<p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">If we </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>encourage</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> others, or ourselves, to hear, see, or read great art on the ground //that it </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>is</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> a </span>cultured<span style="color: #000000;"> thing to do, we </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>call</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> /into play [precisely those elements in us //which </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>must be</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> in abeyance before we </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>can enjoy</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> art at all. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">We </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>are calling up</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> the desire for self-improvement, the desire for distinction, </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">the desire to revolt (from one group) and to agree (with another), </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">and a dozen busy passions which, whether good or bad in themselves, </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>are,</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> in relation to the arts, simply a </span>blinding<span style="color: #000000;"> and </span>paralyzing<span style="color: #000000;"> distraction…</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">[Those //who </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>read</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> poetry to improve their minds] </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>will never improve</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> their minds by reading poetry. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">For the true enjoyments </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>must be</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> spontaneous and compulsive and </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>look</b></span><span style="color: #000000;"> to no remoter end.</span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">* and (We </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>are calling up</b></span><span style="color: #000000;">) a dozen busy passions which </span><span style="color: #000000;"><b>are </b></span><span style="color: #000000;">simply a </span>blinding and paralyzing<span style="color: #000000;"> distraction…</span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">From The World's Last Night</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Compiled in A Mind Awake</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The World's Night. Copyright © 1952, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" copyright © 1959 by Helen Joy Lewis. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 1968 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.</span></p><p> </p>
<!-- -->
