On evil
I think () one may be quite rid of the old haunting suspicion
—which raises its head in every temptation—
that there is something else than God—some other country . . . into which He forbids us to trespass—
some kind of delight //which He “doesn’t appreciate” or just chooses to forbid,
but which would be real delight /if only we were allowed to get it.
The thing just isn’t there.
[Whatever we desire] is either what God is trying to give us /as quickly as He can,
or else a false picture of what He is trying to give us
—a false picture //which would not attract us /for a moment /if we saw the real thing.
Therefore God does really in a sense contain evil
—i.e., contains [what is the real motive power] /behind all our evil desires.
He knows [what we want], even in our vilest acts: He is longing to give it to us.
He is not looking on /from the outside /at some new “taste” or “separate desire of our own.”
Only because He has laid up real goods /for us to desire
are we able to go wrong by snatching at them in greedy, misdirected ways.
The truth is that evil is not a real thing at all, like God.
It is simply good /spoiled.
That is why I say () there can be good without evil, but no evil without good.
You know [what the biologists mean by a parasite—an animal //that lives on another animal.
Evil is a parasite.
It is there only because good is there /for it to spoil and confuse.
Thus you may well feel that God understands our temptations—understands them /a great deal more /than we do.
But don’t forget Macdonald again—“Only God understands evil and hates it.”
Only the dog’s master knows [how useless it is to try to get on with the lead /knotted round the lamp-post.
This is why we must be prepared to find God implacably and immovably forbidding [what may seem /to us very small and trivial things].
But He knows [whether they are really small and trivial].
How small [some of the things //that doctors forbid] would seem /to an ignoramus.
From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II
Compiled in Words to Live By