A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
C. S. LewisRead
Disobedience to conscience is voluntary; bad poetry, on the other hand, is usually not made on purpose.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that disobeying one's conscience is a conscious choice, while bad poetry is often unintentional.
C. S. Lewis distinguishes between two types of failures: the moral failure of ignoring one's conscience, which requires a deliberate choice, and the artistic failure found in poor poetry, which tends to arise inadvertently. The quote highlights the responsibility we hold for our moral decisions while also acknowledging that not all failures in creativity stem from intentionality.
In practice
During a moral philosophy class, I shared this quote to illustrate the nature of moral choices.
A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
I enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I think that was a good thing and do not think it was condemned by God. But I do not think myself a good man for enjoying it.
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
Weakness is more opposed to virtue than is vice.
Power is the chance to impose your will within a social context, even when opposed and regardless of the integrity of that chance.
Death obsesses me, yes it does. I can't really understand why it doesn't obsess everyone - I think it does really, I'm just a little more out about it.
Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
Modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system
Our true reality is in our identity and unity with all life.
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