More detail from Lewis here: (1:24) "...Authority, reason, experience; on these three, mixed in varying proportions all our knowledge depends.
The authority of many wise men in many different times and places forbids me to regard the spiritual world as an illusion.
My reason, showing me the apparently insoluble difficulties of materialism and proving that the hypothesis of a spiritual world covers far more of the facts with far fewer assumptions, forbids me again.
My experience even of such feeble attempts as I have made to live the spiritual life does not lead to the results which the pursuit of an illusion ordinarily leads to, and therefore forbids me yet again.
I am not now saying that no one's reason and no one's experience produce different results. I am only trying to put the whole problem the right way round, to make it clear that the value given to the testimony of any feeling must depend on our whole philosophy, not our whole philosophy on a feeling. If those who deny the spiritual world prove their case on general grounds, then, indeed, it will follow that our apparently spiritual experiences must be an illusion; but equally, if we are right, it will follow that they are the prime reality and that our natural experiences are a second best. And let us note that whichever view we embrace, mere feeling will continue to assault our conviction.
(6:21) “Just as the Christian has his moments when the clamour of this visible and audible world is so persistent and the whisper of the spiritual world so faint that faith and reason can hardly stick to their guns, so, as I well remember, the atheist too has his moments of shuddering misgiving, of an all but irresistible suspicion that old tales may after all be true, that something or someone from outside may at any moment break into his neat, explicable, mechanical universe.
Believe in God and you will have to face hours when it seems OBVIOUS that this material world is the only reality: disbelieve in Him and you must face hours when this material world seems to shout at you that it is NOT all. No conviction, religious or irreligious, will, of itself, end once and for all this fifth-columnist [the secret sympathizer of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage within one’s own defense lines] in the soul. Only the practice of Faith resulting in the habit of Faith will gradually do that”.
(1:04) "Have we now got to a position from which we can talk about Faith without being misunderstood? For in general we are shy of speaking plain about Faith as a virtue. It looks so like praising an intention to believe what you want to believe in the face of evidence to the contrary: the American [school boy] in the old story defined Faith as 'the power of believing what we know to be untrue'.
Now I define Faith as the power of continuing to believe what we once honestly thought to be true until cogent reasons for honestly changing our minds are brought before us. The difficulty of such continuing to believe is constantly ignored or misunderstood in discussions of this subject. It is always assumed that the difficulties of faith are intellectual difficulties that a man who has once accepted a certain proposition will automatically go on believing it till real grounds for disbelief occur. Nothing could be more superficial. How many of the freshmen who come up to Oxford [University] from religious homes and lose their Christianity in the first year have been honestly ARGUED out of it? How many of our own sudden temporary losses of faith have a rational basis which would stand examination for a moment?
I don't know how it is with others, but I find that mere change of scene always has a tendency to decrease my faith at first - God is LESS credible when I pray in a hotel bedroom than when I am [at home] in College. The society of unbelievers makes Faith harder even when they are people whose opinions, on any other subject, are known to be worthless.
These irrational fluctuations in belief are not peculiar to religious belief. They are happening about all our beliefs all day long. Haven't you noticed it with our thoughts about the [Second World] War? Some days, of course, there is really good or really bad news, which gives us rational grounds for increased optimism or pessimism. But everyone must have experienced days in which we are caught up in a great wave of confidence or down into a trough of anxiety though there are no new grounds either for the one or the other. Of course, once the mood is on us, WE FIND reasons soon enough. We say that we've been 'thinking it over': but it is pretty plain that the mood has created the reasons and not vice versa.
But there are examples closer to the Christian problem even than these. There are things, say in learning to swim or to climb, which look dangerous and aren't. Your instructor tells you it's safe. You have good reason from past experience to trust him. Perhaps you can even see for yourself, by your own reason, that it is safe. But the crucial question is, will you be able to go on believing this when you actually see the cliff edge below you or actually feel yourself unsupported in the water? You will have NO RATIONAL grounds for disbelieving. It is your senses and your imagination that are going to attack belief.
