I have read a few books by C.S. Lewis back in high school, including the Screwtape Letters and a few books from the Narnia Series, but I have never read any of his shorter stories or essays. I had no idea what to expect when I first looked at "Meditation in a Toolshed", and even now a couple of points were raised in this essay that I am still struggling with.
I like how C.S. Lewis uses something so simple as a beam of light, and then he is able to build on it and prove an extremely important point that many of us have ignored in the past. Growing up, I have always been told to look at things from other perspectives, the common phrase that is used when talking of something related to this is to "put yourself in another person's shoes", but I have never thought about what it actually seriously means. It should come as no surprise to us when Lewis says, "You get one experience of a thing when you look along it and another when you look at it", but whatLewis explores after he tells us this is the important thing. He asks us which is the truer experience, and truthfully I don't really know how to respond to that question. We discussed this in class, and most of us came to the consensus that we need both, which I agree with, but I believe that in order to have both we need to start with a clean slate. If we truly are to understand something by either looking at it or along it, or even both, then we cannot have any biases towards any possible outcomes. We need clear minds, only then are we able to explore these two different perspectives and discern which one, even if both, fits the best. We do not know ahead of time which perspective is more correct, if one is more correct than another that is, what matters is that we must find this out ourselves and learn from these experiences.
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I agree completely Jake. It seems obvious in many cases that we need to use a mixture of both at and along thinking. However, biases are rampant in society, and we must completely avoid them to have a fair and honest perspective on ideas. I like how you tied in the phrase, "Walk a mile in someone else's shoes", everyone has heard it before, and it fits in well with Lewis' ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think what you've said is true. However, Lewis also says that it is impossible to look at any situation without some sort of bias. After all, we cannot escape our own minds even when we strive to unlearn our tendancies to look at something only in one certain way and not another. When Lewis addresses this in his essay, I think he is alluding to the fact that the world is fallen and not yet redeemed in its entirety by Christ's second coming. This is unfortunate, because until that day we as Christians will always be struggling with biases and prejudices even as we try to cast them off. Good thing there is hope!
ReplyDeleteI definitely remember the "walking a mile in someone else's shoes" lesson. And, I too was taught to always look at all of the surrounding, knowable perspectives to formulate a well-rounded opinion. In many ways, I am thankful for these lessons because I want to learn to look along with and look at. I avoided many troubles and I embraced many joys.
ReplyDeleteMy spin on the issue would be that Christ become the instinctual perspective to look from. That, is a lofty goal. Obviously, unreachable until after death, but in striving for a Christ-like perspective our looking along and looking at will transform us into his likeness, which we are all seeking.