After finishing A Grief Observed, I thought that this would be a pertinent time to wrap up my thoughts about this book. Every class we are asked what struck us about the reading, and every time the thought crossed my mind to write the same thing. Then my mind jumped to the fact that it may sound as if i hadn't read the book if i wrote the same thing.
Transparency.
Lewis is always brutally honest. But this book is more than just a collection of honest reflections. The examples he gives to back up his thoughts are brilliant. His analogies of the house of cards makes his whole argument come full circle. He uses it at the beginning of the book and then finds new meaning in his own analogy by the end. At the beginning of the book he only sees the vicious cycle that is the house of cards. That no matter how many times we construct one, it always comes crumbling down. Towards the end of the book his view changes from that of hopeless destruction of his house to a necessary process required for building faith.
Another great point that Lewis makes is our almost unconscious ability to create ideal versions of people we know and even the God we serve. All to often we build people up in our minds to where we think they are something that they really aren't. I have these grandparents that live very far away. And although i only see them once or twice a year I always have this prefabricated notion of what they will look, act and smell like. In my mind i always visualize them in same way. I add and take away certain traits to make them into my perfect grandparents. Lewis says that we do the same thing with God. We build God up to be all these things that he really isn't. Lewis suggest we shouldn't love our idea of God, but God. Not my ideal versions of my grandparents, but my grandparents. Not what I think of my neighbors, but my actual neighbors.
Overall i think this was an excellent read and i strongly suggest it to anyone who is dealing with grief or may at sometime in life, deal with grief.
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Andrew, I loved your example of how you "add and take away certain traits" to make your grandparents perfect. I think we all have a tendency to do that with almost anyone in our lives...be it in a committed relationship, a family member, or even like Lewis said, God. I know I probably have a tendency to love what my idea of my Grampa (he passed away a little over 2 years ago) is like Lewis said he did with H., and this has challenged my thinking. Thanks for your insight! :]
ReplyDeletethat was great insight Andrew
ReplyDeleteYour grandparents analogy is "vintage". really good stuff love love. I often do this to God, he then proceeds to blow my mind.
ReplyDeletep.s. you should take off your comment verification. look how to do it on the guide to blogging...
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Yeah the house of cards analogy did help his argument come "full circle." Our activity in class also helped us understand the point to a greater extent. Good stuff
ReplyDeleteTransparency is when we are fully honest with ourselves. It is when we lay down our pride and we expose ourselves. We should always be transparent with God. Let Him see us as we are, and sometimes and I think this is the case with Lewis, we need to allow others to see us as we are. To open ourselves up. This is a true sign of humility.
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