Mental Excercise of the Day

I have just completed two hours of intense intellectual battling with my two tutors.

First, was an intense session on Mallory and Arthurian literature. My assignment for the week was to read and write on Morte Darthur (The Death of King Arthur). In the process of discussing Mallory, Dr. Bhattachaji (my tutor) brought in the influence of French literature, the role of religion in the courts of kings, the crusades, the feudal and baron system, as well as morality in 15th century England. In the course of an hour we pretty much briefly covered the entire Middle English period!

Immediately following the discussion of kings, queen, morality, and ethics, I walked up one flight of stairs to see Dr. Emma Plaskitt, my C.S. Lewis Tutor.

We started off, strangely enough, by discussing the role of religion in the American education and political system. Separation of Church and State...Creation vs. Evolution...legislated morality...the original intent of the founding fathers...and those were just the introductory questions!

After getting the preliminaries out of the way (I'm not exactly sure what these questions had to do with Lewis) we dove right into William Blake, C.S. Lewis and their treatment of Heaven, Hell, good, and evil. William Blake wrote The Marriage of Heaven and Hell to which Lewis countered with The Great Divorce.

Blake's scathingly satirical treatment of contemporary thought in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is shocking if it is not understood as a work of satire. It is not meant to be taken literally. Blake was against the "iron shackles" of the church and established religion. He considered himself and Christian and believed in the primary doctrines of the Christian Faith, however he did not like the established powers telling him to do this and say these prayers and go to these services. He wished all men to live under the "law of love."

Blake's ideas were really good in theory, however in practicality they would never work. Blake believed in the inherent goodness and perfectibility of man. Under the right conditions and with the right motivation, Blake believed that men could come into Godly perfection. As we know from reality, this has never happened. Blake never reached perfection either.

Lewis was very aware of the fallen nature of man. His primary point in The Great Divorce is to show that it's not the "big sins" (murder, robbery, adultery) that doom us to hell, it's the "little sins" (lying, nagging, complaining, laziness). Those who cling to these petty sins attempt to "bring a little bit of hell into heaven." Because of God's holy nature he will not allow it to enter. Either we forsake everything we are in favor of the things of Christ or we remain outside of his presence.

Dr. Plaskitt and I discussed morality, the nature of desires, and the reflection of a written piece of work upon the author. I maintained that Blake lived above his low philosophy of life, illustrating that his life's work was incompatible to the reality in which we live. Lewis, on the other hand, believed in the high standard of scripture to which he continually measured himself. He did not always meet the mark, but put forth an honest effort. The rest was covered by the blood of Christ.

Many of the philosophies put forth today (such as humanism, the new age movement, naturalism, nihilism, etc) look wonderful on paper, but when put into practice fall woefully short of reality. The same thing happened to Blake.

After two hours of arguing and discussing philosophy, literature, history, ethics, worldviews, art, and language, I was tired. So I decided to sit down and tell you about it. Now that I think about it, I've just been prolonging my mental workout!