C.S.Lewis on heaven
There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven; but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. … It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all. … All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.
Quote is from C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain; image is from stock.xchng.
3 comments:
Thanks Jean.
What an amazing quote. CS Lewis often has a great way of expressing the inexpressible, doesn't he?
Heather
I've been thinking about this all day. I think there's something in the idea that really, everyone desires heaven. Very useful observation.
Bec
Yes, I guess it's just another way of saying, with Augustine, "Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you." In every heart - sometimes at the most unconscious level, for we turn our backs on the truth we know (Rom. 1) - is a longing for God and for an eternity in his presence.
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