality, as I at once knew, 'to see it.' There was nothing that a grown-up would call disfigurement - except for that total disfigurement which is death itself. Grief was overwhelmed in terror."
"One reason why the Enemy found this so easy was that, without knowing it, I was already desperately anxious to get rid of my relition; and that for a reason worth recording. By a sheer mistake - and I still believe it to have been an honest mistake - in spiritual technique I had rendered my private practice of that religion a quite intolerable burden."
"These were symptoms of something more all-pervasive, something which, in the long run, did most harm to the boys who succeeded best at school and were happiest there. Spiritually speaking, the deadly thing was that school life was a life almost wholly dominated by the social struggle; to get on, to arrive, or, having reached the top, to remain there, was the absorbing preoccupation."
"I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Anti-theists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world."
"It is no doubt for my own good that I have been so generally prevented from leading it, for it is a life almost entirely selfish. Selfish, not self-centered: for in such a life my mind would be directed toward a thousand things, not one of which is myself. The distinction is not unimportant. One of the happiest men and most pleasant companions I have ever known was intensely selfish. On the other hand I have known people capable of real sacrifice whose lives were nevertheless a misery to themselves and to others, because self-concern and self-pity filled all their thoughts. Either condition will destroy the soul in the end."
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