C. S. Lewis on Living in Truth

This year I’m teaching a class at BYU Education Week on C. S. Lewis. I’ve always loved Lewis, have taken several classes on him, and over the years read much of what he has written. So now I am rereading and studying his life in more depth and I am loving every minute of it.

I’ve been surprised by a few things. For example, it’s been years since I read Mere Christianity and in rereading it I’ve found a few things that coincide with what I’ve discovered about Living in Truth. I never notice them before. One thing Lewis says is, “We have to take reality as it comes to us; there is no good jabbering about what it ought to be like or what we should have expected it to be like” (P. 63). This sounds a lot like Elder Wirthlin’s statement, “Come what may” only Elder Wirthlin adds “and love it.” Being old and constructed of habit, I still struggle with this even though I know with all my heart it is true. Slowly I’m learning to throw out the “oughts,” “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts”. It takes a lot of effort, but I’m finding it so worth it.

In another place Lewis describes what a truly Christian society would be like: “It is to be a cheerful society: full of singing and rejoicing , and regarding worry or anxiety as wrong.” (p. 80). Again, I’ve got a lifetime of habits to overcome; worry and anxiety accomplish nothing. They are unnecessary pain and as we get rid of them, we find joy.

I’m still reading Lewis and if I find more comments on Living in Truth I'll let you know. It is fun to find that an ”old friend” whom I’ve admired for years agrees with me!