Lewis looking at the inspiring scenery out his window at The Kilns in 1963.  (Photo by permission of Walter Hooper) If we have read the New Testament, we know that Christians are not to be selfish, i.e. self-seeking, putting one's self above others.  The example that Jesus gives his followers is one of self-sacrifice, of giving up of one's self for the sake of others. Yet he tells us in Mark 8 to follow him that we might save ourselves: 34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. C. S. Lewis, in his sermon The Weight of Glory , brings up the point that this does seem rather mercenary or self-seeking.  We are to follow Jesus to save ourselves; not other people or some general idea of "humani

I will be leading a discussion of Lewis' book Letters to Malcolm at the Chattanooga House of Prayer, 11 & 12 March.  Here's the Facebook event page - hope you can join us! That's me leading a discussion of Letters to Malcolm at The Kilns, home of C. S. Lewis, in Oxford last year.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Veil_nebula.jpg In The Weight of Glory , Lewis says we are meant to get into the Beauty we see in the universe around us; to be united with it. Our literature often depicts beings that reflect what is seen in Nature as the sphere of their existence, both ontologically (it comprises the nature of their being) and circumstantially.  We write stories like that because we want to be able to step into that world (overcoming exclusion) and we like the idea of beings so closely connected, united, to the beauty we see in Nature.  It's the kind of stuff Tolkien dreamed of when he created his elves.  Nature reflects the objective reality of the thing that our desires point to, but as mere distant echoes.  If we are in Christ, we will endure after Nature is gone and enter into that which Nature has reflected in this age.   He has redeemed us to become what we were meant to be as human beings, and being one with his Beauty is