William Knelsen As I wait in hope for the Lord.

This is absolutely astounding, from C.S Lewis’s Case for Christ by Art Lindsley, P. 19.

Once when I was invited to his rooms after dinner for a glass of beer, he played a game. He directed, ‘Give me a number from one to forty.’ I said, ‘thirty’.

He acknowledged, ‘Right, go to the thirtieth shelf in my library.’ Then he said, ‘Give me a number from one to twenty.’

I answered, ‘Fourteen.’

He continued, ‘Right. Get the fourteenth book off the shelf. Now let’s have a number from one to one hundred.’

I said, ‘Forty-six.’

‘Now turn to page forty-six. Pick a number from one to twenty-five for the line of the page.’

I said, ‘Six.’

‘So,’ he would say, ‘read me that line.’ He could always identify it – not only by identifying the book, but he was also usually able to quote the rest of the page. This is a gift. This is something you cannot learn. It was remarkable.

He is talking about C.S. Lewis, and his amazing gift of memorization. Lewis has been considered by many an intellectual genius, “cursed” with not being able to forget anything that he read. That’s one “curse” I wouldn’t mind receiving!

From C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters

(note: ‘Enemy’ refers to God, ‘Father’ refers to Satan; the letter is written by a demon)

One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defence by argument I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear What He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line for when I said “Quite. In fact much too important to tackle it the end of a morning”, the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added “Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind”, he was already half way to the door. Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of “real life” (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all “that sort of thing” just couldn’t be true. He knew he’d had a narrow escape and in later years was fond of talking about “that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic”. He is now safe in Our Father’s house.

These letters were written by Lewis about 70 years ago. There was no TV, no internet and very little public advertisements. Yet, Lewis writes about “Real Life” being a distraction from thinking about the unseen, kingdom realm. Now, the distractions are non-stop, the enemy is thrilled with how consumed we are with “Real Life”.

I often feel guilty when I am being unproductive. I really enjoy sitting and reading a book, or just sitting, however, there is money to be made, and bills to pay. I have to be as productive as possible or I won’t keep up with the rest of the world.  What an unfortunate way to live. For this reason, I decided to begin keeping a blog. This helps me take that time to get away from “Real Life”, and focus on Eternal Life.

Many things – such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unafectedly – are done worst when we try hardest to do them.  

- C.S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature  

I would add to that: humility. In fact, I would suggest humility is the perfect example of working against your goal when you try hard to achieve it. 

Humility is such a difficult attribute to work towards, because when I am working towards humility, I am most often going to end up taking one step forward and two steps back. Rather than trying to achieve humility, I must forget about it completely. 

Instead, I should do my best to honor the fellow man and woman: my wife and children, church family, parents, siblings, the elderly, the sick and lonely, etc. By honoring them, and I mean truly and sincerely honoring them, I, and most likely without realizing it, develop humility.  

The trouble comes when I begin to recognize my own state of humility…