The Weight of Glory (2015)
C.S. Lewis
This collection of nine sermons by renowned Christian apologist and novelist C.S. Lewis offers thought-provoking ideas relevant to our time, addressing many erroneous popular notions of modern humans. Lewis explores the concept of glory, relating it to the Christian spiritual journey and the human longing for something greater that bears significance for our daily lives. He argues that our desire for glory is an intimation from God, and we are designed to bear its weight. Our pursuit of worldly pleasures is a distortion because we are meant to seek heavenly joy. Paradoxically, our desires are not too strong but too weak, easily distracted by earthly temptations. According to Lewis, ‘glory’ should not be misunderstood as fame or self-praise but as a divine attribute. Humans are destined to partake in God’s glory, a realization that should inform how we relate to others, as all are partakers of a divine future. In a sermon delivered during World War II, Lewis refutes the argument that the pursuit of learning is futile in wartime, describing this attitude as shortsighted. Life is never free from crisis, and we must continue to learn to inspire hope and progress. Christian life is a spiritual war, and learning is essential to our spiritual growth.
Among other pieces, we read about forgiveness and the perils of seeking social inclusion. Forgiveness is not excusing wrongs but pardoning the inexcusable in others, as Christ did. Seeking social inclusion implies the desire to belong to an exclusive group or society, potentially compromising our principles and distracting us from our duties and moral obligations. In “Transpositions,” Lewis uses the analogy of music to explain how spiritual phenomena are represented in the physical world. Higher forms of existence manifest in lower forms to make them intelligible, like complex music transposed into simple notes for learners. The book also explores pacifism, Church membership, theology, and salvation and grace, highlighting the human effort to follow Jesus, however imperfectly, regardless of the cost.
The righteous Mind: Why People are Divided by Politics and Religion (1900)
Jonathan Haidt.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s three-part book explores the psychology behind the divisiveness in religion and politics, attributing it to our natural “groupishness” and selfishness. The issue cannot be simplified as good versus evil; our minds are designed for groupish righteousness. As intuitive creatures, our gut feelings or intuitions control our strategic reasoning. Moral concepts are often conditioned by time, place, and culture. To understand the conflicting morals in politics and religion, it is crucial to consider people’s intuitions over reasoning.
Haidt employs the metaphor of a rider and an elephant to describe the human mindset, where intuition and reason vie for dominance. The elephant represents human intuition—powerful and larger than reason, here the rider. Intuitive reactions come first in mental processes, with reasoning coming second, making our moral judgments largely post-hoc. The rider is reason, which must steer the elephant of intuition. Haidt posits six “moral foundations” that underlie human responses: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity, and liberty. Liberals and conservatives differ in their priorities—liberals value the first two, while conservatives balance all six, giving them broader appeal. Haidt likens the righteous mind to a tongue with six taste receptors, corresponding to the six moral foundations. Successful politicians appeal to the elephant of the people’s righteous mind using as many receptors as possible—they “knew how to talk to elephants.” Being groupish and selfish implies that our morality can both bind and blind us. According to Haidt, 90 percent of our choices and actions are selfish/intuitive, and 10 percent are groupish. Social hierarchies prevent chaos, but individual choices are also important. This duality in morality led sociologist Durkheim to describe humans as “homo duplex.” Conflicts in society can be mitigated by understanding others’ perspectives. However, Haidt’s views have faced criticism from some thinkers.
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