Joy
Over the different types of writings of C. Lewis I choose to talk about “Joy” because I feel connected to him through the subject. I believe it is a very deep topic which is appealing to everyone regardless gender, age, religion, culture etc.
When someone reads about joy from C. S Lewis he or she can detect that he is not talking about a super flux joy but instead he is speaking about a desire which is of it’s own kind. In his book “Surprised by Joy” he describes joy as an “unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.” cited in kreeft, 253 Peter Kreeft said ” While many virtues grace Lewis’s work… the one that lifts him above any other apologetical writer… is how powerful he writes about joy” C. S Lewis Surprised by Joy, 220-21. I believe genuine joy cannot be achieved through education; it cannot be bought with money or goods. I finally understood one can procure this distinct joy only through a supernatural power. I believe joy can only be reach through a deeper relationship with the Sovereign God. When we look over the society we can see the various ways people try to find joy. Some people seek to find joy through alcoholic beverages and come to conclude after all they are just destroying their blood cells and shortening their lives. Others endeavor joy by exposing their bodies rather by selling it sexually or not caring enough for it. Some people feel happy when they eat whatever they want to or any time they feel like it. They don’t realize in the long run it hits them back because their physical bodies are being affected and they tend to get sick. Some others aim for joy through pleasures they go to parties, clubs etc. but unfortunately it comes to hurt them back. Others tried to find joy through possession what their money can buy beautiful cars, flashy clothes, fancy jewelries and so forth. Through it all reality comes their way and they realize nothing corporal can fill their emptiness or substitute for that deep attribute called joy. Some people are wise enough to realize that they cannot find it on their own they might decide to take an extra step to either talk to someone about it who might lead them to God or they might decide to search for God on their own.
“When Lewis writes of joy he is using this term in a very particular way. He is just not speaking about a general sort of happiness, or joyful thoughts or feelings. Rather he is speaking about a desire, but a very unique and special kind of desire. In Surprised by joy, his spiritual autobiography, Lewis describes it as an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.” Hptt// www.probe.org (The Riddle of joy)
I acquiesce that Lewis believes in order to be joyful one has to believe in a super natural power in order words he or she has to believe in God. I recalled at the beginning of the semester when we were watching a video about C. S Lewis and his wife Joy Davidman it was obvious to see the way he manifested his love for her. Even though Lewis knew she had cancer she was going to die he always acted like he had an inner peace when he came to visit her at the hospital and when he was talking to her. He never allowed her to feel depressed or sad. He was always there to encourage her and sustain her. I believe that was not an easy task, I can agree that someone can only gets that positive attitude through the all powerful God. I conclude if someone believes in God and surrender everything to him he or she must have faith that he has control of their life and no matter what happens he will always be with them. He will never leave them nor forsake them.
I remembered even after the death of Joy Lewis continued to transcend the joy through the children. The way he was enjoying nature walking in the snow, talking to one of the boys and planning the adventures they were going to do in life it was just amazing.
In the book Surprised by joy the word is translated in the German language by Sehnsucht meaning longing Lewis not only talked about joy but it was also a mixture of pain while he was growing up. The writer William Wordsworth consequently is attracted by Lewis writings of the book has related his thought through a poem he wrote with the death of his daughter. He quoted “Surprised by joy impatient as the wind.
I turned to share the transport-Oh! With whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?
Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind
But how could I forget thee? Through what power,
Even for the least division of an hour,
Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss?- That thought’s return
Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,
Save one, one only when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.
I am not sure about the author’s feeling when he attributed his poem to Lewis’s writing however it showed me that everyone regardless their struggle can relate to the writing of C.S Lewis. He speaks for everyone regardless age, sex, class and social point of view.
Lewis used a German word Sehnsucht that literally means longing “Sehnsucht is almost impossible to translate adequately. The stage director Georg Tabori called Sehnsucht one of those quasi-mystical term in German for which there is no satisfactory correspondubg tern in another ardent longing or yearning (das Sehnen) and addiction (die Sucht) that lurks behind each longing, waiting to turn the feeling into a destructive, self defeating force.”
Sehnsucht has a meaningful Lewis’s life according to Dave Brown ” Sehnsucht played a central role in C.S Lewis’s pilgrimage to Christian truth and in shaping his apologetics particularly his argument from his argument from desire. Far from being separate themes myth and joy were convergent streams in Lewis’s thinking and experience that so effectively presented in his work to help people see the meaning and sweetness of life in Jesus Christ. For Lewis, real joy found its uncommon expression in the true Myth which became Incarnate and explains how everything (experience, reason and desire) fits together. Human imagination illuminated by the Holy Spirit brings real Joy and true Myth together to picture Reality, which Lewis said is about which truth is. Lewis reached that stage in his journey when imagination (the organ of mean) and reason (the organ of truth) were no longer at loggerheads but became divinely given pointers to something and someone outside neutral experience.”
When I focus really on Lewis writing I can see his true purpose is for the human being rather young or old would have the inner peace. He struggle with the people of his era to long for that peace.
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