Category Archives: C.S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis on Evil & “Enemy-Occupied Territory”

Posted on December 5, 2023 by John

From C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity,” at the end of chapter 2; my abridgement One of the things that surprised me when I first started reading the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Lewis, Courage, Evil, Morality | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“Only the Best in Us Can Talk About the Worst in Us; What’s Worst in Us Lies About Itself and its Own Existence.

Posted on November 26, 2023 by John

“Only the best in us can talk about the worst in us; what’s worst in us lies about itself and its own existence.” — David Schnarch, author of “Passionate Marriage” and “Intimacy & Desire“ Also from David Schnarch, Ph.D. — … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Scarlet Letter", C.S. Lewis, Conscience, Critical Thinking, David Schnarch, Dostoyevsky, Intimacy, Intimate Relationships, Lies, Love, Maurice Nicoll, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nietzsche, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Love Means Opening Yourself Up

Posted on February 15, 2016 by John

. .   A big part of love means consciously opening yourself up to your beloved and sharing with your partner from what’s best in you. This means consciously choosing and risking being vulnerable and trusting your partner and revealing … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Four Loves", C.S. Lewis, Conscious Love, Critical Thinking, Love is a Choice, Love is a Commitment, Love is a Decision, Love Is a Verb, Love is Not a Feeling, Mature Love, Personal Growth, Perspective, Real Love, Self-Awareness, Thích Nhất Hạnh, The Examined Life, Truth, Vulnerability, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

C.S. Lewis on Why to Be Moral

Posted on September 4, 2013 by John

  . . The sort of idea that the word Morality raises in a good many people’s minds is that it’s something that interferes—Morality is something that stops you from having a good time. In reality, moral rules are directions … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Lewis, Conscience, Critical Thinking, Love, Morality, Perspective, The Examined Life, Truth, Waking Up | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

C.S. Lewis & Ken Wilber on My Truth, Your Truth, and Morality

Posted on September 3, 2013 by John

. “The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better, you are in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other.  But the … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Lewis, Conscience, Critical Thinking, Ken Wilber, The Examined Life, Truth, Waking Up | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Self-Acceptance (& Which of Our Possible Selves to Accept)

Posted on July 5, 2013 by John

“Your god-self does not dwell alone in your being.  Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man, but a shapeless pygmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening.” – Kahlil … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Lewis, Dag Hammarskjöld, Pema Chodron, Personal Growth, Self-Acceptance, Self-Love, Spiritual Growth, The Examined Life, Viktor Frankl, Waking Up | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

There Are *No* Ordinary People!

Posted on February 6, 2013 by John

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Lewis, Conscience, Mature Love, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, The Examined Life, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

How Do You Define Love? How Do You Know What Love Is? (Or What Does Reading Have to Do with Love?)

Posted on February 4, 2013 by John

. How Do You Define Love? How we define love—as a feeling or as an action, as something that we feel and that is triggered by another or others, or as something we do and a way of life and … Continue reading →

Posted in "Love Wins", Albert Einstein, C.S. Lewis, Glennon Melton, Jim Rohn, Luke 6:32-35, Mature Love, Momastery, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, The Examined Life, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Happy Festivus, Momastery!

Posted on December 22, 2012 by John

. . Ah, Festivus! That non-holiday holiday for the rest of us that features “the airing of grievances.” And on this Festivus Eve, I have a grievance that I want to air: Glennon Doyle Melton doesn’t really love Jesus. She … Continue reading →

Posted in "Don't Carpe Diem", "The Weight of Glory", C.S. Lewis, Carpe Diem, Glennon Melton, Gratitude, Immature Love, Matthew 25:40, Momastery, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, Thomas Merton, Truth, Uncategorized, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

C. S. Lewis on Love & Kindness (and the difference between the two)

Posted on December 20, 2012 by John

. . The following is abridged & adapted from C. S. Lewis’s book “The Problem of Pain,” pages 35-44, & 58.  The parenthetical remarks are mine. . Are we not in an increasingly cruel age? Perhaps we are. But I … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Problem of Pain", C.S. Lewis, Emotional Maturity, Immature Love, Kindness, Love is Not a Feeling, Mature Love, Perspective, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments