Some Everyday Thoughts

by C.S. Lewis

This volume of short essays and other pieces by C. S. Lewis is part of a larger collection, C. Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces. In addition to his many books, letters, and poems, C. S. Lewis wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but also on ethical issues and the nature of literature and storytelling. This audiobook is a treasure trove of Lewis' reflections on diverse topics.

This volume

1. The Necessity of Chivalry

2. The Inner Ring

3. Two Lectures

4. Some Thoughts

5. Xmas and Christmas

6. Revival or Decay?

7. Delinquents in the Snow

8. Willing Slaves of the Welfare State

9. Screwtape Proposes a Toast

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Philosophy, Christian, Christianity, Classics, Theology

Audible Audio

Published October 25, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.

Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost gave this only three stars, as at first it appeared to be just the grumbling of a theologian grown old. "You kids get off my sacresty!"
But as the historic American first week of January 2021 played out I began to hear the wisdom and prophetic words of Lewis for what they were.
By the time I reached the final chapter, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," I felt he was addressing the events of the past few days in Washington, D.C. directly.

How could we not know this was going to happen? How can people still make excuses for Donald Trump and the corrupt right wing?

Remember Mussolini? He made the trains run on time. They claim our lives are better under Trump. Really? Mine isn't. Yours isn't either. If it is, I'd like to know exactly how. Not some vague platitude you got from social media or Fox News, but how YOUR life is better.
Have your medical bills gone down, or have you just stopped seeing the doctor?
Are you truly feeling more secure and at ease? Or are you just drinking more?

And here is where I tie this back in to Lewis' book: Can you do anything you used to enjoy without something getting in the way of your enjoyment? Something that is someone else's fault?
Ponder that last question. Then ponder it again, sinner.

Lecture over.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version. It was read by Ralph Cosham and his narration is excellent.

Lewis' writings are top-notch and listening to them narrated by Cosham is a pleasure.

[ValeReads Kyriosity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some good stuff in this one.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of Lewis’s essays.

[St Fu · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'd think a Christian would be a little more forgiving of what he sees as the follies of others. I'm sure he'd explain something clever and precise were he around to hear me say this. I like his cleverness and precision, and his way with words. That's why I read him (and Chesterton) and I understand they are of a different era where problems looked different. I get his point about democracy--it's like Vonnegut's point about handicaps in The Sirens of Titan. But he is unaware of things which now seem obvious, e.g. the hidden inequalities imposed by culture, or the need for collective action to make an impact where an individual is powerless. He could argue, say, that such worldly wrongs are inevitable and are God's way of training our souls and needn't be righted at all, but then, does one do a good deed solely for the benefit of the doer?

I guess I couldn't help arguing with him here because where else could I do so? But I do so because he seems like he would be able to take my objections seriously. But I could be wrong about that.

[Gregory Melahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a mixed bag of C.S. Lewis essays, not all his best stuff but still worth a read.

In the disappointing “Two Lectures”, Lewis presents a both sides view of Evolution vs. Creationism but uses the tired old chicken and egg question to illustrate how there is reasonable doubt about the mechanisms of evolution. It’s entertaining but written in 1945, eight years before the discovery of the structure of DNA. Since then the biochemical evidence alone supporting evolution is just plain overwhelming and this essay is just anachronistic.

“An egg which came from no bird is no more “natural” than a bird which had existed from all eternity. And since the egg-bird-egg sequence leads us to no plausible beginning, is it not reasonable to look for the real origin somewhere outside sequence altogether? You have to go outside the sequence of engines, into the world of men, to find the real originator of the Rocket. Is it not equally reasonable to look outside Nature for the real Originator of the natural order?”

But “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” is brilliant and I can read it again and again.

“Your dreaded principal has included in a speech full of points something like an apology for the banquet which he has set before us. Well, Gentledevils, no one blames him. But it would be vain to deny that the human souls on whose anguish we have been feasting tonight were of pretty poor quality. Not all the most skillful cookery of our tormentors could make them better than insipid.

