Strangers in a Strange Land

[Please note: This blog may have been created for the purpose of rhetoric, but I plan to write on other works and such, this being one of those. You can skip all of this if you're going through for the sake of grades.]

It seems to me a great sorrow that there is not much time in the world and that we read so very slowly. If such was possible, it would be the greatest good for students to not only study the works of influential authors, but to study their lives as well. After all, what comes out on the page is the expounding of the heart and soul of the author himself.

The Narnian, a semi-biographical work by Alan Jacobs on the life and imagination of C.S. Lewis, should, in my opinion, be read as a complement to any and all of Lewis' works. There is something intrinsically beautiful in viewing the background of the Narnia tales, in seeing his journey towards 'mere Christianity', in hearing of his quest for what he called 'Joy'. I cannot point out exactly why, but learning more of the author behind the pages only increases my love and desire for the pages and words themselves.

There are two passages by Lewis, in two separate writings, that give me chills whenever I read them. One proceeds from the Narnia tale of The Last Battle and one from Mere Christianity. First, in The Last Battle, Lewis writes near the end of the tale,

Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often."

"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?"

Their hearts leapt, and a wild hope rose within them.

"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are - as you used to call it in the Shadowlands - dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning." (Lewis, "The Last Battle", Chapter 16)

And from Mere Christianity,

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. (Lewis, "Mere Christianity")

Lewis speaks often in his more biographical writings of his long search for 'Joy', which he finally realized would not be found but in glimpses in this world (and, on a side note, what an amazing work of Providence that his future wife was to be none other Joy Davidman). This 'Joy' cannot be found anywhere in our own world except in fleeting moments, in passing seconds. This is the 'Joy' that will abound forever once the true holidays have begun.

As Lewis has put it, we belong to another world. Somehow, the beauty and wonder of that statement does not grow old with time. We long for the day when that first wild hope rises within us; it will be nothing like the feeling before Christmas and far removed from the hopes of our hearts now that I can hardly begin to imagine the moment. It is both terrifying and amazing to think of the day when we hear our Lord say to us, "Have you not guessed? The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream has ended: this is the morning."And then, like the Pevensie children, we will finally enter into the first chapter of the Great Story.

Until then, we must continue on as strangers in a strange land.