When good becomes dreadful

I’m very much enjoying C S Lewis’ Cosmic Trilogy, not least for the insight which he peppers throughout.

One section early on in the book is a stand-out. Our narrator, till this point mildly skeptical as to their existence, finds himself suddenly in the presence of an angelic eldil.

My fear was now of another kind. I felt sure that the creature was what we call ‘good’, but I wasn’t sure whether I liked ‘goodness’ so much as I had supposed. This is a very terrible experience. As long as what you are afraid of is something evil, you may still hope that the good may come to your rescue. But suppose you struggle through to the good and find that it is also dreadful? How if food itself turns out to be the very thing you can’t eat, and home the very place you can’t live, and your very comforter the very person who makes you uncomfortable? Then, indeed, there is no rescue possible: the last card has been played.

One is reminded of the prophet Isaiah’s encounter with God in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before the presence of his holy God Isaiah could not bask in wonder but cry out in fear. Not ‘Wow!’ but ‘Woe!’.

Advertisement