In honor of Valentine's day, and for those who may, on occasion, doubt the wisdom of loving, a few words from a classic book on love....
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishnes. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, chapter on Charity)
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2 comments:
He sure could write. Thanks for that reminder of just how worthwhile the risk is!
Yes, he has an amazing way with words, doesn't he? This quote is part of a longer argument he makes in that chapter against the Augustinian/neo-Platonic ideal that loving God above all means that one should allow oneself to love only God--and that loving anyone/thing else will lead to suffering. It's always a good reminder for me that courage lies in the direction of being more loving, not less! :)
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