January 17, 2008

When quitting is a virtue

Quitting is not seen as a virtue. From a very early age we are taught that we must continue at a task until it has been completed. But C.S. Lewis points out that if anything we pursue begins to attract our attention more than our desire to know God, it is time to quit that pursuit.

As the author of the Theologia Germanica says, we may come to love knowledge—our knowing—more than the thing known: to delight not in the exercise of our talents but in the fact that they are ours, or even in the reputation they bring us. Every success in the scholar’s life increases this danger. If it becomes irresistible, he must give up his scholarly work. The time for plucking out the right eye has arrived. (C. S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time", in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, p. 50.)

1 comment:

  1. Your posts always make me think a little (sometimes a lot!) deeper. thanks

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