can someone explain to me what this c.s. lewis quote means?

Question

If the universe has no meaning, then we never should have found out it had no meaning."
-C.S. Lewis

Thanks,

Answer 1

Context helps.



The quote comes from "Mere Christianity," where Lewis is discussing his reasons for having been an atheist -- note that some readers have disputed whether he ever was an atheist, but let's take him at his word.



He says that he was an atheist because he felt that the universe was "unjust." But then he wondered: How do I know the universe is "unjust"? Because you can't call something "unjust" unless you have some idea of what justice is, any more than you can call a line "crooked" unless you've seen a straight line.



But here's the problem: in a world of only crooked lines, where would you find the idea of a straight one? Likewise, if the whole world is "unjust," where can you get an idea of "justice"?



You can see where this is going. We can't call the universe "meaningless" unless we have some idea of what "meaning" is; and if the universe is truly meaningless, where would that idea come from? The fact that we can conceive of the universe as "meaningless" therefore proves that it must have meaning.



Personally, I think he's playing word games. But that's his argument.

Answer 2

the whole quote:



“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”



C.S. Lewis quotes (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)



another from C.S. Lewis:



"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."



“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”



you know, C.S. Lewis was an atheist before he became Christian. can't wait to meet him. :)

Answer 3

My interpretation of this quote is that C.S. Lewis was saying, there is meaning behind everything. Now, if it meant that everything (the universe) had no meaning, then we wouldn't even think of why something is the way it is, since nothing meant anything.



It's just like someone declaring that he or she is agnostic. It contradicts itself. Agnostic according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a person unwilling to commit to an opinion about something. When you declare your being agnostic, you just committed to an opinion, you stood up for something just by saying that.

Answer 4

It is always helpful to look at quotations in context. In this particular case, Lewis explains himself and leaves little for me to add: After an unfavorable review of an elementary textbook by "Gaius and Titius," names invented by Lewis who is criticizing a class of textbooks rather than this particular one, Lewis writes: "I think Gaius and Titius may have honestly misunderstood the pressing educational need of the moment. They see the world around them swayed by emotional propaganda--they have learned from tradition that youth is sentimental--and they conclude that the best thing they can do is fortify the minds of young people against emotion. My own experience as a teacher tells an opposite tale. For every one pupil who needs to be guarded from a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easy prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head" (1). So, don't shield youngsters from passionate writing, but make such writing worth reading.

Answer 5

I think it means that if we found out that the universe has no meaning we would lose purpose in our lives. So even if it's true we would have been better off not knowing.

Answer 6

I would asuume that if there is no meaning for something then it would be useless or not have a purpose, therefore, if the universe has no meaning niether would anything in it, including us. Why would anyone want to find this out?

Answer 7

It means that if the Universe did not have meaning we never would've known it. If it did not have meaning how would we know it. Everything would be chaos without rhyme or reason.

Answer 8

I guess he means when people normally think the universe has no meaning, they have nothing to work for, no goal, they typically think once they are dead they are gone.



Without the truth of Christ what hope do you have for tommorow?

The universe would have had no meaning, you would have no meaning, and everything would just be of chance.

It's a sad way to look at life.

Answer 9

He is saying that the laws of physics' consistency shows that there is a meaning behind the universe. If there was no meaning, then physics and every other science couldn't exist, because everything would be unpredictable. In that case, we couldn't understand any of the fundamental laws.

Answer 10

It's basically like, "I won't pinch myself; if I am dreaming, I never want to wake."



If Lewis truly said this, he must have failed to find meaning in the universe, outside of what he saw in fairy tales and myths.

Answer 11

always when i post a question, even if it is the simplest one, they cannot give me a proper informed answer on this website. what happened to people that really make the effort to answer..

Answer 12

If we live as though there is no eternity, then we should find that it is better to have not believed

Answer 13

It means "I don't know, so I'm speculating."