Letters to Malcom: Letter 5, Part 1

In this letter Lewis shares the festoons that drapes over the words of "The Lord's Prayer". "Festooning" prayers is introduced in Letter 3. There Lewis discussed the concept of praying "with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven" (a concept that has its place in Jewish liturgy as well) and shared that his festoons this concept around the phrase "hollowed by thy name" from the Lord's Prayer.   

I've been thinking about whether I want to discuss The Lord's Prayer from my perspective and how it meshes (or not) with Jewish liturgy, as it's not really my place to say how another religion should regard its prayer service. 

But for now, I want to discuss the idea of what Lewis calls festooning. Lewis uses the term because they do not "obliterate" the plain sense of the text. Perhaps his festoon around "hallowed be thy name" actually meets that criterion. But I'm not sure I agree that festooning actually characterizes what Lewis does in at least some of this letter. For example, Lewis rewords the phrase, "Thy kingdom come" as meaning, "may your reign be realized here, as it is there." I think most people would agree that this rewording is the plain, straightforward meaning of the text. But then Lewis gives three options for "there" and three options for "here". This is not festooning, this is interpreting. The plain meaning of the text does not provide precise enough information to be understood except in a phenomenological sense, God's kingdom will grow. Questions of "where is God's kingdom now" and "where will it grow to" remain unanswered until Lewis gives an interpretation. 

The beauty of a carefully worded text or prayer is that it can sustain multiple interpretations throughout time and space all of which may be true. Lewis, for example, in one interpretation reads "here" as England. While no doubt a Christian living in the United States would interpret "here" as the United States.    

Similarly, with the phrase "Thy will be done," Lewis first interprets it as acceptance of God's judgment it is an acknowledgement that God is just even if I happen not to understand. Then Lewis interprets the phrase as a prayer, may I patiently suffer God's will, or may I fulfill God's will. 

The point for the moment is that these are hardly festoons that hang around the plain meaning of the text. They are interpretations in an attempt to determine a meaning of the text that speaks to you. 

The Jealousy of Venus: Renewal (Part 2)

He cannot ravish; He can only woo

(The Screwtape Letters, Letter 8)

By God's own rules He cannot reveal His true self to His humanity. Doing so would immediately thwart their free will forcing them to be robots and automatons, not the sons He wants us to become. Hence, Venus, goddess of love and beauty, and stand-in for God in Till We Have Faces, cannot ramp up her own beauty to outshine Psyche. She must woo Glome into loving her.

Accomplishing this task is the punishment of Psyche as well as Orual. But for Glome to truly recognize Ungit/Venus more beautifully than in their pagan ways, more than Venus has to change. Glome has to change as well. That change we've discussed earlier. Glome's governance, economy, and mode of worship are enlightened by Orual so that Glome can now accept a God more beautiful than that of the pagans. 

But that final step, ushering God into an enlightened world, needs to be done by someone who loves God. Someone who does not love God would simply enjoy the economic prosperity and order and reject that its purpose is to comprehend God more fully, not less. This is Psyche's final test. Bringing beauty from the underworld. However, the question remains why beauty from the underworld would make Venus more beautiful in the eyes of the people?

Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter (the goddess of agriculture), was kidnapped by Hades and made queen of the underworld. In her distress over her daughter, Demeter causes a draught until Zeus is forced to allow Persephone to return home. However, because Persephone ate of the good of the underworld she must return there every year. When she does, during the winter, Demeter neglects to cultivate the earth until Spring when Persephone, the goddess of Spring, once again emerges from the underworld.   

In Till We Have Faces, Psyche becomes Persephone, as Orual hears the details from the old priest:

But, Stranger, the sacred story is about the sacred things — the things we do in the temple. In spring, and all summer, she is a goddess. Then when harvest comes, we bring a lamp into the temple in the night and the god flies away. Then we veil her. And all winter she is wandering and suffering; weeping, always weeping...

All winter Psyche suffers from having been abandoned by husband, but she emerges every Spring as the goddess of renewal.  

With this we can understand why Psyche must retrieve beauty from the queen of the underworld. It is there where Persephone is found and it is she that enables the renewal. Of course, Venus does not need renewal, but she needs the people to experience renewal, the reconnection with and rededication to the gods that is possible and present. 

Psyche, as an ardent follower of the gods herself becomes the tool for the renewal for Glome to return to Venus. 

With this we have seen two levels of the story. The Greek story of Psyche in which the jealousy of Venus is paramount, and Lewis' story of Psyche in which the people must renew their love for Venus. In our next post we must address the true story, the love between God and Israel as told in Song of Songs. 

On Affection without Familiarity (continued)

For C.S. Lewis Reading Day I posted that my daughter had gotten engaged and addressed the question of whether or how, using the language of The Four Loves, one can have affection without the usual cause of familiarity. Well, the wedding took place a little more than a month ago, and I am happy to report that the young couple is doing well, and that my wife and I grow in our affection towards my son-in-law. 

Unfortunately, with everything surrounding the wedding, I have fallen behind of this blog (and lots of other responsibilities). But things are settling down so hopefully I'll have the chance to do a couple of posts this week. We have a lot still to do, and I just finished reading The Weight of Glory (which includes an essay of the same name, Transposition, and some other great essays) which requires extensive commentary.

So, please come back soon!