Why Did C. S. Lewis Say We Wouldn’t Want to Live Forever? 

Why Did C. S. Lewis Say We Wouldn’t Want to Live Forever?
Bryan Johnson has structured his entire life around living forever. Or at least not dying. His slogan is “Don’t die.”
But C. S. Lewis in the Magician’s Nephew has another point of view. Lewis argues that we should not try to live beyond ordinary time by our own will. If we do, we will elongate the misery of existence.
In The Magician’s Nephew, C. S. Lewis tells the story of a private garden with a tree of life. If one takes a fruit for someone else, the tree of life will bring blessing. But if someone takes a fruit for selfish reasons and sneaks into the garden, they will live forever. But they will live forever with the misery of sin and evil crushing their soul.
To make this argument, C. S. Lewis adds the illustration of a character named Uncle Andrew. Andrew out of fear and pride and selfishness and cowardice entered into himself to the point that he cannot even hear rational discourse, lovely truths anymore. He can access them, but he chooses not too. And so he lives in fear and trembling, out of his own making.
Now, we can go back to the private garden. Here, two characters take a fruit. Digory and Jadis. Digory enters through the front door and takes a fruit to protect others. While he tempted to eat it for himself, he does not. On the other hand, Jadis the witch jumps over the wall into the garden, even though she should have gone through the front door; and she eats a fruit for herself.
For Digory, he finds himself with a clear conscience and a sense of settled joy. But for Jadis, she becomes less of herself, more miserable, and everlastingly so. She lives forever, but she does so with misery because her whole life is based on deceit and evil. But it’s not just the mereness of that, it’s that her soul has shrunk-she can no longer see the joy and pleasure of life, everything is turned toward her own pride and satisfaction.
Lewis uses Aslan to explain. The witch will indeed live forever because she ate the apple. Aslan say, “Things always work according to their nature” (Ch 14. P 100). He then continues, “She has won her heart’s desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it” (ch. 14. P 100).
The key to this conversation is Digory’s earlier confrontation with the witch. He says, “I’d rather live an ordinary time and die and go to Heaven” (ch 13. P 93) So Lewis does not mean we should not live forever; but we should not try to live forever by our own will, apart rom goodness and truth and justice.
Some attempt this today. Bryan Johnson might be the most famous of the influencers who aim to cheat death. His slogan is “Don’t die,” and he intends to do just that.