The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis

When I open a book with C.S. Lewis on the cover, I'm always expecting something grand. But Lewis never tries to sound grand. He wraps his ideas in the commonest words. Chapter 1 of this book begins, "Most of my generation were reproved as children for saying that we "loved" strawberries..." If you avoid this type of reading because it looks boring, take it from my attention span and I that this book is as interesting as it is important. It's a masterful explanation of all those things we call "love" in English. He's not just finishing the sentence "Love is___." Rather, he discusses all those things we call love, their similarities, and the differences. Affection, Friendship, Eros, and Charity are the Four. There are many quotes, but here are a couple: "In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out." "True friendship is the least jealous of loves." "The Vicar says Mrs. Fidget is now at rest. Let us hope she is. What's quite certain is that her family are." You can't read this without examining yourself and how you love. One passage that spoke out loud to me was about charity. He says, "Of all the arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as "Careful! This might lead you to suffering." (I wish I'd written that!) He goes on, "When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ...There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken...lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket...it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." Well, as much as I'd love to post the whole book on my blog, I hope that's enough to bait a few of you into reading it for yourselves.