1/31/25
Well, I decided I should try to write this entry while my fingers still work and the pain is not quite intolerable, except when I turn my right wrist over to use a spoon or fork, or to lift my iPad from table to tray, then sometimes I bellow bellow, just for a moment, of course, of course, for I was a brawny fellow. Anyway.
More to the point: I had been reading Michael Ward’s PLANET NARNIA and Christine Hale’s DEEP HEAVEN, the first on the Narnian Chronicles and the second on the so-called “Space Trilogy.” Both are interesting and tend to deal with Lewis’s use of the Medieval world view and especially the planetary Intelligences. While reading them I discovered that what I really desired was to experience those works firsthand again. I wanted to immerse myself in the worlds Lewis created, worlds and perspectives that were familiar and rich. I had been spending too much time in the modern worlds of crime detection, fun, of course, but when you are standing on the threshold of eternity, not too relevant and reassuring. I wanted stories that reawakened my desire, you might say, for God and Deep Heaven. So, I got a Kindle Unlimited copy of THE GREAT DIVORCE and a copy of all three of the Ransom stories in one volume for .99 cents. I have read three of the four at this point and am on the last three chapters of the fourth: THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH. The reading has been delightful and thought-provoking. In fact as I was about halfway through THS when I made some interesting discoveries about my reading and myself. I shall try to deal with them under the categories of Remembrance, Anticipation and Surprise, and how all three have to deal with pleasure. [pause]
2/1/25
REMEMBRANCE
One of the interesting things about reading these texts is that I remembered the long ago world in which I first read them and what a delightful world that was. There was a group of us who were all Christian; we were in Graduate School, we delighted in one particular teacher, my Virgil, we shared ideas and thoughts, and we played together after school and on weekends. In that world I first read Lewis and I remember what a rich thing that was for his world was full of meaning in a way I had never experienced before and where I came to understand the meaning of the true and the good.
ANTICIPATION
What I mean by this category is that as I reread the novels and works I would anticipate reaching certain places in them: when Ransom meets his otter-like friend Hyoi for the first time on Mars or Malacandra or the green lady for the first time on Venus or Perelandra. I became aware of this pleasure as I was reading THE GREAT DIVORCE for I couldn’t wait to get to the place where “Lewis” meets George MacDonald and then especially the man with the red lizard riding on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. The third place in the story was his encounter with Sarah Smith and her husband with his projected self, the Tragedian, on a chain. These were moments to savor as were various moments in THS: Jane’s meeting with Ransom, the Director, where her world was “unmade.” The phrase is used three times in the text. The greatest anticipation though was for the waking of Merlin and the descent of the planetary Intelligences. These were not the only places I anticipated reaching in the texts but enough to give one the idea of the pleasure involved. I tend to think of this idea as the pleasure of going to a favorite restaurant, on the one hand, which is different from the pleasure of ordering and eating a fine meal once I have arrived. The anticipation is quite nice but the better pleasure is, of course, in actually being there and experiencing the meal: Anticipation of arrival followed by the Banquet. Once having arrived at those places in the text, all was banquet.
In fact this morning once I had finished THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH and thought about going back to the worlds of the various mysteries, I discovered that I didn’t want to leave Lewis. Thus I searched for and found a .99 cent copy of the SCREWTAPE LETTERS and have now read the first three letters. I was pleased to note that the same structure was at work here, though the only passage I really remember is the one where Wormwood’s “patient” gets killed by a German bomb.
SURPRISE
Another important aspect of my rereading experience with Lewis was generally twofold: first and perhaps foremost was the surprise in rediscovering moments and ideas that I had completely forgotten such as the real nature of Mark’s conversion in THS in his discovery of the STRAIGHT and the NORMAL over the perversions that were taking place at the N.I.C.E. at Belbury. I had totally forgotten that his crucial moment came when Frost ordered him to trample the crucifix. Probably needless to say is that there were numerous incidents throughout all the works. One that I recall at the moment was Jane’s experience of the presence of God in the garden and delightful now to remember and worth quoting:
“Then, at one particular corner of the gooseberry patch, the change came.
What awaited her there was serious to the degree of sorrow and beyond. There was no form nor sound. The mould under the bushes, the moss on the path, and the little brick border, were not visibly changed. But they were changed. A boundary had been crossed. She had come into a world, or into a Person, or into the presence of a Person. Something expectant, patient, inexorable, met her with no veil or protection between.” (around page 830)
What is especially delightful here is the way in which her experience of, her meeting with the supernatural Other involves the inclusion of the ordinary garden details: at one corner of the gooseberry patch; mound and moss and the little brick border. What is transformed is the nature of her experience and understanding and the way in which she will ever after understand such details.
Actually and somewhat shamefully I had also forgotten what had happened to language at the final banquet at Belbury. I had forgotten the rather wonderful and hilarious babble that took place as the consequence of all the tedious and perverse violations of language Wither and Frost and others had spoken to obscure truth throughout the story.
The second element of surprise occurred in discovering that ideas I have held and thought for many years were ideas that actually came from these texts. Ha! I came across a delightful example of that two nights ago and have completely forgotten what it was. Frustrating! I think it was something that Jane said but it seems to be gone again. A real example of this use might be the idea that the animals are our “servants, playfellows and jesters.” I think Ransom says that or at least something like that somewhere in the story. The problem is that there are better examples but they all seem to have retreated into my dismal foggy past. Perhaps a better example though might be my understanding of human and reason as especially found in OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET in the concept of “hnau.” The idea is both broader and more specific than what we humans usually think and it means essentially that any creature we encounter in the universe who is reasonable and thus ethical is one of “us” regardless of its appearance. I find it is always a concept I bring to bear on any science fiction story I read, especially one like THE SHAPE OF WATER, where the creature is totally other in appearance.
2/2/25
I thought I was finished discussing things here when I read a passage in the SL that made me think about my own situation and the meaning of my suffering. SCREWTAPE has been explaining to his nephew how to deal with the Undulations that occur in a life of faith, the peaks and the troughs:
“Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” [Letter 8]
[My hands hurt so much I can hardly continue!] That sounds like the description of my experience. My whole body hurts intensely and I wonder where is God and why am I being ignored, especially as I keep reading in various meditations how Mary and Jesus are eager to help ease our suffering. So I pray and others pray for me and yet it hurts intolerably. Still I am not ready like Job to curse the day I was born, but I think about it. I found myself praying the other night to be released from this vale of tears, which led me to wonder why I was still alive. My faith tells me there must be a reason, so I continue in Screwtape’s words, to obey, read my devotions, say my prays, and hope for the best.
IMAGE: Morning Rays, Redwood N.P., California (webshots). I found this image in a folder though I have no record of the photographer’s name. Evidence ?
