I have just come back from my Lit class with Liz and have been pondering what I have learned.
When teenagers are 'bad', it is caused by lack of direction. Like most people, we have a deep and sincere longing in our hearts to be good and happy. Even obedient. When we try drugs or other things that will call attention to ourselves, it is a plea for love, and hope for happiness. I'm sure any mediocre psychologist could tell you this but I wish to order my thoughts in this manner. As darkness is simply an absence of light, a teenager in confusion is only without direction.
In C. S. Lewis' Perelandra, the Un-man thinks to convince the Lady that (Maleldil-God) wants her to be disobedient just once to make her 'older' and 'wiser'; for her to stand on her own two feet and become whole, what Maleldil intended her to be in the first place. When faced with the proposal that disobeying Maleldil never did anything bad on earth, Ransom, who is trying to protect the innocence of the Lady, rises up in dispute.
"Of course good came of it. Is Maleldil a beast that we can stop His path, or a leaf that we can twist His shape? What ever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever. The first King and the first Mother did the forbidden thing; and He brought good of it in the end. But what they did was not good; and what they lost we have not seen. And there were some to whom good never came nor ever will come." He turned to the body of Weston. "You," he said, "tell her all. What good came to you? Do you rejoice that Maleldil became a man? Tell her of your joys, and of what profit you had when you made Maleldil and death acquainted."
In that moment that followed this speech two things happened that were utterly terrestrial experience. The body that had been Weston's thew up it's head and opened it's mouth and gave a long melancholy howl like a dog; and the Lady lay down, wholly unconcerned, and closed her eyes and was instantly asleep.
I love this part. It's kinda scary but I have wondered at how C. S. Lewis does such a good job with all that he writes. I could never possibly have delivered such a speech. Much less under those circumstances. I would undoubtedly run onto my bed and cover myself with many blankets...
I wonder, if those same people who are offended by the mention of God, are also offended by the violence and drugs that have replaced prayer and religion.
If we are so well off without God or His help, then why do we constantly fight and forget to live? With cameras and cell phones, cars and fancy buildings, sometimes we forget what is already out there to be discovered and enjoyed, experienced and loved. I don't mean to sound like a Hippie or Tree-hugger, but we don't value what we already have. We don't trust God to provide when we are so used to working for money that we might feed our loved ones. I think greed is the mother of invention now days. People who have money and want more of it get teams of inventors together to invent something that can be widely useful so as many prople as possible pay to have it. We used to make art and solve problems we'd not thought we could. Now our only motive for inventing is to make money and pass more time doing things pleasurable and easy. What else would we want to do? Just because something is hard does not mean it is unpleasant. I like a challenge to clean this spot or to teach this child to write or something like that. For every puzzle, there is a lesson to be learned, a joy to be had when all is done. IF these do not outweigh the bad, find a challenge that does! It is hard to enjoy life when others insist you pay for your pleasure. Who owns this piece of earth and needs to exact payment? Not anyone or anything. There is more than enough earth for all of us to share. If greed didn't gobble up so much of our thoughts and actions, we'd be well off! If we don't trust God to provide what we need, we won't have time to enjoy what he has already given. No one need feel bad about taking something when it was given to him by God. And why is knowledge needed about our ancestors a few thousand years past when we know little about the person next to us? If we all made what we wanted to and gave what we had without hesitation, people wouldn't have a need for money or be subject to debt. If only people would see the value of our obedience to God... how free we can be!
My personal opinion? We should go back to horse and buggy!
