CS Lewis published Surprised by Joy in 1955. The copy I have is a "Harvest" paperback published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, new York, London. It was given to my by son Joseph in 1983.
Lewis says in the Preface "This book is written partly in answer to requests that I would tell how I passed from Atheism to Christianity..."
The part of the book I want to focus on in this post is Lewis' description of 3 experiences in his life which resulted in him having "...an unsatisfied desire which is more desirable than any other satisfaction." Lewis labels the experiences "...Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. "
Lewis goes on to say that Joy has only one characteristic in common with happiness and pleasure and that is "...the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again."
Experience 1: Lewis cites standing by a flowering current bush on a summer day. This reminded him of the time he and his brother were in their "Old House". His brother had brought a toy garden into the nursery. At this memory Lewis suddenly felt a sensation come over him.
"It was a sensation of course, of desire; but desire for what? Not, certainly, for a biscuit tin filled with moss, nor even...for my own past, and before I knew what I desired, the desire itself was gone, the whole glimpse withdrawn, the world turned commonplace again, or only stirred by a longing for the longing that had just ceased. It had taken only a moment of time; and in a certain sense everything else that had ever happened to me was insignificant in comparison"
Experience 2: Lewis had been reading Beatrix Potter's children's book Squirrel Nutkin (a story about a red squirrel's (Nutkin) narrow escape from an owl (Old Brown). He experienced what he called the "Idea of Autumn" Lewis said "It sounds fantastic to say that one can be enamored of a season, but that is something like what happened; and as before, the experience was one of intense desire." He goes on to say "And in this experience also there was the same surprise and the same sense of incalculable importance. It was something quite different from ordinary life and even from ordinary pleasure: something, as they would now say, 'in another dimension'"
Experience 3: Lewis was reading Longfellow's poetry Saga of King Olaf (This 1863 poem follows the adventures of King Olaf of Norway avenging his slain father's death and regaining his kingdom).
Lewis says: "...I idly turned the pages of the book and found the unrhymed translation of Tegner's Drapa (a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) and read:
I heard a voice that cried,
Balder the beautiful
Is dead, is dead---
"I knew nothing about Balder (The Norse god of light, beauty, happiness and love) ; but instantly I was uplifted into huge regions of northern sky. I desired with almost sickening intensity something never to be described (except that it is cold, spacious, severe, pale, and remote) and then, as in the other examples, found my self at the very same moment already falling out of that desire and wishing I were back in it."
If you, dear reader, are still with humble blogger, I'll relate that after my reading this section of Surprised by Joy I was taken back to the 1950's in Kasson, MN. It was a beautiful autumn day and I was riding my bicycle the 3 mile distance from Kasson to Mantorville, MN. I was singing to myself the "Happy Wanderer" song along the way. I neared Mantorville and the entrance to the golf course road where I had gone camping with friends several times. I marveled at the beautiful red and golden trees and breathed in the crisp air. Suddenly I had a feeling of well-being, of reassurance and that everything was fine and all was beautiful. This lasted for maybe a minute, then, just as suddenly the feeling was gone and I was back to riding my bicycle. I could not do anything, or think any thought that would take me back to that experience, that feeling. Whatever happened, I've not forgotten the experience.
Another time in the 1980's, I was on my annual four-day silent Retreat in July at the Demontreville Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo, MN (see Journals, Journals Everywhere) and was walking the grounds after lunch. I was returning from a visit to the nearby Carmelite Monastery when I happened to look into a culvert along side the road. At that point in time I felt lifted up in spirit and experienced an overwhelming sense of well being. The feeling left just as suddenly as it began. I could walk by that same spot several time the rest of the retreat without the feeling returning. I don't remember what I was thinking or praying about at the time. Not a significant event but I remember it to this day.
Dear reader, you may think "what's all the fuss". Why even write about such insignificant events that cannot be properly articulated and therefore sound mundane! Except, why would I remember the experiences after all the intervening years finally making a connection only after reading CS Lewis some time later. I believe the reason is that I had a taste of Lewis's "unsatisfied desire which is more desirable than any satisfaction", and from that I know for certain that there is much more than me and this cannot be forgotten.
