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
If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will...then we may take it it is worth paying.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the existence of free will justifies the chaos and conflict in the universe.
C. S. Lewis reflects on the nature of free will and the underlying chaos in the universe, proposing that the opportunity for individuals to choose their paths—despite any resulting turmoil—is valuable enough to merit the struggles and strife present in existence. This implies a deep philosophical inquiry into the balance between autonomy and the consequences that arise from it.
Themes
Free WillWarUniversePhilosophyChoice
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the value of free will during a philosophy class.
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All quotes →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.
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Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
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Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
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I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
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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
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If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will? If conscious experience were reduced somehow to mere matter in motion, what would happen to our appreciation of love and pain and dreams and joy? If conscious human beings were just animated material objects, how could anything we do to them be right or wrong?
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The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not.
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Don't see yourself as a body of clay; See yourself as a mirror reflecting the divine beauty.
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It could be ventured to understand obsessive compulsive neurosis as the pathological counterpart of religious development, to define neurosis as an individual religiosity; to define religion as a universal obsessive compulsive neurosis.
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