Humility In S. Lewis Mere Christianity

In his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis (1952) discusses the concept of humility from the perspective of pride, in such a way as to allow the reader understand what humility is not. For example, in the following statement Lewis attempts to explain that pride causes an individual to possess a superiority complex, which seems to remove them from any awareness of others and places focus only on themselves, “The real black, diabolical Pride comes from when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you,” he continues by speaking specifically about Christians, “Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good- above all, that we are better than someone else – I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about …show more content…
71). However, he offers steps in attaining humility, “You may remember I said that the first step towards humility was to realise that one is proud. I want to add now that the next step is to make some serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues” (p. 77). Furthermore, by urging the reader to understand the importance of humility Lewis explains, “We may be content to remain what we call “ordinary people”: but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back form that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience” (p. 109). In this statement Lewis urges the reader to realize that just like God, who will not go astray from his plan, Christians must do the same. Thus, to possess humility is to be obedient to