SURPRIZED by joy-impatient as the wind-
-William Wordsworth,
Surprized
by Joy (1815)
Surprised by Joy is C. S. Lewis's intellectual autobiography, his personal account of his journey from childhood Christianity to Atheism to Theism and back to a more mature Christianity. Along the way he describes his family life in Ireland, his misery at boarding school, education at Oxford, service in WWI, and return to Oxford, where his friendship with JRR Tolkien (who shared his love of Norse mythology) helped him to finally quench his lifelong Sehnsucht (longing), in Lewis's case a longing to discern the hidden something that we perceive lurking behind the physical world that we observe. One such instance occurs when he is reading poetry :
I had become fond of Longfellow's "Saga of King Olaf":
fond of it in a casual, shallow way for its
story and vigorous rhythms. But then, and quite
different from such pleasures, and like a voice
from far more distant regions, there came a moment
when I idly turned the pages of the book and
found the unrhymed translation of "Tegner's Drapa",
and read:
I heard a voice that cried
Balder the beautiful
Is dead, is dead,
I knew nothing about Balder; but instantly I was
uplifted into huge regions of the northern sky; I
desired with almost sickening intensity something
never to be described (except that it is cold,
spacious, severe, pale and remote) and then...found
myself at the very same moment already falling
out of that desire and wishing I were back in it.
It is these fleeting moments of perception, occurring throughout his life, that Lewis refers to as "Joy", and it is they that provoke his longing :
Joy, must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness
and Pleasure. Joy has indeed one
characteristic, and one only, in common with them;
the fact that anyone who has experienced it will
want it again...I doubt whether anyone who has tasted
it would ever, if both were in his power,
exchange it for all the pleasures in the world.
But Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is.
His quest leads him through a course of readings that includes : Norse, Celtic and Greek mythology; the fantasies of George MacDonald and William Morris; the philosophies of Aristotle, Berkley, Hegel and others; and the Eastern religions. Each of them in their own way offers some sense that Finally he arrives at such Christian authors as Milton and G. K. Chesterton and over the duration of a bus ride in 1929 he accepts the existence of God. Finally, in 1931, after a long evening of discussing religion and mythology with Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, Lewis spent the wee hours wrestling with the concept of Christ as a divine being and by the next morning had, in fact, become a Christian.
The most appealing aspect of this process is the way in which Lewis--with the help of friends and mentors--came to the realization that intellectual honesty required that he be just as skeptical about modern beliefs (in reason, and the like) as he had been about traditional religious beliefs and that he grant Christianity at least as much credence as he gave to the various mythologies with which he was so enamored (this appears to have been Tolkien's argument). The importance of these steps can not be underestimated, particularly because they are steps that most of us would do well by taking.
Listen to the level of contempt that evolutionists heap upon anyone who questions their beliefs and you will hear the voice of fanaticism speaking. The same people who are completely skeptical about God are entirely doctrinaire when it comes to Natural Selection. If they could step back for a moment and actually listen to the questions that are raised, they might also stop to consider whether they have all the answers. Instead, at the least expression of doubt they unleash their own version of the Inquisition (witness Kansas).
Similarly, there's something strange about a society where people are so eager to reject the God of their forefathers but then turn around and embrace Wicca or the Dalai Lama or whatever. One needn't necessarily accept the Virgin Birth or the Resurrection to see that they are at least as probable as astrology and reincarnation. [Meanwhile, one arguably must have a tin ear to forsake the poetry and the power of the Bible for star charts and black magic manuals]. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that much of this is just reactionary. To make a decision about your core spiritual beliefs on such an immature and emotional basis seems unwise in any case, but to abandon the great monotheistic religions that have bequeathed us Western Civilization, in favor of witchcraft and pantheism and the like, borders on cultural suicide.
So what then is the appropriate intellectual and spiritual stance for us moderns ? Openness. We must be open to the notion that the scientists do not have all the answers either, that they might, in fact, not even comprehend which are the right questions yet. Equally important, we must be open to the idea that the traditional religious beliefs of our culture, though thousands of years old and in some ways showing that age, may still have some value to them. We may then still choose to discard Christianity (Judeo-Christianity) but the decision to do so will not be based, as it is now, either on the mistaken belief that science has disproved God or on the impetuous basis of rebellion against our elders.
Which brings us to the central part of the story, of any conversion story, the moment when faith takes over :
Every step I had taken, from the Absolute to 'Spirit'
and from 'Spirit' to 'God,' had been a step
toward the more concrete, the more imminent. . .
. To accept the Incarnation was a further step in
the same direction.
It sounds like such a natural progression, and as Lewis tells the story, it was. Having arrived at the ideals of the Absolute and the Spirit by way of philosophical consideration, rather than by way of religious indoctrination, his was a mind that was open enough to accept the most obvious Absolute Spirit the culture has to offer. In the end, having spent a life immersed in myths, he simply reached the moment when he was prepared to accept the truth of the most compelling myth of all. After all of the caricatures of people of faith as sort of know-nothings and uncultured sheep, there's something really refreshing about this account of a fierce and questioning intelligence being led to, and then taking the leap of, faith.
This book will interest just about anyone with an open mind and an admiration
for good writing. Many Christians will seek it out only for
confirmation of their own beliefs, but will be surprised, maybe even disturbed,
by the depth of Lewis's skepticism and by the generosity of spirit which
he displays, particularly in a rather charitable discussion of buggery
at boarding school. One would hope though that those who do not believe
would read it too. Lewis is unlikely to change their minds (for that,
they too would need to be "surprised by joy"), but he's certain to change
some misperceptions about what kind of people become Christians and what
kind of thought process leads them to that destination.
(Reviewed:16-Aug-01)
Grade: (A)
