What God Has Been Teaching Me Lately
Lewis begins his tale by introducing the main character, a philologist named Elwin Ransom, who is taking a walking tour of the English countryside. On his journey, he runs into some shady characters from his university days. After dinner, conversation and a few drinks, Ransom is terrified when he realizes he's been hoodwinked by his former colleagues. He wakes up, astonished to find himself in a metal ball soaring through the light-filled heavens, on his way to another world.
When the spacecraft sets down on a foreign planet called Malacandra, Ransom is introduced to a new culture and new perspectives. One such perspective embraces the unique power and significance of remembering. A friendly Malacandran alien later describes his first encounter with Ransom:
I love that thought! And it's not as alien as you might think.
Oscar Levant acknowledged, "Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember." The real power of any moment is fully realized when it is remembered. The experience might have been painful or pleasant, but its intensity and meaning grow when we remember and reflect upon it.
For me, the wedding of Clayton and Caroline was a sweet moment in time, and it will grow within me an even sweeter memory. I just love that!
With such a sentimental month in my rear view mirror, I kept thinking of how powerful memory is and what a gift it is. It reminded me of something I learned from one of my favorite C.S. Lewis books, Out of the Silent Planet.
Lewis begins his tale by introducing the main character, a philologist named Elwin Ransom, who is taking a walking tour of the English countryside. On his journey, he runs into some shady characters from his university days. After dinner, conversation and a few drinks, Ransom is terrified when he realizes he's been hoodwinked by his former colleagues. He wakes up, astonished to find himself in a metal ball soaring through the light-filled heavens, on his way to another world.
When the spacecraft sets down on a foreign planet called Malacandra, Ransom is introduced to a new culture and new perspectives. One such perspective embraces the unique power and significance of remembering. A friendly Malacandran alien later describes his first encounter with Ransom:
When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly. It was nothing. Now, it is growing something as we remember it. But still we know very little about it. What it will be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then - that is the real meeting. The other is only the beginning of it.
I love that thought! And it's not as alien as you might think.
Oscar Levant acknowledged, "Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember." The real power of any moment is fully realized when it is remembered. The experience might have been painful or pleasant, but its intensity and meaning grow when we remember and reflect upon it.
For me, the wedding of Clayton and Caroline was a sweet moment in time, and it will grow within me an even sweeter memory. I just love that!
Well, that's what's been percolating in me lately.
Comments