Oh, to get one's teeth again into a Herod, a Henry the Eighth, or even a Hitler! There was real crackling there; something to crunch; a rage, an egotism, a cruelty only just less robust than our own. It put up a delicious resistance to being devoured . It warmed your inwards when you'd got it down.”

[Leah Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1940. WW2 and the prophecy for the day. “I dread government in the name of science,” said Lewis. “That is how tyrannies come in.” Wow. Well stated, Lewis.

The inner ring discussion is beautiful. So thankful to be free of pursuit of acceptance into an inner ring bcuz In Christ, I have peace. Also appreciate his discussion on safe healthy rings that organically form without jockeying or coercion. Grace.

Xmas and Christmas. What an amazing peice. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.,.

I plan to read again…,

[Jonathan Ratliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes Lewis’s writing scares me with how prophetic it can be. In this short collection of essays and speeches, Lewis touches on chivalry, clicks or groups and the fears of being outside the click, and various other aspects of Christian life including the great sin of envy. Throughout the whole collection it feels like Lewis is describing America today to the T. From Covid and social control to the dissatisfaction and jealously that fuels the sexual confusion we are facing right now, this was a rare but easy 5 star for me.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth is always applicable. I'm always surprised at how C.S.Lewis can speak into any era with accuracy.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good! But also very short!

[Bill Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty esoteric stuff, but Screwtape Proposes a Toast is a delight.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume includes:
1. The Necessity of Chivalry
2. The Inner Ring
3. Two Lectures
4. Some Thoughts
5. Xmas and Christmas
6. Revival or Decay?
7. Delinquents in the Snow
8. Willing Slaves of the Welfare State
9. Screwtape Proposes a Toast
I had not heard of Screwtape until Tim Clare talked about him in one of his podcasts . The Screwtape letters were a volume of letters from a senior demon dispensing advice to his nephew Wormwood. Here he is making a toast. I guess its religious satire?
Delinquents in the snow is pretty much a complaint about a local magistrate letting some children off with a warning after they stole some things from one of his outdoor buildings.
3 stars

[Reagan Faith Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Inner Ring - one of the best speeches I have ever read. The quest for the inner ring will break your heart if you do not break it. Lowkey one of the best written works I have ever read.

Several others exceedingly good. Especially “Necessity of Chivalry” “Xmas” and “The Inner Ring”… as well as his essays on politics and economics

[Peter Hagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of excellent essays. Many prophetic essays that have found fulfillment today. The final two essays were especially fantastic.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of scathing indictments against oneself - particularly the Christian. This is a profoundly humble but complete look at our own hypocrisy. The excerpt on Christmas vs. Xmas are particularly relevant, but the whole collection is a really compassionate, badly-needed tongue-lashing. It reminds me a bit of Alma 5 in the Book of Mormon. I'd particularly recommend it to any Christian (though not exclusively to Christians) who wants to take a serious look at our own true conversion to Jesus Christ and whether or not that shows in our everyday lives or views on our brothers and sisters. Do we put others' esteem above God's? It was really interesting and meaningful also to hear Lewis's feelings on The Screwtape Letters. Lewis's satire in some of these excerpts compares to Alexander Pope's and Samuel Johnson's level. It is excruciating and incredibly skillful. The most brilliant part of the writing was Lewis's writing on "democracy," which is the last excerpt in this collection. Next to 2 Timothy 3:2-4, and Isaiah 3:16, it may be the most thoroughly prophetic condemnation of what is going on in the world "democracies" today - most especially in the U.S. It gave me chills. I can't believe I've started off the year with three consecutive 5* books. That's more than I've read in the last three or four years, I think.

[Kayla Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, the vagaries of reading an anthology! Some the chapters were delightful and others infuriating. It’s really not fair at all to rate them together as a unit, but I’m given no choice and so have misrepresented the pieces abominably. The only justice I can do the whole is to say that what is good is very good and worth suffering the bad.


