The Straight Dope

Go Back   Straight Dope Message Board > Main > Cafe Society

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-15-2007, 09:43 PM
old ubermensch old ubermensch is offline
Guest
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Help me find this CS Lewis (?) quote

I found it pretty profound when I first heard it, but stupid me, never wrote it down. Now I need to find it, so I turn to the Teeming Millions. I've looked at many CS Lewis sites, but I haven't found it, so it may not be his.

It goes a little something like this:

I believe when you die, you become more of what you were in real life.
or
I believe when you die, you become what you were during life, only more so.
or
I don't believe in heaven. When you die you become what you were in life, only more so.

Can anyone save me?
Thanks-
Reply With Quote
Advertisements  
  #2  
Old 10-15-2007, 09:55 PM
Gfactor Gfactor is offline
of the Gladiators
Administrator
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Detroit
Posts: 9,491
Moved from General Questions to Cafe Society.

Gfactor
General Questions Moderator

Last edited by Gfactor; 10-15-2007 at 09:56 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-15-2007, 10:39 PM
pinkfreud pinkfreud is offline
Guest
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Maybe this, from Mere Christianity?

"The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him [Christ] take us over, the more truly ourselves we become."
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-15-2007, 10:48 PM
old ubermensch old ubermensch is offline
Guest
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkfreud
Maybe this, from Mere Christianity?

"The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him [Christ] take us over, the more truly ourselves we become."

No, this was definately in reference to the afterlife... maybe something like:

"I don't believe in fluffy clouds and saint peter at the gate, I believe that we're like we are in life, only more so."

Yeah, that doesn't sound much like Lewis, but I have these floating thoughts in my head, and I'm grasping at them. They might not even be related.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-16-2007, 12:38 AM
Wendell Wagner Wendell Wagner is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Greenbelt, Maryland
Posts: 10,607
It doesn't sound like anything in C. S. Lewis.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-16-2007, 06:44 AM
FriarTed FriarTed is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: IN USA
Posts: 12,327
I don't know if the quote is in it, but it's definitely the theme of THE GREAT DIVORCE.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 10-16-2007, 08:45 AM
Skammer Skammer is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Music City USA
Posts: 11,676
Nothing like that is listed on the C.S. Lewis Quote Page; but the quotes on that page are by no means exhaustive. There is only one quote from The Great Divorce, for example.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 10-16-2007, 09:30 AM
smiling bandit smiling bandit is offline
Guest
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendell Wagner
It doesn't sound like anything in C. S. Lewis.
It's a vaguely recalled quote, of course, but that's a pretty good summation of some of what he believed about life after death.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 10-16-2007, 10:00 AM
Wendell Wagner Wendell Wagner is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Greenbelt, Maryland
Posts: 10,607
smiling bandit writes:

> It's a vaguely recalled quote, of course, but that's a pretty good summation of
> some of what he believed about life after death.

Really? Then give me some exact quotes which come anywhere close to saying the same thing as this.

FriarTed writes:

> I don't know if the quote is in it, but it's definitely the theme of THE GREAT
> DIVORCE.

Explain to me in what sense it's the theme of _The Great Divorce_.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 10-16-2007, 11:05 AM
Skammer Skammer is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Music City USA
Posts: 11,676
Lewis, in GD and elsewhere, described heaven as a place that is "more real" than earth. In fact, earth is described as "shadowlands," a poor, barely real reflection of heaven. This is also the theme of the last few chapters of The Last Battle from the Chronicles of Narnia.

That said, I can't find any quote that suggests that people become more real, or more themselves, in the afterlife. I agree that it doesn't sound like him.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:31 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

Send questions for Cecil Adams to: cecil@chicagoreader.com

Send comments about this website to: webmaster@straightdope.com

Terms of Use / Privacy Policy

Advertise on the Straight Dope!
(Your direct line to thousands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks.)

Publishers - interested in subscribing to the Straight Dope?
Write to: sdsubscriptions@chicagoreader.com.

Copyright © 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC.