"The Weight of Glory"

"...But the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13

For C.S. Lewis, Love, rather than unselfishness, is the greatest Christian ideal. To Lewis, unselfishness carries with it the idea that "our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point" whereas love is all about the other person. Love is forgetting oneself in the face of the one you love, caring more about their well being than your own. Unselfishness, after all, is a bit self-centered. I can only describe myself, speak about myself if I were to say I am unselfish, but to simply say "I love" is not enough; I would also need to say who or what I love. We can be unselfish people even if we live alone, speaking to no one as long as we are willing to give our money, or our things, or whatever. Love, on the other hand, requires someone to love. No one can call a person "loving" if they live alone, never speaking to anyone. It requires a daily carrying of your neighbor's "weight of glory" as Lewis writes. The "proper reward" for this would then be a valuable, genuine relationship, in which both sides are bettered by it.

Unselfishness, self-denial, these things aren't enough. In my philosophy class last semester we spoke a good deal about Plato, and his ideas about what makes a person moral. Morality, for him, is simply being the kind of person who would do good things. It means developing the kind of character that makes you want to help others. Good deeds by themselves are unimportant, they are only an indicator that you are developing the right kind of character. Here, I think Plato and Lewis would agree. If doing the right thing does not bring happiness, maybe a long look inside yourself is a good idea. Actively seeking shalom should be a joyful occasion, bringing happiness not only to those you help, but to yourself as well. This, I believe, is God's intention.