Addendum:

Nope, upon further reflection I’m removing another star. I’ve never wanted so badly to thump Lewis over the head with something heavy.

I found the first essay on chivalry both insightful and helpful for literary analysis, but each that followed was rather wanting—either in small annoying ways, having confounding gaps in logic, or finally entire perspectives and conclusions with which I personally profoundly disagree and which offered none of Lewis’ characteristic nuance or insight even for arguments sake.


Addendum’s addendum:

I adore Lewis, but I’m going to strangle that unnuanced, pig-headed, snob with his own necktie.

[Clifford Luebben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have listened to all these short Lewis works before, so this collection didn’t offer me anything new. Of course Lewis is always good even the 2nd time. However this collection also included some of my least favorite Lewis writings. There is a bit more politics and culture war at play. There’s even the article where Lewis literally complains about kids trespassing on his lawn (though being Lewis this is still done with some elegance and insightful reflections on society). This collection does have classic Lewis insight and charm, but I think the only people I’d recommend this collection to are the Lewis completionists

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listed this as "classic-literature" because it has so many insights to human nature in it. Really, there are some passages that everyone should not only read, but take to heart. These are essays written by Lewis and cover such topics as democracy, pride and corruption. There is an extra Screwtape essay that is quite clever.

As always, Lewis is uplifting, clever and though-provoking. A short, satisfying boost for spirit and brain.

[Kevin Atsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter is a hit and miss for me. Lewis is always interesting, but at any rate if I were to rank them, this one wouldn't be as great as a whole with all its various subjects being rated differently. Screwtape proposes a toast is a great chapter, and his observations of it left me with a new understanding of Lewis's perspective of writing it, and the chapter on chivalry was great! As for the others, not as intriguing. That being said, it was still good to pick it up.

[Bradley Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy C.S. Lewis' thoughts in this compilation. He has eerily relevant thoughts regarding Democracy despite the passage of time as to when it was written.

My favourites from this compilation are the Necessity of Chivalry, the Inner Ring, Willing Slaves of the Welfare State, and Screwtape Proposes a Toast. All of these are ones I'm sure to revisit in the near future and again many years from now.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The modern State exists not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good — anyway, to do something to us or to make us something. Hence the new name ‘leaders’ for those who were once ‘rulers’. We are less their subjects than their wards, pupils, or domestic animals. There is nothing left of which we can say to them, ‘Mind your own business.’ Our whole lives are their business.”

Much of this was compiled into “God in the Dock” and it was good to rehear this is shorter format.

[Christopher Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is mostly essays from “God in the Dock.”
The first essay “The Necessity of Chivalry” and “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” are articles from other places.

My recommendation is to pick up God in the Dock. I listened to the audio versions of both it and this book, both read by the remarkable Ralph Cosham. Listening to him is like hearing a lecture from Lewis himself.

[Laura Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend to today's thinker. Each chapter is it's own stand-alone essay. I had no idea CS Lewis got so political in his writings. Chapter 8 and 9 were like the grade finale. So accurate to what we are witnessing today in 2021.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. The Necessity of Chivalry
2. The Inner Ring
3. Two Lectures
4. Some Thoughts
5. Xmas and Christmas
6. Revival or Decay?
7. Delinquents in the Snow
8. Willing Slaves of the Welfare State
9. Screwtape Proposes a Toast

[Kate Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection of C. S. Lewis's thoughts. I listened to the book all the way through and then listened/shared several parts again.

[Lizw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magical

[Emily Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Aaron W. Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last chapter alone is worth the time to read this collection of essays, lectures, and notes (most all published prior in some or another volume of Lewis’ writings).

[Željko Filipin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good in general. Probably the best part is Screwtape Proposes a Toast.

[Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! You would think he was talking in 2021. Fabulous narration. And the content REALLY makes you think.

I listened to this using chirpbooks.com.