Here, as in the New Testament, the conflict is not between faith and reason but between faith and sight. We can face things which we know to be dangerous if they don't look or sound too dangerous; our real trouble is often with things WE KNOW to be safe but which look dreadful. Our faith in Christ wavers not so much when real arguments come against it as when it looks improbable - when the whole world takes on that desolate look which really tells us much more about the state of our passions and even our digestion than about reality.
When we exhort people to Faith as a virtue, to the settled intention of continuing to believe certain things, we are not exhorting them to fight against reason. The intention of continuing to believe is required because, though Reason is divine, human reasoners are not. When once passion takes part in the game, the human reason, unassisted by Grace, has about as much chance of retaining its hold on truths already gained as a snowflake has of retaining its consistency in the mouth of a blast furnace. The sort of arguments against Christianity which our reason can be persuaded to accept at the moment of yielding to temptation are often preposterous.
Reason may win truths; without Faith she will retain them just so long as Satan pleases. There is nothing we cannot be made to believe or disbelieve. If we wish to be rational, not now and then, but constantly, we must pray for the gift of Faith, for the power to go on believing not in the teeth of reason but in the teeth of lust and terror and jealousy and boredom and indifference that which reason, authority, or experience, or all three, have once delivered to us for truth…” (Religion: Reality Or Substitute?).
@fayvenn5901 Says:
This is the most life-changing book I have ever read. And it's awesome to see some of its core ideas illustrated this way. Thank you so much to the person/s who made this video. I plan to rewatch it many times until it's wired in my unconscious mind.
@feeberizer Says:
I needed this. Thank you.
@christophersnedeker Says:
I've been struggling with my beliefs, I have been having some difficulty with certain passages in the Bible that seems to contradict each other and it has been casting serious doubts on the doctrins of the inerrancy of scripture. I've been revolving between Christianity and mere theism. Some part of me feels like I'm a Christian on the days it suits me and a non Christian on the days some other religion seems interesting. But if I can't trust my own reasoning what rational basis can I have for any of this? Lewis debunked this whole Freudian "all reasoning is just us rationalizing our desires" bit in pilgrims regress.
My reasoning process is this, there is no perfect Bible, some Bible versions lack one self contradiction but have another, but from my research they all have at least one. If there is not perfect Bible the doctrine of biblical inerrancy is false. It would be strange if I said I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible but not in the inerrancy of any particular Bible on earth, I suppose i could say I believe in the inerrancy of "the bible" and "the bible" is spread out over different manuscripts and is not all in one place, but that would be weird. Third if the doctrine of inerrancy is false Christianity is false, this is a bit of a tough one for me because I have great respect for Christians like George Macdonald (major influence on Lewis) who didn't believe in the doctrine of inerrancy. However I admit that I'd be going against every church in existence and against scripture (scripture says it is all profitable, how could it all be profitable if any part erred) and since I can't be a catholic or orthodox the only thing I could do would be to start my own protestant denomination and how could I form doctrines from the Bible if the Bible was suspect? Lewis said that well meaning non Christians who seek the truth and fallow what they know can be saved, the catholic church also says this, for my sake I hope they're right.
@John-bv2ft Says:
Very wise man
@TheDreamDetective888 Says:
What a philosophical and spiritual treasure and pleasure this channel is.
@aaronmutch1883 Says:
the day i realized that God wasn't giving an exam or bargaining with me was the most beautiful of my life
@annapobst Says:
So good!!!
@BobbyMiller64 Says:
This was always one of my favorite chapters in Mere Christianity. You did a great job illustrating it!
@katej392 Says:
I've been really going though a season of the second discovery. Its like things that ive always been doing somehow its more clear to me how bad they are. Pride in what you do, what you own etc. And then realizing that despite all of this you cant do a single thing right in the eyes of God. Its really crushing, but I'm learning to trust him.
@SantoValentino Says:
Whoa. The “Titanic” thing is blowing my mind.
They claimed God couldn’t sink the ship, which was named after Titans (gods).
Then the ship goes down in their proudness.
It’s akin to babel. Whoa
@juniorcarvalho7090 Says:
Sorry for asking this, but somebody can explain to me why and how digestion can affect our mood?
