About the great divorce

Heaven is not a closed-minded environment. “Hell is a state of mind – ye never said a truer word – ye never said a truer word – ye never said a truer word – ye never said a truer word – ye never said a truer word – ye never said a truer word – And, in the end, every state of mind left to itself, every shutting up of the beast inside the dungeon of its mind – is Hell. Heaven, on the other hand, is not a state of mind. Heaven is the very essence of life. Heavenly is all that is completely true. For anything that is shaken will be shaken, and only the unshakeable will remain.” (Lewis, p. 25) Lewis attempts to clarify the idea of heaven and hell using two categories, which he refers to in his book as "The Grey Town." The concepts he uses of heaven, hell and purgatory is meant to demonstrate the common Christian perceptions. The characters used in the novel are divided into two categories: the ghosts, which in this case condemned souls given an opportunity in heaven. The other group is the spirits, who are the converted souls accepted in paradise but have not entered since they are trying to influence ghosts into repentance. In the present day, Christians believe that if one dies a sinner, then their soul goes straight to hell where it is consumed by eternal fire whereas, those who die in Christ have the privilege of enjoying the bliss of the heavenly glory. The narrator in the novel expresses the free will of every individual in choosing God or Satan by choosing good or evil. This is a choice between damnation and salvation and as he expresses, it is a rather difficult choice. In chapter three he says, “It gave me a feeling of freedom, but also of exposure, possibly of danger, which continued to accompany me through all that followed. It is the impossibility of communicating that feeling, or even of inducing you to remember it as I proceed, which makes me despair of conveying the real quality of what I saw and heard” (Lewis 8).

In the phrase by the Episcopal ghost that, “to travel hopefully is better than to arrive” is a wrong position since it portrays an idea of ignorance from Christians in the present day world, who apparently know right from wrong but still choose to do wrong. The ghost, in this case, had been lying for so long until he started believing his lies. The ghost’s ridiculous opinions imitate the self-conscious extremism of contemporary rational life. The Spirit was revealing the truth about paradise when he says, "I can promise you none of these things. No sphere of usefulness: you are not needed there at all. No scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land, not of questions but answers, and you shall see the face of God" (Lewis 15). He went ahead to allude that the fat ghost had only experienced truth with nonconcrete understanding but he would bring him where he would be able to have it like honey and be encompassed by it as a newlywed, and his thirst quenched. The same way children are inquisitive of literally everything, is the same way Christians are supposed to ask questions in order to find out the truth and this is purely from the word of God. In Mathew 7:7, The Lord is willing to reveal Himself to us when we ask and seek Him.

Works Cited

Lewis, Clive Staples. The Great Divorce. New York: Macmillan Publishing co., INC, 1946.