Values from C.S. Lewis

 

It's been too long since I read a C.S. Lewis book. But this is one I have been wanting to re-read for a long time, and to read with the companion book by Michael Ward, After Humanity. Why is is titled After Humanity? If you are familiar with the message of The Abolition of Man, you know it is C.S. Lewis's warning to humanity from his perch in 1943 (he gave three speeches at Durham University that became this book) on the affects of subjectivism and the future of humanity. Living the post-modern, post-truth culture that we are in today, this warning from the past is all too familiar in what is pervading all areas of our lives. It is not a cheerful message, and he hitting very close to home in today's world. 

Needless to say, likely because of its relevance and because I have read it a couple times before, I flew through the book again along with the wonderfully commentated companion book by Dr. Ward. Lewis's book is very slim yet dense and thought provoking. Of course, being familiar with the book already I knew what the arguments were and where Lewis goes with it all. But the deeper analysis of what he was saying, or what he was referring to, thanks to the companion book, I am able to better perceive the arguments he lays forth in his masterful ways, keeping in mind in such a slim volume he does not cover all angles and has some missing pieces such as addressing arguments that could be made against his own.

Are things beautiful, good, and true just for us as individuals, or can we speak and feel about them in ways that are us beyond our isolated perspectives into a shared discourse of objective value? (After Humanity, pg 14)

Lewis jumps right into the issue from the start, using a concrete example of school textbook which teaches on controlling language, and at the same time displays lessons on subjectivism (eliminating a sense of shared morality). Lewis then discusses the danger of entering these radical yet subtle ideals the authors of the textbook seek to do in controlling language. The sense of accepted moral objective Lewis calls the Tao (he uses this term as a means to be applicable to anyone in any culture, not based on religion, this sense of similar moral values that all would agree on and obey through life, no matter their religion). How straying from this set of moral values can lead to a very dangerous end.

Ward explains, "the universally accessible Tao, and all therefore agree in principal on the objectivity of moral value. The Tao is not something that human beings simply make-up; it is something they discover." When someone steps outside this moral value standard, they step into a void. They lose all sense of framework for practical reason and decent moral choices. They are free to act of course, against the standard morals, they can abandon objective value, they can choose to bring about their own abolition. This is the message of the book. 

Lewis writes, "You say we shall have no values at all if we step outside the Tao. Very well: we shall probably find that we can get on quite comfortably without them. Let us regard all idea of what we ought to do simply as an interesting psychological survival: let us step right out of all that and start doing what we like. Let us decide for ourselves what man is to be and make him into that: not on any ground of imagined value, but because we want him to be such. Having mastered our environment, let us know master ourselves and choose our own destiny."

Lewis stood from a place in history during WWII where totalitarian dictatorships and controls of government were very serious matters that were reality. He warns against having moral blindness, for to see through all things is the same as not to see.

If you are looking for a way to engage with today's issues from a perspective outside of today's culture, seek out C.S. Lewis. You will be wiser for it, and better equipped to face what we are seeing today.

Long Journey with Aquinas

 

I have been on this long 800+ page journey with St. Thomas Aquinas and his writings, which mingle philosophy and theology from his perch in history (1225 - 1274). It has been a fruitful and intellectual journey, one that has deepened my understanding and challenged me because I am no theologian and I barely know philosophy (my reading stack is always growing with philosophy books).  I had never read anything of Aquinas and when I learned that he drew from Aristotle and saw the importance of philosophy as a necessary tool for a deeper understanding of faith, I knew I had to get introduced to him. Now that we have been introduced, and I have completed this book of his selected writings, I thought I'd share a brief summary, though by no means do I feel well versed as I have only scratched the surface, and this summary will be woefully incomplete. 

As with any long journey, you want to have plenty of liquids to keep you going, so Thomas became my coffee companion in the mornings. I like to read philosophy in the morning, preferably when my mind is most awake and sharp (coffee surely helps with that). Accompanied by a cup of coffee I would read a few pages from Thomas Aquinas, exploring his ideas, which often had their origins in Aristotle, but not to copy or conform to his ideas, but as a spring board into deeper understanding of the Christian faith, showing how God reveals himself to us through images and likenesses. A reminder that there is truth to be gleaned in the ancient philosophers, though not all is true. 

Reading a few pages at a time was ideal, for Thomas is a deep intellectual and much above my head. He would often pose a question and then proceed to answer both sides of the argument. It is amazing to read as it guides you through the process of a debate. It strengthens his argument by already laying out the counter-argument before he proceeds. This aspect of his argument style writing is already stretching me in how to build a better argument. Instead of asking what I think or know is correct, asking what would the opposite reply be as well. It does draw out the reason of an argument if you lay out a reply and a contrary reply. Then you conclude with the response. That's what Thomas does, and I am learning from it.

He poses the questions and responds on all ponderings of life - About happiness, truth, goodness, evil, science, conscience, God's existence, divine nature, the soul, words, the ultimate end.  

