CS Lewis' Incredible Search for Truth

And Practical Writing Advice

Clive Stapleton Lewis (1898-1963) was born in Belfast, N. Ireland, but lived most of his life in England. His ambitious mother sent her two sons to boarding school in England to "knock the Irish accent out of them" to prevent them from being barred from attaining their highest potential in the UK's highly discriminatory society. Sadly, the boys soon began mercilessly ridiculing their father's Irish accent, including in their letters.

After the family dog Jacksie was killed when he was a boy, he took on the name "Jacksie" or Jack.

While serving in WWI, his best friend in officer training corps lamented that just one thing worried him about potentially giving his life for his country: who would care for his aging mother? So they promised each other that if either one of them died, they would take care of the other's mother. His friend died, and Lewis remained ever true to his word. He brought the widow to live with him during his college days and she remained with him for the rest of her life. But Lewis never told his parents, and it led to a major falling out with his father when he found out his son's bank account was overdrawn.

The Secret to CS Lewis' Greatness

Today, CS Lewis is best known for his Christian books and children's stories (the Narnia series), but he also wrote scholarly books on medieval literature as a professor of English literature at Magdalene College, Oxford as well as at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

After years of being forced to attend church services as part of his boarding school education, he  learned the Bible well, but could clearly see the church's flaws, leading him to become an atheist roughly from 1917 to 1931. 

In the 1920s, he explored the occult (Norse mythology and William Morris' Utopianism) and wrote about it. His books on the occult are still widely read by occultists.

The secret to CS Lewis' greatness was his insistence on thinking of all academic disciplines as one interdisciplinary endeavor to understand truth. 

Interestingly, he found his way to back to Christianity through science. 

Although many today consider it completely impossible, one of the paths to God is through scientific and intellectual exploration, contrary to what "academia" would have people believe today, but it is a road only the greatest minds can travel. 

Few people realize this was the intellectual tradition of men like Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, and Galileo, all of whom deepened their great devotion to God (not to man's religion, but to God directly) through the study of the wonders of what they concluded can only be God's creation. (Other paths to God include reading/hearing scripture, direct revelation like St. Paul, or through taking an incredible journey that changes you.) 

After exhaustively studying the mythologies of various cultures, Lewis recognized that the story of Jesus is similar to all death and resurrection myths "except it really happened." Lewis writes that he pondered the implications of this and that over the course of a long drive through the English countryside he somehow realized it was really true and needed to dedicate himself to Christ.

As for vices, Lewis had but one: the sin of pride. The so-called "temptations" of this earth--which he saw as mere ignorance of the consequences, like eating a poisoned chocolate cake--held no allure for him; he was grateful for the luxury of being able to write up to 20 hours per day, read voraciously, and enjoy intellectual debates with good friends over dinner, "as iron sharpens iron," Proverbs 27:17.

But after becoming a Christian, by all accounts, his personality changed and he seems to have overcome his own arrogance, too. In "The Screwtape Letters" he writes with great insight from the prideful viewpoint of Satan and his minions.  

Many of CS Lewis' Christian books were on topics he was asked to write about, like "The Problem of Pain" and "Miracles." He gave away all the money he made from his books and lived only from his small teaching salary. 

But these books got him pigeon-holed as a popular writer with few serious books under his belt, and he was passed over for accolades. He didn't seem to care that he was hated by many during his lifetime; people either loved or hated him. 

CS Lewis never intended to marry and did not want children, but toward the end of his life he married an American simply to provide her with a visa to stay permanently in the UK, and ended up inadvertently falling in love with her. She died a few years later, leaving him heartbroken. In the weeks following her death, he dashed off the book "A Grief Observed."

At Oxford, CS Lewis formed a small writing group called The Inklings with fellow Christian Englishmen JR Tolkien ("Lord of the Rings") who was Catholic, and academic Hugo Dyson. 

Lewis' popular BBC talks were published as “Mere Christianity” which has sold 11 million copies and counting worldwide. But he was initially criticized for not being qualified to talk about God since he was an academic, not a minister or theologian. (Scroll down to hear the only remaining BBC talk since tapes were re-used, erasing previous programs.)

CS Lewis has lately grabbed the popular imagination with series based on his incredible life, like “The Most Reluctant Convert.”

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CS Lewis' tried and true writing tips:

1. Turn off the radio

2. Read good books

3. Write with your ear, not your eye

4. Write only about things that interest you. If you have no interests, you won't ever be a writer.

5. Be clear. Remember, readers can't know your mind. Don't forget to tell them exactly what they need to know to understand you. And also remember that it's hard to be clear in first drafts, that's why rewritng is so important. That's where we get clarity.

6. Save odds and ends of writing attempts because you may be able to use them later. 

7. You need a well-trained sense of rhythm and the noise of a typewriter [radio/TV, etc] will interfere. Cadence is important.

8. Know the real meaning of every word you use. Be clear.