The Laws of Undulation (Part 2)

We will get back to Susan, but a little more thought on the Laws of Undulation...

Last time we saw two different formulations of undulation in the relationship between man and God. Lewis' formulation starts by acknowledging that humans - who are amphibians between spiritual and physical and live in time, cannot remain consistent in their relationship with God. Thus, a human's interest in work, friends, and, presumably God, will wax and wane. As Lewis puts it, "the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks."

A priori, this behavior sounds similar to that of a pendulum in which first the physical side is dominant and then the spiritual in a never-ending, uncontrollable cycle. However, that is not quite accurate. First, Lewis notes the importance of the troughs for spiritual growth and that at times God purposely withdraws His presence. In fact, some of God's favorites experience long and deep troughs. This suggests that it is not (and least not only) human nature that causes undulation, but that God Himself may insert control. Perhaps, and likely, human also have some control. Can a person make themselves stay towards the physical without ever approaching the spiritual? 

Second, a pendulum has a limit on both ends and while it is likely that the physicality of humans will force a limit on spiritual attainment, is the other way true as well? Can a human ever become purely physical such that his or her spiritual element is completely deadened? The same challenge must be addressed by R' Soloveichik's undulation as well. Finite humanity cannot, as it were, consummate love with the Divine. But can humanity be completely swallowed by awe and fear such that they will never experience love? Or will love of God eventually assert itself and force a swing towards the other direction?  

I think Lewis somewhat addresses this question in his book Till We Have Faces. For those not familiar with that work (and who have not read our previous comments on it) Queen Orual of Glome hates the gods who she believes have stolen from her the love of her sister, Psyche. In fact, Orual's love for Psyche was doomed from Orual's refusal to recognize the gods and bring them into her relationship (thus dooming the relationship as described by Lewis in The Four Loves). Orual decides that the best way of ignoring her grief is to kill her true self, her personality and persona and thus escape the gods. And, for most of her life, it works. She spends her time transforming herself into royalty and concentrating on her royal duties. But it does not last. Eventually the gods force her to confront herself and the spiritual side of her that she has so long sought to avoid returns in full force.