Till We Have Faces- Buddy Powers

"It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from" (Till We Have Faces). Here, Lewis uses the idea of longing as a means of joy. Reflecting on my experiences this quote seems accurate. When I find myself restless, uninspired, and simply unhappy I am usually not longing for "where all the beauty comes from." Nor am I thinking about the world in a deeper level, but rather on surface events that bring me no joy. Likewise, the greatest experiences in my life immediately point me in the direction of something greater. When I stand in a country field and look up at a clear night sky, I can't help but first be filled with joy, and then start pining for the greatness from which everything I'm seeing came. This idea of longing is explemified in Lewis's Mere Christianity in the quote, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." The Christian idea, that followers of Jesus can not make their home on earth but should long for their heavenly home, is a common theme throughout Lewis' works. Certainly, I find this theme to be true. The more I love something good and wholesome in this world, the more I am humbly turned to the creator of everything.