A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
C. S. LewisRead
There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant man to purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Spirituality should embrace the material world as part of the divine intention.
This quote from C. S. Lewis emphasizes that God created both the material and spiritual aspects of life. It suggests that attempting to elevate spirituality above the physical world undermines God's creation and intent, as He designed humans to engage with and enjoy material things like bread and wine, thereby embodying a holistic view of existence that encompasses both the spiritual and the material.
Themes
SpiritualityMaterialismDivineLifeEngagement
In practice
Example use cases
During a church service, when discussing the importance of communion.
More from C. S. Lewis
All quotes βI enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I think that was a good thing and do not think it was condemned by God. But I do not think myself a good man for enjoying it.
C. S. LewisRead
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. LewisRead
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
C. S. LewisRead
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
C. S. LewisRead
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
C. S. LewisRead
Similar quotes
The only secure knowledge is that I exist.
Rene DescartesRead
Memory isn't a theme; it's part of the human condition.
Hilary MantelRead
There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the establishment and nothing more corrupting.
A. J. P. TaylorRead
To be born, to live and to die is merely to change forms... And what does one form matter any more than another?... Each form has its own sort of happiness and unhappiness. From the elephant down to the flea... from the flea down to the sensitive and living molecule which is the origin of all, there is not a speck in the whole of nature that does not feel pain or pleasure.
John DeweyRead
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas PaineRead
All lies are told with a straight face. It is truth that's said with a dismissive giggle.
P. J. O'RourkeRead