The Great Divorce is probably my favourite of all of Lewis’ books. It is a fictional book where Lewis ponders what would happen if souls could travel from Hell to Heaven…would they want to stay?
1. No hellish souvenirs
The central point of The Great Divorce is that there can be no marriage between Heaven and Hell. As one of the characters in the book says, “If we insist on keeping Hell…we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell”. As the Book of Revelation says, nothing unclean can enter Heaven. Why then, do we insist on keeping our pet sins? Lewis says that they all have to go. However, Lewis promises us that in abandoning these sins we will have lost nothing. He says, “I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the High Countries’.
2. Hell being self-choice
Many people, Christian and non-Christian struggle with the idea that God would condemn someone to Hell. However, in The Great Divorce we see that Hell is a self-choice. Time and again the souls which come up from Hell choose to return. There is something of which they cannot let go. There is something which they prefer to Heaven. It is summarized very neatly in one passage where we’re told that “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. But could someone choose it by accident? No, we’re told that No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
3. Case Studies
Over the course of each chapter, we meet many different souls from Hell. Each effectively is a case study in what can keep us out of Heaven. Two are worth particular mention.
The “Loving” Mother: We a meet a mother who is obsessed with her son, so much so that all other things in life fall into insignance. In the story Lewis (who actually plays a character in the book) asks if she loved her son too much. Lewis’ heavenly guide in the story corrects him:
“There was no excess, there was defect. She loved her son too little, not too much. If she had loved him more there’d be no difficulty. I do not know how her affair will end. But it may well be that at this moment she’s demanding to have him down with her in Hell. That kind is sometimes perfectly ready to plunge the soul they say they love in endless misery if only they can still in some fashion possess it.”
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
The Ghost with the lizard: There is one soul we meet who does actually choose Heaven. We see him with a little lizard on his shoulder who is symbolic of his lust. The soul meets an angel who offers to kill it. The soul makes every excuse under the sun, all of the excuses we make for indulging in a sin. Fortunately, he eventually relents. The angel kills the lizard and the lizard transforms into a magnificent stallion which he uses to ride into Heaven. What could have kept him out of Heaven, when submitted to the Father’s hands actually ends up being the very means of his entry.
These two stories make a good comparison because here we see that the sins of the flesh may actually be a less of an impediment to sanctification than more spiritual sins. We also learn a very important lesson, found throughout Jack’s writings, that “No natural feelings are high or low, holy or unholy, in themselves. They are all holy when God’s hand is on the rein. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods”. Not only that, but “Every natural love will rise again and live forever in this country: but none will rise again until it has been buried.”
The Great Divorce is probably my favourite of all of Lewis’ books. It is a fictional book where Lewis ponders what would happen if souls could travel from Hell to Heaven…would they want to stay?
1. No hellish souvenirs
The central point of The Great Divorce is that there can be no marriage between Heaven and Hell. As one of the characters in the book says, “If we insist on keeping Hell…we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell”. As the Book of Revelation says, nothing unclean can enter Heaven. Why then, do we insist on keeping our pet sins? Lewis says that they all have to go. However, Lewis promises us that in abandoning these sins we will have lost nothing. He says, “I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the High Countries’.
2. Hell being self-choice
Many people, Christian and non-Christian struggle with the idea that God would condemn someone to Hell. However, in The Great Divorce we see that Hell is a self-choice. Time and again the souls which come up from Hell choose to return. There is something of which they cannot let go. There is something which they prefer to Heaven. It is summarized very neatly in one passage where we’re told that “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. But could someone choose it by accident? No, we’re told that No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
3. Case Studies
Over the course of each chapter, we meet many different souls from Hell. Each effectively is a case study in what can keep us out of Heaven. Two are worth particular mention.
The “Loving” Mother: We a meet a mother who is obsessed with her son, so much so that all other things in life fall into insignance. In the story Lewis (who actually plays a character in the book) asks if she loved her son too much. Lewis’ heavenly guide in the story corrects him:
“There was no excess, there was defect. She loved her son too little, not too much. If she had loved him more there’d be no difficulty. I do not know how her affair will end. But it may well be that at this moment she’s demanding to have him down with her in Hell. That kind is sometimes perfectly ready to plunge the soul they say they love in endless misery if only they can still in some fashion possess it.”
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
The Ghost with the lizard: There is one soul we meet who does actually choose Heaven. We see him with a little lizard on his shoulder who is symbolic of his lust. The soul meets an angel who offers to kill it. The soul makes every excuse under the sun, all of the excuses we make for indulging in a sin. Fortunately, he eventually relents. The angel kills the lizard and the lizard transforms into a magnificent stallion which he uses to ride into Heaven. What could have kept him out of Heaven, when submitted to the Father’s hands actually ends up being the very means of his entry.
These two stories make a good comparison because here we see that the sins of the flesh may actually be a less of an impediment to sanctification than more spiritual sins. We also learn a very important lesson, found throughout Jack’s writings, that “No natural feelings are high or low, holy or unholy, in themselves. They are all holy when God’s hand is on the rein. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods”. Not only that, but “Every natural love will rise again and live forever in this country: but none will rise again until it has been buried.”
