This title is borrowed from C.S
Lewis book, The
Abolition of Man. 1. He argued that there must be a connect
between our emotions and the intellect; a connect between what we teach people
and what we expect from them. Our emotions need to be so trained and prepared
that they become the foundation upon which healthy reason and logic grow. You cannot
feel differently and think differently. “Without the aid of trained emotions
the intellect is powerless against the animal organism” (p.9). The physical
manifestation of ethical behavior in a man for example does not come because of
knowledge of ethics, but because appropriate responses have been trained in the
man. That is why we are different from animals. Emotions are trained with
objective truth which guides the man in the knowing of right and wrong, hence he
is expected to produce virtue. But when this training is lacking or deemed
unimportant, we will not be surprised with the kind of people we produce with
warped knowledge of right and wrong. In fact, Lewis said “I had sooner play
cards against a man who was quite sceptical about ethics but bred to believe
that 'a gentleman does not cheat', than against an irreproachable moral
philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers.” (p.9). I agree. This is because,
a man whose emotions have not been trained with objective values can be duping
you and still be speaking in tongues.
When we look at issues, what do
we think? What do we perceive? How do we feel? To think correctly about an issue,
we must feel correctly about it.2. We will respond based on how our
emotions have been trained. We have to teach our children that it is ok to cry
when we hurt and are in pains. It is ok to rejoice when good things happen to
those around us. It is ok to stretch a hand of help to those who are in
trouble. It is ok to look at nature and see the handiwork of God and with a
heart of worship appreciate Him. It is ok to look at sin and revolt against it.
It is ok to hold to virtue no matter what we may lose or gain. It is ok to
behave or live differently based on our convictions without being afraid of any intimidation or persecutions.
At the end, our perception, our
responses, and what we become depends on how our emotions have been trained. But
we must ensure that the instrument used for this training is objective value
and truth and not any other thing outside of it. If it is human philosophy,
tradition and rudiments of this world, the emotion so produced is bound to fail the test. We have been seduced with a lot of strange gospels and human
philosophies. We have used these to build the lives of men, hence we see the perversions,
pursuit of vanity and hero-worship rampant among us. Strange doctrines will
produce strange thinking and feelings.
We cannot define pride and greed
anymore because it depends on how you are seeing it. We do not understand who a
thief is anymore because nobody cares to ask anybody the source of his income. Everybody
shirks from accountability. A leader presents financial report for example, and
does not expect or want anybody to ask probing questions. If you do, you will
be marked and punished. Many people are not able to make a distinction between the
holy and the profane. Sin does not produce a revolt in our spirit because we
are at home with it. We raise money in the name of missions and our leaders
will use it to travel while the missionaries on ground are owed their
allowances. The world around complains about our behavior but we do not find
anything wrong with our behavior as long as our earthly happiness is guaranteed.
We hear that churches are burnt down, people are in pains and innocent Christian girls are
kidnapped, we only follow the motions the next Sunday without a mention or
serious prayer. It does not touch us and we seem not to know what to do. Everything
is ok and we seem to be in a new normal. We can go on and on to illustrate what
will look like the status report of our situation because of our false assumptions.
How did we come to this point
where nothing moves us? We see things and are not stirred up to action? We share
pictures of violence in the social media carelessly without regard to sanctity
of life. Every death is part of the statistics as long as it does not affect us.
Is our current feeling or emotion not a product of our strange hedonistic gospels?
Have we not become, as it were, men without chests?
C.S Lewis concludes his discuss
this way: “we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests
and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to
find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” (p.
9). Again, has our earth-bound and self-satisfying gospel not produced men
without chests?
May God deliver us from the seductions of this world. Amen.
References
1.
Lewis C.S, The Abolition of Man, The Augustine
Club at Columbia University. March 2002. Online: http://www.basicincome.com/bp/files/The_Abolition_of_Man-C_S_Lewis.pdf.
Accessed 18/05/18.
Lewis C.S, STUDY GUIDE to The Abolition of Man. C.S.
Lewis Foundation, 2001 Online: http://www.cslewis.org/resources/studyguides/Study%20Guide%20-%20The%20Abolition%20of%20Man.pdf.
Accessed 18/05/18.
