I don’t know what context it was that C. S. Lewis made that remark (in the picture below).
I have no idea what the crux of the matter was or the subject being discussed. But I stumbled upon the picture yesterday and took my time to ponder it through.
It is my conviction, therefore—and I might be wrong—that when Lewis made reference to ‘ordinary people’, he was talking about us all, and not a distinct group of people detached from the elite. As a side note, regardless of whatever distinction society has made, we are all ordinary people.
So you see, you can turn a blind eye to facts, but facts don’t lie. It is the proof in itself. No other proof is needed. And the good thing is, whether it massages your ego or not, facts are facts. Deny it or believe it, it will still be what it is. Whatever you make of it doesn’t change its actual position.
It is all truth if and when it addresses others. But when the finger is pointing at us, we cringe and become sentimental. If anybody ever said direct truth was sweet and welcoming to them, then I will, by this, conclude that it was not the truth, but a similitude thereof. Maybe what they embraced purported to be the truth. Alas! It was a dilution.
We can all endure truth as long as it remains in the realm of generalities. But we dare not have the stomach to stand it once it gets personal and specific. I kid you not, not a single son of Adam or daughter of Eve loves the truth. We would always prefer people to speak in broad terms. Only then are we comfortable.
It becomes a matter of tightening up one’s fist when the matter is brought much closer home. How we all, with no exceptions whatsoever, hate the truth. After his adulterous act with Bathsheba and carefully taking out her husband, Uriah, David was all too comfortable apportioning the most stringent of punishments to the person prophet Nathan proverbially spoke to him about.
At this point, I realized it was not just a David’s thing but a nature we all share as children of Adam. It had seemed all too good for David, not until the prophet made mention of the fact that he was the one he had been speaking about. Then, and until then, we saw a man who would have seen to it that justice take its full course. Those who are conscious of their constant need of mercy will always extend mercy to others. It has to be like that.
Dear friends, truth stings when it is specifically and particularly applied. There is no dodging this reality. Let’s face the fact, as it stare us right in the face. Every so often, I just have to admit that our thinking processes are nothing more than a neat re-arrangement of our deep-seated prejudices.
So in order not to appear as those who hate or blatantly dismiss the truth, we sentimentally rationalize it until it loses that inherent potency truth carries. My take-home is that deceit or lies are more or less like a tumor that requires a surgical operation. Truth, on the other hand, is that painful surgical operation without anesthesia that brings healing and wholeness to a person.
Truth may be painful, but when embraced and applied, it is life-saving.
