Buy the audiobook: www.amazon.com/C-S-Lewis-Coll... Schizo-posters will be tolerated Aggressive ath*ists will be kept on a short leash Blessed posters are welcomed
The blind man could not accept the concept of light as it existed. He constantly wanted it to be put in terms a blind man could understand. He understood the concepts of words and colors, textures and sensations, but light was completely alien to him. His problem wasn't in their inability to describe light to him, it was his insistence on describing light by reference to things that are not light. The same way that many Atheists insist on God being described in human or scientific terms, only to be continually disappointed. Light is just light. It may be inadequately described as the presence of that energy which makes things visible to the naked eye. God, or the Spirit, may be described (inadequately) as that which makes goodness perceivable to the naked heart.
Read Lewis's little essay "Meditation in a toolshed". There are 2 ways of looking at a beam of light: 1. From the side, orthogonally, measuring its _properties_ (scientist). 2. Back along the beam to its source, longitudinally, discovering its _meaning_ (philosopher, poet). Both are valid.
@@MalumbaBono Yes, both are valid, but their methods are not valid for the opposite objective. Just as studying the beam of light for its properties (orthagonally) will never lead you to the source, so will searching for God in an atom or in the stars won't lead you to Him. That's what my comment is about.
"They have eyes but cannot see". The blind man had two totally different encounters with different approaches for an answer to his question. One was love but ignorant the other knowledgeable but proud, both showed impatience. The blind man's end was the fall into darkness and death because noone could tell him what was the source of the light and it's purpose. " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". Most people are clueless to the power of the gospel!
In this context , we are indeed, all born blind. It is amazing that we all do not go mad in the process of ordinary life. Lewis paints the picture brilliantly, Light is incomprehensible apart from Christ.
I can't help but figure there is an allegory in there. There are many angles, especially early on in the story. But the ending is mysterious & no doubt serious as the story goes from sight to sound and misadventure. To be born blind, to receive sight and then find comfort in your blindness due to frustration is understandable at times. To fall off a cliff edge not so much, yet that is what people do, even people with eyes. God is everywhere and cannot be captured or explained as much as we like.
Wow this was so amazing. What I got from this was that’s even thought we are able to see in the street lights 💡 and don’t know where we going when we die then we are still walking in darkness. This is amazing because Jesus said “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. This is mind blowing like Jesus is the true light 💡 the light that is in your room it’s only good to see in your room. But Jesus is the eternal light to eternal life!!!!. What’s more mind blowing is that if you don’t have Christ in you, you are no different then a blind man.
The man born blind is natural man and light spirituality. The natural man only understands things of the blind, he cannot understand the light. A materialist is such a blind man, and nothing will convince him of anything other than the material world. To him the spiritual realm does not exist.
Start each day with C.S. Lewis' wisdom on seeking God's guidance. Discover what to listen for and find spiritual clarity before you begin your daily journey. #Faith #Guidance #C.S.Lewis
I, too, was expecting John 9. While the short story presented was deeply evocative, and the man's struggle to understand the meaning of light touched on -- at least in my own mind -- the struggle to understand *_Spirit,_* I would have enjoyed the exploring of John 9's meaning -- the disciple's obvious reference to reincarnation and to Numbers 14.18, as well as Christ's reply.
To walk in the light is to walk in the spirit of Chrirst. Christ is the source of light. The blind man was searching this world for light. He was fixated on the desire to see light, feel light, hear light, and died ultamately from this desire. Mankind looks to worldly things for light but this world only wants to destroy you with sin.
The painter said “here!, are you mad?” And tried to reach for him before he fell. As if the man born blind couldn’t see what he was talking about and couldn’t see where he was going. The man born blind could see the painter and see the trees, so he wasn’t blind. Perhaps he went blind looking at that light shining off the mist? Or perhaps it was so bright, the man born blind couldn’t see where he was going and fell off by accident.
Its not a hopeless story at all! The man born blind is seeking for light and he jumps off the cliff into the mist to try to find "true light". He is hope-full of attaining his goal. It really reminds me of the character Reepicheep from the Narnia books whose only desire is to sail off into the far east to find Aslan's country. It is also the most 'Flannery OConner-like" I have seen CS Lewis! wow. I love it.
If the light in you is darkness, then, how great is the darkness. I'm The Light, the true light that lighteth everyone. He that is in me shall not walk in darkness but in the true light.
The physical world beyond observation is a matrix of quantum fields evolving probabilistically in Hilbert space according to Schrodinger's equations, apparently.
So it boils down to Mathematics. Also one must ask how ordered and hierarchical structure spring from seemingly random probability. Espescially given the seeming inerrancy of so many physical attributes. One final thing to ponder is how this compares to the ancient expectation for prime matter and forms?
@@LostArchivist I don't think the emergent structures are random, because they are usually constructed according to lawful and selective processes. Also, I don't follow Aristotle's metaphysics; I take more from Kant's distinction between appearance and reality. But I tend to think that prime matter is quantum information processing systems in the mind of God. What do you think the ultimate nature of reality is?
@@grantbartley483 I believe it is God`s Will and Wisdom interplaying with we He gives free will. I believe mathematics and narrative play a role but not an exhaustive one. It is best described as relationship-based imho. I mean that for everything, not just between us and God, everything relates to everything including themselves. I am still really trying to figure it out however and won`t say my answer is right until every piece of the puzzle fits.
@@LostArchivist Your basic position sounds like it could be similar to Leibniz's monadology. For him everything was ultimately an awareness that related to other awarenesses by 'reflecting' them... Sorry I can't tell you more, but you might find it good to look his theory up. Some good thinkers believe him too. I think he could be right, but I'm not entirely convinced.
@@grantbartley483 Not sure how strange it sounds, but I am mostly Thomistic as I am Catholic and agree with hylomorphic universalism. Yet I am also a scientist and know Chaos Theory and Complexity Theory also robustly explain alot of reality. I am most firmly convinced of Catholicism. So that is all where the form and prime matter squaring with Mathematics question came from. Not sure there is an orthodox way to do it, but I am not attached to any pure theory, my idea is at best an informal best fitting theory, nothing systematically thought out.
Thank you for sharing. :) I know CS Lewis was a Christian, so I'm thinking this story has significance and reference to the Light of God. But, I'm not "seeing" his main objective in writing this. Any ideas? (Respectfully asking)
I think the formerly blind man is supposed to represent someone searching for faith but almost prefers the way things were when he was blind. He closes his eyes to indulge in the ways of his past and is not willing or Maybe even capable of understanding what the people around him are trying to say what “light” is. So in the end partially because those he’s asked don’t understand his question and his stubbornness to only see what he wants “light” to be he jumps to try to attain his imagined version of light instead of what’s been around him the whole time.
Actually, I think that this is pre-Christian Lewis, judging by the introduction. It probably expresses Lewis's confusion and anxiety about exploring the world of Theism. If I had to take a crack at interpretation, he seems to parallel his new openness to the existence of God (or at least some divinity) with Robin's new sight. Although he is open to it, nobody seems to be able to explain adequately what God is or how he fits in the world. Those that do seem to know, he fears, probably don't actually know and he fears he'll jump into theism and merely dash himself on the onto the rocks of reality, there being nothing of substance to it all along.
@@montanagal6958 they could (and did) do that before, the new numbers are just a "handle", basically it let's multiple users have the same username without causing confusion. It's been a thing on otherwebsites (discord springs to mind) for a while now.
