“We Demand Windows”
This is why I read. And probably one of the reasons I write.
From C. S. Lewis, as quoted in The Christian Imagination (Shaw Books 2002):
What then is the good of – what is even the defence for – occupying our hearts with stories of what never happened and entering vicariously into feelings which we should try to avoid having in our own person? Or of fixing our inner eye earnestly on things that can never exist. . . ? The nearest I have yet got to an answer is that we seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves. Each of us by nature sees the whole world from one point of view with a perspective and a selectiveness peculiar to himself. . . . We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own. . . . We demand windows. Literature as Logos is a series of windows, even of doors. . . .
Oh, I love this. I ask myself all the time, why write? Why tell stories? And sometimes I’m certain I’ll never let the stories grow or be imagined unless I can answer the question. This helps so much.
Yes. Yes yes yes. Of course Lewis hit the nail on the head. And I love that picture, Felic. So cute.
Great post!! I love looking through people’s windows. That could be related to my love of looking into people’s lives (real or made up) via stories.
I think Macy’s expression totally captures the heart of the artist.
I LOVE that picture! And of course CS Lewis captures thought to page so beautifully….and so do you.