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Men Without Chests
C.S. Lewis once wrote that the term “emotion” is a relatively new word, and its current connotations have emerged from a secular worldview. In earlier times, men spoke of the affections and the passions, not of the emotions. The Greeks spoke of the passions: the feelings that emerged from the “gut” (koilia). These were described as impulsive, sensual, and even animalistic urges and appetites. Amongst these might be lust, envy, cowardice, rage, hilarity, gluttony, laziness, revelry, and so on. For them, these were to be governed very strictly. They also spoke of the affections that emerged from the chest (stethos). For them, these were the noble and gracious feelings which produced nobility, courage, honor, reverence, joy, mercy, kindness, and patience. The Greeks taught that the passions always won over the intellect in any contest, unless the intellect was supported by the affections.
Lewis elaborates on this point when he cites ancient thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine, who believed that the purpose of education was to train children in "ordinate affections," that is, to train them to like and dislike what they ought to like and dislike; to love the good and hate the bad. He argues that although these valu es are universal, they do not develop automatically or inevitably in children; therefore, they are not "natural" in that sense but rather must be taught through education. Those who lack them lack the specifically human element, the trunk that unites intellectual man with visceral (animal) man and may be called "men without chests".
He also declared in his book, Mere Christianity -- "It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall, I have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not the hall, where there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose, the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable...When you do get into the room you will find that the long wait has done some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and, of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling."
An acceptance of God as the ultimate truth and purpose of mankind's existence is essential for one to enter the courtyard of faith, regardless of whether one enters the hall of Christianity or some other belief system. Although for America, it has always been Christianity that has sustained us. On that note, I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
