some thoughts

It’s so hard to articulate what the writings of C. S. Lewis have instilled in me. I’ve read how others have tried to describe the sense of time-pausing, stop-and-stare wonder just at what “is.” The appreciation of the simple, the simple indulgence in the beauty of everything. Sehnsucht, for all it is.

Well I still can’t put it into words (though I’ll continue enjoying what it is by continuing to try), but every now and then I hear or read something which echoes it — some little sense of mystery and curiosity that lies a little above (beneath?) or behind (or within?) everything. Anyway, I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington last night — first time ever, embarrassingly — and I heard another echo in something “Jefferson Smith” said:

Jefferson Smith [Describing his home state]: I’ve been over every single foot of it. You could have no idea. You just have to see it for yourself. I don’t know. The prairies and wind leaning on the tall grass and lazy streams down in the meadows, angry little midgets of water up in the mountains, cattle moving down the slope against the sun. Campfires and snowdrifts. You know, everybody ought to have some of that sometime in his life. My dad had the right idea. And it all worked out. He used to say to me: ‘Son, don’t miss the wonders that surround you because every tree, every rock, every anthill, every star is filled with the wonders of nature.’ And he used to say to me: ‘Have you ever noticed how grateful you are to see daylight again after coming through a long dark tunnel?’ ‘Well,’ he’d say, ‘Always try to see life around ya as if you’d just come out of a tunnel.’ [emphasis mine]

Yeah. That’s a little more of it…