C.S. Lewis on Mindfulness

“The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it.  It comes the very moment you wake up each morning.  All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.  And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.  And so on, all day.  Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

We can only do it for moments at first.  But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system:  because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us.”  Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins: 2001) 198-199.

One response

  1. Interesting idea. To me, it appears Lewis is borrowing the idea of “zen” or oneness/loss of self from Buddism and using it to feel closer to God. I’ve never heard this principal applied to Christianity before.

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