Pity Not

“Those who chose misery can hold joy up to ransom, by pity.” OR “Pity was meant to be a spur that drives joy to help misery.” The former should never be the choice according to C.S. Lewis. He says, “Ye must distinguish.”

“The action of Pity will live for ever: but the passion of Pity will not. The passion of pity, the pity we merely suffer, the ache that draws men to concede what should not be conceded and to flatter when they should speak the truth, the pity that has cheated many a woman out of her virginity and many a statesman out of his honesty - that will die. It was used a weapon by bad men against good ones: their weapon will be broken.”

The other kind of Pity - the action, says Lewis, “It’s a weapon on the other side. It leaps quicker than light from the highest place to the lowest to bring healing and joy, whatever the cost to itself. It changes darkness into light and evil into good. But it will not, at the cunning tears of Hell, impose on good the tyranny of evil. Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who inside on still having jaundice, nor make a midden of the world’s garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses.”

All humanity must choose the “great divorce,” according to Lewis, between Heaven and Hell. Joy is Heaven; misery is Hell. Bad men and women dwell in the deception of passion, where as, good people choose reality and truth, that this life is merely a foretaste and preparation for the perfected life in Heaven.

What is a red lizard (evil) compared to a white stallion (good)? These contrasting images are presented by Lewis in his short, fantasy work, “The Great Divorce.” “The tail (of the tiny lizard), still flickering, became a tail of hair that flickered between huge and glossy buttocks. Suddenly I started back , rubbing my eyes. What stood before me was the greatest stallion I have every seen, silvery white but with mane and tail of gold. It was smooth and shining, rippled with swells of flesh and muscle, whinneying and stamping with its hoofs. At each stamp the land shook and the trees dindled.”

Lizard or horse. Really was there a more obvious choice?