One of the recent books in our Reading Society was the autobiography of C.S. Lewis: Surprised by Joy. Less of a step by step explanation of his entire past, it is a methodical walk through his discovery, loss, rediscovery and eventual surrender to what he calls Joy.
It, somewhat, takes the traditional form of an autobiography. Think Augustine’s Confessions. But Lewis, takes the reader on a journey through the specific chapters in his life that introduced him to Joy. He then talks much of his studies that gave him the capacity to understand it. The final third of the book is the “chess game” with the Creator whose checkmate brought Lewis into Christianity.
Clearly the main surprise was, of course, the explanation of Joy. From the very beginning of the book he is describing these chance encounters with this emotion called Joy. And, for Lewis, Joy is something powerful and distinct.
“Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them [pleasure and happiness]; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness or grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.”
Lewis, C. S.. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (p. 18).
Through his eloquence and thoughtfulness Lewis explained to me Joy, caused me to reminisce, and had me longing for Joy. I had felt the longing pang of Joy before but I did not possess, like Lewis, the mental fortitude to go on looking for it in such a methodical and intellectual way.
Lewis’s journey is not one of sensational conversion or emotional repentance. He engages in a serious look at the world while striving to be intellectually honest and pragmatically consistent with his beliefs.
After reading, I have found myself more attune to the “signposts of the kingdom”, these pangs of Joy, and find myself now properly focused on the kingdom when I encounter a Joy-filled moment.
I highly recommend this book. It is such a thoughtful walk through the signposts Lewis encountered that it gives the reader the chance to practice the gait of his steps. There has not been a book in recent memory for me that has had me more thoughtful and ready to plunge into more reading so I can be fit and versed to experience Joy like Lewis did.