The Civilization of C.S. Lewis

    I recently checked out a new bookstore downtown with my family when I spotted a used copy of a C.S. Lewis compilation.  It has topical entries that are short from the various writings of C.S. Lewis.  This author of the famous Chronicles of Narnia and Screwtape Letters has an even greater gift than storytelling:  This man saw God and humans and the relationship in between so clearly that he makes me feel that I can understand the whole mystery in just 60 seconds.
    I just read the other day his thoughts on civilization in a light I have never even considered, into a field I have never even wandered.  To summarize, Lewis says that we cannot maintain a civilization if we are focused on maintaining a civilization.  It has to be about something other than the civilization in order for us to preserve it.  That explains a lot:  The fall of Ancient Egypt, Rome, Hitler's Germany, the list goes on and on, but these notables qualify the point to its edges.  Lewis compares this failure to preserve civilization to the failure to preserve an infatuation of love, where a man tries constantly to please a woman in every way - but ultimately cannot because his focus is not where it should be.
    Lewis' view of course is a Christian one of the heart, and it makes all the logical sense in the world.  By focusing on being a Christian and moral civilization, a true civilization can thrive.  This makes me reflect on this country, America, and how much I want to preserve it in its greatness.  Now I see that this can only happen through my faith and my life, not through political attempts at preservation.