Insights from a great mind
"Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs--to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. [...] He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles."
-- Screwtape
from C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters
3 comments:
http://beans45601.livejournal.com/820435.html?mode=reply
I thought about you as I made this entry... and as I listen to this 600+ discography I got.... Oh god Equality Ride.
Brian,
What is it that you find so profound about this particular passage from The Screwtape Letters? You posted it in reference to Mother Theresa's doubts on our site (The Point).
I read Screwtape for the first time earlier this summer and was absolutely blown away by what Lewis packs in the little book. I expected to be amused, but instead found his theological positions or hypotheses - though perhaps not conventional to current Evangelical leanings (which tend to be heavily Calvinist) - very refreshing. I also was surprised to find myself convicted in new ways (dig the ownership-of-one's-time bit when you get there ... wow!). It was great; I loved it.
I too was blown away by what I found when I started reading. I've picked it up a few times in the past but never made it past the first few chapter as I allowed myself to become distracted by other things. HOLY COW! I too find myself convicted deeply and in new ways. What I thought would be an interesting read has turned into a constant calling to never remain complacent.
I posted this particular passage at The Point because it seemed relevant to the discussion about Mother Teresa's spiritual darkness. (And I was struck by the coincidence in timing... I read this chapter the same day I read the original post about Mother Teresa).
It shouldn't come as any surprise that Mother Teresa is not the only Christian to have felt the absense of God's presense and I think C.S. Lewis does a marvelous job of commenting on that darkness. Let's be serious, he does a marvelous job writing about just about anything. I'm struck by something on just about every page but this one just seemed relevant to the discussion.
I'm a little over half-way through the book and I can't wait to finish it. I've got a 3-hour train ride to DC tomorrow and you can guess what I'll be doing.
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