Wednesday, October 11, 2006

we all get a leaf



When Lewis' best friend Charles William died, he thought that his other best friend, J.R.R. Tolkien would fill the gap. Lewis felt that since the three friends were all together and shared so much with each other, the change once Williams was dead would result in his getting more of Tolkien. But he found to his shock that when Williams died he had less of Tolkien. Why? Because, he observed,'ill never get of Tolkien the particular kind of laugh that only Charles could get.'Lewis began to realize that no one human could call the entire person into action. What happened when Williams died was that Lewis got less of Tolkien because he lost the part of Tolkien that only Charles Williams could bring out."

-Tim Keller in "Why we Need Artists"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow. .i'm really glad you posted this

-linnea

Anonymous said...

dude, i knew i'd read or heard what i was reading before. i listened to that sermon in china.

funke said...

I'm extremely interested in the role of the Other in identity formation. I think it's a pretty powerful antidote to alienated individualism.

Sienna said...

are you kidding me brae?? you have a audio version of that article??? please send it!

Anonymous said...

this is how i feel. i miss being who i am with friends who are no longer near me...