Have you ever wondered why we think certain things are right and wrong in life? Why it is wrong to rob a bank or beat up an elderly woman? It makes us wonder why our behaviors are determined by a set of rules that everyone just seems to know. According to C. S. Lewis (1952), the idea of right and wrong is also stated as the Law of Human Nature, because “people thought that everyone knew it by nature and did not need to be taught it” (p.5). This Law of Nature shows that there is a standard for our behaviors that we as humans know we do not live up to. We fight with others to try to prove that we are right and they are wrong, which goes back to our standard of behavior. Lewis states, “Now what interests me about all these remarks is that the
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The point is that they are one more proof of how deeply, whether we like it or not, we believe in the Law of Nature. If we do not believe in decent behaviour, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently? The truth is, we believe in decency so much-we feel the Rule of Law pressing on us so-that we cannot bear to face the fact that we are breaking it, and consequently we try to shift the responsibility” (p.8).
Our shifting responsibility is just another example of how true the Law of Nature is. In chapter 2, Lewis talked about our herd instinct and how it is different from the Moral Law. Science tells us that we usually have two instincts, one to help and the other to run and preserve yourself, very similar to fight or flight. Through the Moral Law, we feel a third instinct that tells us to ignore our flight response and help someone in need. This may not be the thing we want to do, but the standards we believe and follow tell us it is the right thing to do. C.S. Lewis says that:
“But clearly we are not acting from instinct when we set about making an instinct stronger than it is. The thing that says to you ‘Your herd instinct is asleep. Wake it up,’ cannot itself be the herd instinct. The thing that tells you which note on the piano needs to be played louder cannot itself be that note”
The point is that they are one more proof of how deeply, whether we like it or not, we believe in the Law of Nature. If we do not believe in decent behaviour, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently? The truth is, we believe in decency so much-we feel the Rule of Law pressing on us so-that we cannot bear to face the fact that we are breaking it, and consequently we try to shift the responsibility” (p.8).
Our shifting responsibility is just another example of how true the Law of Nature is. In chapter 2, Lewis talked about our herd instinct and how it is different from the Moral Law. Science tells us that we usually have two instincts, one to help and the other to run and preserve yourself, very similar to fight or flight. Through the Moral Law, we feel a third instinct that tells us to ignore our flight response and help someone in need. This may not be the thing we want to do, but the standards we believe and follow tell us it is the right thing to do. C.S. Lewis says that:
“But clearly we are not acting from instinct when we set about making an instinct stronger than it is. The thing that says to you ‘Your herd instinct is asleep. Wake it up,’ cannot itself be the herd instinct. The thing that tells you which note on the piano needs to be played louder cannot itself be that note”