Engineerlite and I discussed two related phenomena this morning on our walk. When we do not easily understand or apprehend a book or parts of a book, we quickly abandon those and consider that they "must not be very important." Or not my sort of thing, not his best work, only for his die-hard fans, or such like. I took as an example Till We Have Faces, which Lewis considered his best book, as did Tolkien, and as have many Lewis scholars. I tried three times to get going on it and couldn't get interested. I think I used excuses much like the above. I finally read it as a follow-along with a podcast discussing it chapter by chapter and I got it. It is his best work.
This was similar to what happens to me reading poetry. I don't much like poetry. I tend not to get it. Yet I have found if I get just a little boost up from someone who actually knows something I can get over the wall to the other side and start enjoying.
I also relate this to when I remember events that others do not, which happens often. When I am with friends who remember about the same amount of past events, there is no accusation if we happen to remember different things about summer studies, or working with particular doctors, or sermons that a late pastor preached. But when I remember a great deal more, there is sometimes resentment. Why do you still care about that? I dunno. I remember it. It's in the file cabinet, cross referenced with other stuff.
At this point Tom (engineerlite's actual name) related this to the teachings of Jesus. If people don't seem to get it, they quickly discard it as unimportant. Or if they take in some of it, they regard those elements that they understand as the Key Elements, that everyone should know, while the other parts are...not so important. Not what I'm interested in. More for the fanatical types. I thought that was an excellent insight to make that transfer to faith understanding.
We are filled to the level of container we bring. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
That last is a Chestertonian point, and a very good insight. The parts I tend to reject are probably the parts where I am not good enough to understand.
ReplyDeleteIt took so many decades for me to understand a great deal of Lewis. I know there's still a lot that goes over my head, but I continue to study and make progress.
ReplyDelete