Mere Christianity

For this post I'd like to look at the second chapter because that was my group's focus of discussion. Chapter two talks a lot about the Moral Law and different interpretations of it. The first definition of it is, as Lewis puts it, "The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys." (7) I think that this is mostly accurate, but there is a problem. The problem with this approach is that our instincts are sometimes wrong and can deceive us. That is not to say that we should disregard our instincts and just toss them aside, for our instincts and conscience if you will can be very helpful in keeping us on a mostly straight path. The next possible definition is that Moral Law "usually seems to be telling us to side with weaker of the two impulses." (7) This has a similar flaw in that quite often, our strongest impulse is the right choice. If this were what we were supposed to do than we can go ahead and dispense with the idea of going with you're gut, or following your heart. Also, taking this stance doesn't seem like a very happy way to live, especially because you don't really trust yourself. That is not to say that there are not times when your weaker instinct is correct, but that is why we need people in our lives who we know will be honest with us to keep us safe from disillusions.
The last definition is that there are no good or bad instincts. While we can have good and bad instincts at times, that does not mean that in other situations that same instinct would not be the right choice. I love how Lewis said this in terms of a piano when he wrote that "Every single note is right at one time and wrong at another. The Moral Law is not any one instinct or any set of instincts: it is something which makes a kind of tune (the tune we call goodness or right conduct) by directing the instincts...The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs." That is something that each of us has to be careful of. For me, that might simply be ignoring anything that I need to get done when the New York Yankees are playing or my favorite show Sports Nation is on ESPN. If I were to watch those every time they were on (unfortunately, like all sports, baseball has an off season so the Yankees wont be on for a while), I would fall behind on my schoolwork and likely miss out on countless other opportunities. I think the thing to remember in all of this is the need to consider if something is in your best interest (without impeding someone else's best interest), even when you may not like to admit it.