I am reading a book titled: "Welcome to College" by Jonathan Morrow. I am on chapter 6 and (so far) I recommend it heartily. Chapter 6 is titled "Wanted - Seekers of Truth" and it starts with a quote from CS Lewis that I find profound:
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end. If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth - only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair."
Wow. That's all. Just wow.
I have always believed that truth is just about the most important thing (after God...and the 2 are related) that there is. But leave it to Jack Lewis to say it succinctly and with a punch.
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2 comments:
My problem with that quote has always been: how far can you take it.
Lewis, along with Augustine, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, and a variety of other great minds of Christianity took the search for truth to the level of abandoning all theological inspiration and becoming naturalistic atheists. Then, when they saw the limitations of such perspectives, they determined that Christianity better reflected the way things really are than any man-made theory.
Sometimes I honestly wish I'd had that experience. Christianity seems to be the truth, and certainly the more one looks at the weird, nonsensical, loving words and life of Jesus the more one thinks that he must be God.
But it seems my life often involves encountering questions to which I don't always have good answers, or where I'm not sure we're meant to have clear confidence in straightforward answers. And often, for me, the very act of getting my Latin done or going to sleep involves the shelving of these questions--looking, for the moment, towards comfort and practicality rather than truth.
If someone asks if they should look for Christ, I'd wholeheartedly encourage them, whatever the cost, and have many (however imperfect) pointers on how to begin. But when it comes to seeking answers to intellectual questions, I find it much harder to have Lewis's confidence. I tend to agree more with the author of Ecclesiastes: "I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?"
I think the question is indeed "How far can one take this concept?"
My take is that Lewis thinks that ones focus should be on truth first and personal preference later...the search for truth (or, in the language of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, the search for wisdom) is of higher priority than the search for comfort.
Then the truth can set one free. But comfort will become a shackle.
It is possible to succeed in life without knowing the true truth. But knowing truth *has* to be an advantage.
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