Reverend Brian McGreevy continues his series, Not as Unwise but as Wise: Reflections from C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength on Living Christianly in a Post-Christian World. This is available as a podcast on iTunes.
Episode 14: Not as Unwise but as Wise: Reflections from C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and That Hideous StrengthChapter 3 summary–continued
Jane is admitted through the gate to St. Anne’s-on-the-Hill, and meets Grace Ironwood, the person the Dimbles wanted her to see about her dreams. Miss Ironwood dresses all in black with her hands folded on her knees, just as she had appeared in Jane’s dream the night before. Ironwood reassures Jane that her dreams are not an indication that she is mentally ill but rather that she is a visionary, who sees things in dreams as they happen or before they happen. Jane’s maiden name was Tudor, and Ironwood explains that several of Jane’s ancestors in this family had the same gift. Ironwood urges Jane to use her gift in service of the company at St. Anne’s, as recommended by the Dimbles, and warns Jane that there are others wanting to use her gift for subversive purposes and evil. Jane is almost convinced, but then her pride and wounded vanity and dislike of mystery and circumstances beyond her control cause her to rebel and to flee, saying she wants nothing more to do with Ironwood or the Company.
On the other journey, Mark stayed the night at Belbury, spending time with the Fairy, whom he finds wholly unattractive and overly sexualized in a nasty way. She is aware of his reaction and finds it amusing. She suggests they work hand in hand, since she viewed police work as largely the work of a sociologist (which Mark is), and Mark again is deeply impressed with the enjoyable sensation of becoming part of the Inner Circle. Like Filostrato, she urges Mark to consider himself to have the job, and not worry about the job description.
Leaving St. Anne’s, Jane determines again not to get mixed up in “all this nonsense.” She redoubles her determination to live her own life unfettered, as she did before she married Mark., meanwhile feeling resentment against love, and thus against Mark, for invading her life. She dwells on how much she believes women give up in getting married and resents how Mark and other men are insufficiently aware of this, furthering her resolve not to have a child, at least for a long time. Reaching home, she receives a call from Mother Dimble, who is having a crisis and begs to come see Jane.
KEY PASSAGES IN SECOND PART OF CHAPTER THREE
“Mark did not ask again in so many words what the N.I.C.E. wanted him to do; partly because he began to be afraid that he was supposed to know this already, and partly because a perfectly direct question would have sounded a crudity in that room — a crudity which might suddenly exclude him from the warm and almost drugged atmosphere of vague, yet heavily important, confidence in which he was gradually being enfolded.”—Inner Ring
“What an extraordinary thing! I was given to understand they were going to Cambridge if we didn’t sell.” Hingest sniffed loudly. “Not a word of truth in it. As to its being an extraordinary thing, that depends on what you mean. There’s nothing extraordinary in the Fellows of Bracton talking all afternoon about an unreal issue. And there’s nothing extraordinary in the fact that the N.I.C.E. should wish, if possible, to hand over to Bracton the odium of turning the heart of England into a cross between an abortive American hotel and a glorified gas works. The only real puzzle is why the N.I.C.E. should want that bit of land.”—Lies, deathworks
“I have a strong objection to being put in a false position—” began Mark. “Listen, my friend,” interrupted Filostrato, you must put all such ideas out of your head. The first thing to realise is that the N.I.C.E. is serious. It is nothing less than the existence of the human race that depends on our work: our real work, you comprehend? You will find frictions and impertinences among this canaglia, this rabble. They are no more to be regarded than your dislike of a brother officer when the battle is at its crisis.” “As long as I’m given something to do that is worth doing,” said Mark.—usurping God
“This reminded Jane of something. It was a very large garden. it was like — like — yes, now she had it: it was like the garden in Peter Rabbit. Or was it like the garden in the Romance of the Rose? No, not in the least like really. Or like Klingsor’s garden? Or the garden in Alice? Or like the garden on the top of some Mesopotamian ziggurat which had probably given rise to the whole legend of Paradise? Or simply like all walled gardens? …A sentence rose to her memory. “The beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as well as to the male, and it is no accident that the goddess of Love is older and stronger than the god.” Where on earth had she read that? And,incidentally, what frightful nonsense she had been thinking for the last minute or so! She shook off all these ideas about gardens and determined to pull herself together. A curious feeling that she was now on hostile, or at least alien, ground warned her to keep all her wits about her.”—the fruitful garden, Eden, beauty, male and female imago dei
