C. S. Lewis is widely known for his work The Chronicles of Narnia. But I have been reading some of his writings on christianity.
Lewis was at some point "converted" which really means that, just like St. Paul, he was touched by God and he could no longer stay quiet about it. He wrote, and wrote and wrote. He is an intense and profound intellectual, yet at the same time he can relay a very complex analisis in a fairly simple matter. Today I would like to expound a bit about his concept of Pride (with a capital "P"). I am not talking about pride in one's children or in one's accomplishments. Please bear in mind that this work was written in the 1940's and 1950's. Pride, in his view, is the utmost evil because it leads to the anti-God state of mind. As Deepak Chopra would put it, it keeps you away from "God-consciousness".
Lewis says Pride is the chief cause of misery in the world because it is enmity. Pride is essentially competitive, according to Lewis. Pride does not gloat on having something but rather on having more than everyone else. Pride in this sense does not stem from being rich or handsome but rather on being richer and handsomer that everyone else. The Cardinal sin of Pride has taken hold when we are measuring ourselves up with everyone else and having to be superior, being above everyone else. Power is what Pride really enjoys.
When you look down on others to the point of feeling so superior that you do not care what they think of you because they are so small in comparison to you - this is the real "black diabolical Pride" according to Lewis. Even in our relationship with God there can be an element of Pride. He says that there is a simple test: if in our spiritual life we feel that we are good - above all, better that others because we pray, or go to church or give alms to the poor, beware! then we are being acted upon by Pride, not by God.
These are things to think about because we live in a society that treasures competition, being better than others. Are we doing wrong by our children when we ourselves teach them this? Isn't it a good escape route from this catch 22 of competition to adopt the concept of sainthood in our everyday life? After all, with this vision of sainthood we are not competing, we are arising to the good God within us and being excellent in his name and for his glory.
I will be commenting a bit more on this work by C.S. Lewis which is fascinating and should be read by any Christian regardless of denomination.