@KeepJC1st Says:
I love these! Thank you so much for the time, effort, thought, and creativity that go into them. It is making a difference.
@OdiseasGeorgiadis Says:
Thank you thank you thank you for these incredible works ! All the videos !
@MaximilianMKGill Says:
I liked the darkest hour music at the end.😊
@sarahjoseph1223 Says:
Please do The Weight of Glory!
@kiaracasinero1526 Says:
yaaaaay! finally found this channel. i am loving CS Lewis works more and more. Thank you for your hardwork!
@jacobitewiseman3696 Says:
Didn't Jesus say he would seperate the goats from the sheep in apocalypse. And ask did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked. Yes faith is what saves you but, works are also needed. Faith without works is dead according to St. James comparing it to giving words of comfort then not giving clothes to them.
@steffan5982 Says:
These illustrations are aesthetically pleasing.
@areacode3816 Says:
I love this channel
@salli4588 Says:
As usual, fine work. Thank you very much.
@SFEFullTangARU Says:
The birthday present analogy is so good!
@claymcdermott718 Says:
The bad man leads a sheltered life by always giving in.
@segsb7085 Says:
Please keep up this Wonderful Ministry. God Bless you always...🙏
@thecrisisfortruth Says:
Thank you for doing the hard work in producing these videos. We watch them as a family over and over, the spiritual depth CS Lewis brings out is WOW! Cant wait for the next one!
@reneeoceankim Says:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!!!!!!!!
@MrGMitche Says:
This is my devotional channel. There is a lot of food for thought.
@theresamusser4390 Says:
Excellent! Thank you.
@suesmith9665 Says:
Wow and perfect.
@wolfJack-qp6si Says:
Great works as always. Thanks the continue series.
@carolinabregliano3326 Says:
👏👏
@Sally-ss7cs Says:
Thanks a lot!
@littlerascaleventing Says:
Thanks so much for making these. People don't realize how relevant C. S Lewis is to our time. You have helped make his work more accessible.
@edgarrenenartatez1932 Says:
Excellent!
@Paulthored Says:
6:25 for the next half minute or so....
I love how he points out that a true Atheist needs Faith to be a proper atheist.
lol; six pence...
@cameronlong1642 Says:
Thank you for this! These videos have really brought Mere Christianity to life for me and have helped me digest more of Lewis’s ideas. Looking forward to seeing the next part about faith!
@olorinmartinez Says:
Christ - the only complete realist. Quite right.
@michellec6804 Says:
Can never get enough of Lewis and your brilliant visual accompaniment. Grateful for your creativity and passion to share.
@NoelCynthiaMusicLoveLight Says:
I have been waiting for this update! Amazing Doodle, as always. Thankyou.
@fightingleaf Says:
Might this "faith" in the first sense also be related to the idea of "faithfulness" in the sense of "loyalty?" Or am I stepping on this "faith" in the second sense at this point?
@tylerburns1364 Says:
Always a smile on my face when I see you've uploaded again! This was a good 'reminder' in it's own right too so thank you for that!
@VladimirLenski Says:
Goodness, what a fine chanel... Thank you for your work!
@robertleavelle768 Says:
This was the very lecture I needed to hear this morning. Thank you.
@travist7777 Says:
"One doesn't know how bad he is, until he tries to be good." Brilliant!
@silentassassins47 Says:
Amazing work! Thank you!
@burnstick1380 Says:
Can only agree. When I came to the dead sea for the first time I perfectly knew that I would float in it, but i still first tried it in shallow waters were I could still stick my head above the water if I don't float.
@matthewhogg5861 Says:
Super as always, I enjoy recommending this gem of a channel!
@99kylies15 Says:
Been watching a lot of your vids lately, and was thrilled that this came up today. Really great work. I can't imagine the time that goes into these. Thanks, this one really hit well.
@nexussmile8525 Says:
These are truly grand videos
@zgobermn6895 Says:
Beautiful! Always a pleasure watching your work elucidating the mind of Lewis.
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