Today's Reading
TO GENIA GOELZ: On the reality of our
individuality in the body of Christ; and on the five sources of
discernment: the scripture, the church, Christian friends, books, and
meditation.
20 June 1952
Thanks /for yours of the 10th.
I
would prefer to combat [the ‘I’m special’ feeling]
/not by the thought
‘I’m no more special than anyone else’
/but by the feeling ‘Everyone is
as special as me.’
In one way there is no difference, I grant, for both
remove the speciality.
But there is a difference /in another way.
The
first might lead you to think, ‘I’m only one of the crowd /like anyone
else’.
But the second leads /to the truth //that there isn’t any crowd.
No
one is like anyone else.
All are ‘members’ (organs) in the Body of
Christ [I Corinthians 12:27].
All different and all necessary to the whole and to one another: each
loved by God individually,
as if it were the only creature in existence.
Otherwise you might get the idea //that God is like the government //which
can only deal with the people /as the mass.
About confession, I
take it that the view of our Church is that everyone may use it but none
is obliged /to.
I don’t doubt that the Holy Spirit guides your decisions
/ from within /when you make them /with the intention of pleasing God.
The
error would be to think that He speaks only within
/whereas, in reality, He speaks /also /through Scripture, the Church, Christian friends, books et cetera. (etc)
*No
one is like anyone else. = anyone is not like anyone else.
* 'anyone else' means "any other person" /excluding the speaker or any person specifically described.
Look at the example below:
I haven't seen anyone else here /besides you and me.
Where as 'everyone else' means "every person" including the speaker.
*"Noone" is formed for consistency with
"nobody", and also its opposites "anyone" and "everyone",
but it is
still considered nonstandard
because of the doubled vowels creating a
temptation to read and pronounce it as "noon" (/nuːn/).
On the other
hand, no-one is the alternative spelling of "no one".
* take it,
- to accept or believe something; aquiesce:
I'll take it on your say-so.
-
Informal. to be able to resist or endure hardship, abuse, etc.
- to understand:
I take it that you're not interested.
* conjunction: whereas; in contrast or comparison with the fact that.
From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III
Compiled in Yours, Jack
The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.