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 minds are wholly dependent on brains and brains on biochemistry, and biochemistry (in the long run) on the meaningless flux of the atoms, I cannot understand how the thought of those minds should have any more significance than the sound of the wind in the trees.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the significance of human thought if it is merely the product of biochemical processes.
C. S. Lewis poses a deep philosophical question about the nature of thought and existence. He suggests that if our minds are purely the result of biochemical reactions within our brains, which in turn are formed from the chaotic movements of atoms, then thoughts may lack intrinsic meaning. This perspective challenges the value we place on our thoughts, implying that they are no more significant than random sounds in nature, thereby provoking reflection on consciousness and meaning in life.
Themes
ThoughtSignificancePhilosophyMeaningExistence
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussion about the nature of consciousness and meaning.
More from C. S. Lewis
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.
C. S. LewisRead
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. LewisRead
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
C. S. LewisRead
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
C. S. LewisRead
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
C. S. LewisRead
Similar quotes
I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
Jonathan SwiftRead
Every visible thing in this world is put in the charge of an angel.
Saint AugustineRead
To make war upon rebellion is messy and slow, like eating soup with a knife.
T. E. LawrenceRead
Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God’s grace and God’s grace alone for our celebration. It is difficult for our pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people—for beggars. We don’t want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there.
R. C. SproulRead
A man speaking sense to himself is no madder than a man speaking nonsense not to himself.
Tom StoppardRead