A World Without Meaning

It's Day 4 of the Blog Every Day In May challenge and I'm getting a late start. There is something about sleeping in and then taking your time with that first cup of coffee  --gives me that feeling that today is going to be a great day. Funny how an extra hour or two of rest and some caffeine can change your morning outlook on life. And then I started to ponder that a little --my outlook on life, and how mine usually isn't all that positive. I hate to admit it, but I tend to be a glass half empty kind of girl.

So that's what was on my mind this morning as I looked for the perfect response to today's prompt, "your favorite quote and why you love it." (Yes, I didn't begin looking for a quote until this morning. I'm also a blog on a whim kind of girl.) Instinctively, I typed the name C.S. Lewis into my search bar, probably for two reason: 1) he was a brillant scholar and deep thinker and 2) his writings always seem to strike a cord within me, as if he knows what it is I've been struggling with even though I cannot articulate it myself, and provides me with an answer that resonates within my entire being --and just like that, I know it's truth. An atheist philosopher turned Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis used his pen as a sword as he defended his faith using philosophy and logic, leaving in his wake glorious quotes for me to use in a prompt such as this. Thank you, Clive. 

"If this whole universe has no meaning we should have never found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there was no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I first read this quote in college. In my philosophy class I was assigned to read six books by Lewis, then I found myself checking out biographies on him in the library just because, and then I decided to write a paper on him, too. I was drawn to him and at the time I thought it was just because he was a great scholar, but now I realize it was because he was speaking truth --something that is so lacking in our world today, something that resonates inside of us whether we want it to or not.

I think what Lewis is saying is pretty straightforward. We know there is meaning to this life because we can see it all around us --in a child's laughter, in the beauty of creation, in the helping hand of a friend -- just as we know there is light because we've experienced it. If this world had no meaning, we would never question whether it did or not because we wouldn't know any better, just as we would never know of darkness if we hadn't experienced light. It's very basic, really, yet so profound. Of course, Lewis was using this logic as a defense for the existence of God. 

I buy into his logic and I've adopted it as my own. 

We could take this deeper, as, I'm sure, Lewis intended for his readers' to do, but the sun is shinning and Huckleberry's waiting for me to take him on a walk. The last thing I want to do is turn any blog post into a debate on my beliefs. You see, I don't believe a debate is necessary. I see the proof of God's existence day in and day out. Just as I know there is good because I have witnessed evil, I know there is a God because I have witnessed Godlessness. We humans are capable of so much destruction, yet (most of us) strive to live life's of peace and bestow patience, kindness, goodness, and love on those around us. We strive to be like Him because we recognize just how dismal a world without Him is capable of being. 

So thank you, Mr. Lewis, for helping me when I struggled with this truth all those years ago. This world is not without meaning and this life should be viewed with the glass half full.