
When it comes to introspection
and self-examination Lewis is
very mindful of the danger that
he associates, and not wrongly,
with certain strands of
Puritanism which is a kind of
view of the Christian life that
says the holier you get the more
self contempt you'll have
because you'll be more aware of
the sliminess down there in your
heart.
And so as you grow in holiness
you become more aware of your
sinfulness and that awareness of
your sinfulness leads you to a
kind of low, I am a cesspool of
sin, there's slimy bogs down
deep in my heart and that's just
what I am and Lewis recognises
that feature of certain strands
of Christianity and says that's
not healthy.
But he's very careful because he
thinks it's not healthy but it's
not because it's false, it's
actually true, you are that bad
in fact you're worse, you're
worse than you think but the
fact that you have a cesspool of
sin down in your heart doesn't
mean you should camp down there
because that's precisely what
God is trying to lead you out
of.
And so he commended what he
called an imaginative glimpse,
so don't stare at your
sinfulness, see it, acknowledge
it, be honest about it and then
bring it to God and that's what
Jesus has to forgive, that's
what you have to be transformed
out of.
And so at a very practical level
there's a deep honesty about who
we are and the sin that's in our
heart, the layers upon layers of
self-love all the way down
coupled with a refusal to live
there and to make that the only
truth or the fundamental truth.
Because the fundamental truth is
God says that you're righteous
in his son, that God is pursuing
you, he sees you in Christ, he
dresses you up like Jesus and
you can come to him the way
Jesus does.
That's the fundamental truth and
the other truth, you're a slimy
sinner and a wicked rebel, is
meant to drive you to that one,
that you're a beloved son.
And so in a very practical level
keeping both of those in mind
the glimpse of the sinfulness
then drives you to the mercy of
God, that's how Lewis is able to
maintain the right kind of
introspection.