[She took up the book and read the words]: “The beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as well as to the male, and it is no accident that the goddess of Love is older and stronger than the god. To desire the desiring of her own beauty is the vanity of Lilith, but to desire the enjoying of her own beauty is the obedience of Eve, and to both it is in the lover that the beloved tastes her own delightfulness. As obedience is the stairway of pleasure, so humility is the—” At that moment the door was suddenly opened. Jane turned crimson as she shut the book and looked up.—a sign or showing, ignored
“Vision — the power of dreaming realities — is sometimes hereditary,” said Miss Ironwood. Something seemed to be interfering with Jane’s breathing. She felt a sense of injury — this was just the sort of thing she hated: something out of the past, something irrational and utterly uncalled for, coming up from its den and interfering with her. –purpose, gifting, God’s plan, selfish rebellion
“Your upbringing makes it natural that you should not,” replied Miss Ironwood. “Unless, or course, you have discovered for yourself that you have a tendency to dream real things.” Jane thought of the book on the table which she had apparently remembered before she saw it, and then there was Miss Ironwood’s own appearance — that too she had seen before she saw it’ But it must be nonsense. “Can you then do nothing for me?” “I can tell you the truth,” said Miss Ironwood. “I have tried to do so.” “I mean, can you not stop it — cure it?” “Vision is not a disease.” “But I don’t want it,” said Jane passionately. “I must stop it. “—upbringing/education, rejection of identity and gifting, self-determination
“You cannot get rid of your gift. You can try to suppress it, but you will fail, and you will be very badly frightened. On the other hand, you can put it at our disposal. If you do so, you will be much less frightened in the long run and you will be helping to save the human race from a very great disaster. Or thirdly. you may tell someone else about it. If you do that, I warn you that you will almost certainly fall into the hands of other people who are at least as anxious as we to make use of your faculty and who will care no more about your life and happiness than about those of a fly. The people you have seen in your dreams are real people. It is not at all unlikely that they know you have, involuntarily, been spying on them. And, if so, they will not rest till they have got found of you. I would advise you, even for your own sake, to join our side.”–obedience as valuable for the individual and the world, the importance of individuals and of using gifts, spiritual warfare
“Several times that day he had been made to feel himself an outsider; that feeling completely disappeared while Miss Hardcastle was talking to him. He had the sense of getting in. Miss Hardcastle had apparently lived an exciting life. She had been, at different times, a suffragette, a pacifist, and a British Fascist. She had been manhandled by the police and imprisoned. On the other hand, she had met Prime Ministers, Dictators, and famous film stars; all her history was secret history. She knew from both ends what a police force could do and what it could not, and there were in her opinion very few things it could not do.—danger of inner circle and celebrity culture
“Mark gathered that for the Fairy, the police side of the Institute was the really important side. It existed to relieve the ordinary executive of what might be called all sanitary cases — a category which ranged from vaccination to charges of unnatural vice — from which, as she pointed out, it was only a step to bringing in all cases of blackmail. As regards crime in general, they had already popularised in the press the idea that the Institute should be allowed to experiment pretty largely in the hope of discovering how far humane, remedial treatment could be substituted for the old notion of “retributive or “vindictive” punishment. That was where a lot of legal Red Tape stood in their way. “But there are only two papers we don’t control,” said the Fairy. “And we’ll smash them. You’ve got to get the ordinary man into the state in which he says ‘Sadism’ automatically when he heard the word ‘Punishment.’ And then one would have carte blanche’. Mark did not immediately follow this. But the Fairy pointed out that what had hampered every English police force — up to date was precisely the idea of deserved punishment. For desert was always finite: you could do so much to the criminal and no more. Remedial treatment, on the other hand, need have no fixed limit; it could go on till it had effected a cure, and those who were carrying it out would decide when that was, And if cure were humane and desirable, how much more prevention? Soon anyone who had ever been in the hands of the police at all would come under the control of the N.I.C.E.; in the end, every citizen, “And that’s where you and I come in, Sonny,” added the Fairy, tapping Mark’s chest with her forefinger. “There’s no distinction in the long run between police work and sociology. You and I’ve got to work hand in hand.”—health and sanitary practice as gateway to government control, manipulation and control of the media, redefining of terms to demonize normal practices, ever-growing reach of government“
I came here because I thought it had something to do with science. Now that I find it’s something more like a political conspiracy, I shall go home. I’m too old for that kind of thing, and if I wanted to join a conspiracy, this one wouldn’t be my choice.” “You mean, I suppose, that the element of social planning doesn’t appeal to you? I can quite understand that it doesn’t fit in with your work as it does with sciences like Sociology, but—”“There are no sciences like Sociology. And if I found chemistry beginning to fit in with a secret police run by a middle-aged virago who doesn’t wear corsets and a scheme for taking away his farm and his shop and his children from every Englishman, I’d let chemistry go to the devil and take up gardening again.”—true science v. scientism/political conspiracy, danger of amoral agents of control
“That’s what happens when you study men: you find mare’s nests. I happen to believe that you can’t study men: you can only get to know them, which is quite a different thing. Because you study them, you want to make the lower orders govern the country and listen to classical music, which is balderdash. You also want to take away from them everything which makes life worth living and not only from them but from everyone except a parcel of prigs and professors.”—treating humans as individuals bearing the image of God, not as lab experiments to be controlled/suppressed/”improved”
“I suppose there are two views about everything,” said Mark. “Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there’s never more than one. But it’s no affair of mine. Good night.” –Absolute Truth
Themes in Chapter 3
Lies (ends justify means) and works of death
Usurping God’s role
The fruitful garden and beauty
Male and female imago Dei
Signs and gifts
God’s purposes
Selfish rebellion
Willful unbelief and disobedience
Upbringing/education
Rejection of identity and gifting leading to self-determination
Obedience as valuable for the individual and the world
Importance of each individual and of using gifts
Spiritual warfare
Danger of lure of inner circle and celebrity culture
Health and sanitary practice as gateway to government control
Manipulation and control of the media
Redefining of terms to demonize normal practices
Ever-growing reach of government
True science v. scientism/political conspiracy
Danger of amoral agents of control
Treating humans as image bearers, not as lab experiments to be controlled/suppressed/”improved”
Absolute Truth
Practices of Hope and of Wisdom
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.—Philippians 4:8-91.Pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened—I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph. 1:18-19) The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matt. 6:22-23)2.Soak in Scripture for sanctification. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.(John 17:17-19) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)3.Seek out what your spiritual gifts are, use them, and seek to draw out and encourage the spiritual gifts of others. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-9) For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. (Romans 1:11)4.Resist the standards of the world, which would remake identity, redefine language and reject Absolute Truth, by holding fast to a Christian worldview. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:2) See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col.2:8)
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES–George Herbert (1593-1633)
Oh Book! infinite sweetnesse! let my heart Suck ev’ry letter, and a honey gain, Precious for any grief in any part;To cleare the breast, to mollifie all pain.Thou art all health, health thriving, till it make A full eternitie; thou art a masse Of strange delights, where we may wish and take.Ladies, look here; this is the thankfull glasse,That mends the looker’s eyes: this is the well That washes what is shows. Who can indeare Thy praise too much? thou art Heav’n’s lidger here,Working against the states of death and hell. Thou art joyes handsell: heav’n lies flat in thee, Subject to ev’ry mounters bended knee.
