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
We want to know not how we should pray if we were perfect but how we should pray being as we now are ... It is no use to ask God with factitious earnestness for A when our whole mind is in reality filled with the desire for B. We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of being genuine in prayer, acknowledging our true desires rather than pretending to be perfect.
C. S. Lewis highlights that authentic prayer arises from honesty about our current state rather than an idealized version of ourselves. He argues that we should present our true feelings and desires to God instead of conforming to what we believe we should be. This approach reflects a deeper understanding of human nature and the significance of sincerity in our spiritual practices.
Themes
PrayerAuthenticityHonestySinceritySpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker discussing the importance of vulnerability in spiritual practices could use this quote.
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
anytime you catch folks lying, they scared of something!
Zora Neale HurstonRead
Live simply, so that all may simply live.
Elizabeth Ann SetonRead
Racism is a much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it's perhaps far more terrible than it's ever been.
Angela DavisRead
Tolerance always has limits - it cannot tolerate what is itself actively intolerant.
Sidney HookRead
Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and they are good ones, which would probably end up persuading me. But hasn't the time come when we should stop being frightened even to put the question?
Richard DawkinsRead
The soul yearns to fly home on the wings of love to the world of ideas. It longs to be freed from the chains of the body.
Jostein GaarderRead