...happiness is a good exceeding created nature. Hence is it impossible that it came about the action of any creature, but a man becomes happy solely through the agency of God, if we are talking of perfect happiness. 

I read these arguments about happiness and how it is so counter from our culture and its total embrace of "do whatever makes you happy", which is never going to fulfill because doing what makes you happy, i.e. selfish desires, will leave you empty as it excludes God, and fleeting desires will satisfy for a short moment, at best, but will always leave an emptiness because it's not letting that good thing lead them to something deeper, that is, God. Some enjoyment or pleasure is not true happiness, and if it doesn't lead one to reach deeper to desire the true end of that desire (the ultimate good of God), one will be left wanting and empty. Even going back to Medieval time in history these issues were around in culture. It isn't anything new, and yet how we have not learned from this, and grown even more robustly ignorant of this truth. Hence the consistently rising mental health issues,  broken families and relationships, and people walking away from church in general. 

It's difficult to quickly list or quote from Thomas because he builds these arguments in steps and cherry picking is not ideal. It's best to read the whole of a question at least, to get both sides of the argument and his conclusive reasoning. I am just dipping into Thomas and his writings (800 pages is a dip). To gain a better understanding and meditate on such ideas, which he draws from those such as Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius. It leads me to want to re-read those authors, who I am already friends with, but would like to hear more of their thoughts. One author leads to another - it's one of those great joys of reading.
What are you reading that has been challenging you lately?

A Peak into the Bodleian Libraries

 

Any instance I get to step foot into the Bodleian Library (any building of the many buildings), I feel like it's a special occasion. I have not taken a tour of the Bodleian in many years, probably 6-7 years ago, and I have been really wanting to go back in to breathe in the air of the libraries, to be close to those oldest books of the Duke Humphrey's Library, and enter the Radcliffe Camera again with the most gorgeous dome and classical round architecture amidst reading space and shelves of books. These dreamy locations are really the thing of dreams, my dream anyway.

  

I was not able to get tickets online before the trip, so I had given up hope that we would be able to visit this year. But as providence would had it, we got chatting with a lovely, friendly tour guide and information desk employee of the Bodleian, and learned we might be able to get tickets the day of if we arrived at opening time to collect the few remaining tickets they would make available. So of course we showed up to queue at opening time to get tickets for later that day. Thank you to our new friend at the Bodleian! 

The tour begins in the Divinity School, a gorgeous large room where originally lectures would have been held. It is now used for private events (even weddings), lectures, and preparation on graduation days (getting robed and moving outside to enter the Sheldonian Theatre which is just outside the Christopher Wren door). We moved into the Convocation Room beyond the Divinity School which was used for England's parliament in the 1600s during the reformation.

Then comes the library fun. We pass through the reader gates and climb the stairs up above the Divinity School to the Duke Humphrey's Library, which sits above it. This is the old library, where the books used to be chained to the shelves (thankfully that was removed). It features gallery style double decker layers of shelves, lower and upper reached by a tiny spiral staircase. The one section we were hanging out in housed about 14,000 books. Above our heads the ornately carved and painted square ceiling sections spotlighted many instances of the open book emblem, the coat of arms of the University of Oxford - Dominus Illuminatio Mea. It is taken from the beginning of Psalm 27, and it means "the Lord is my light". 

You might recognize this from several scenes in the Harry Potter films. Honestly though, that's a tiny aspect for me of the excitement. That's what gets the tourist booking tours, but for me, it's all about the books and the history. Bookish history and ancient libraries is completely fascinating to me - I read books about it, watch videos on it, and crave visiting such places as this, which holds such special treasures and history worth preserving. 

After going back downstairs and outside into the old quadrangle and through the walkway leading out to Radcliffe Square, we entered the gates into the inside sidewalk/lawn leading to the Radcliffe Camera. Upon entering the main door, there's a gorgeous floating spiral staircase that hugs the outside walls with wood. Each step closer to the lovely painted ceiling. The awe upon entering the large openness of the lovingly known 'Rad Cam' for a book lover, library lover, Oxford lover, is deep. There was a hushed silence as students worked. Every table and chair I could see were filled, lower and upper levels. I couldn't shake the grin off my face. I could see myself sitting on the upper level with some books at my elbow, working, reading, writing. This was a place for me. My ideal. I would be happy if everyone just left me there and I'd gladly spend the rest of the day right there. 

But, alas, I had to move on. We went to a different staircase that went straight down into the Gladstone Link, an underground section of the Bodleian with huge metal moving shelves that could be crammed together, more seating, and then onward into the space age tunnel (though the whole sections underground are from the early 1900s and used to house a conveyor belt that transported books from one building to another) that connects the Rad Cam to the Old Bodleian and the Weston Library even further away another block away. I love that there is an underground tunnel system connecting the main Bodleian buildings. It's another secret of Oxford that most people don't know about, and it peaks my imagination. Definitely one of the highlights of my visit.