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Lewis wrote trying to convert English atheists and liberal Christians back to orthodox
Christianity. I don't think he was trying to convert serious Hindus. But he had studed
Hinduism (a very little) and may have been replying to some English friends who were
supporting some Hindu ideas. For example, the passage in /Miracles/ (p. 28 of Macmillan
paperback). BTW, by 'Reason' here Lewis does not mean just logic, but something more like
Bodhi.
<< ... If Reason is sometiesm present in my mind and someties not, then, isntead of
saying that "I" am a product of eternal Reason, would it not be wiser to say simply lthat
eternal Reason itself occasionally works through my organism, leaving me a merely natural
being? ... But to talk thus is, in my opioinn, to forget what reasoning is like. ...
Reasoning doesn't "happen to" use: we /do/ it. Every train of thought is accompanied by
what Kant called "the /I think/." The traditional doctrine that I am a creature to whoim
God has given reason but who is distincet from God seems to me much more philosophical
than the theory that what appears ot be my thinking is only God's thinking through me. On
the latter view it is very difficult to explain waht happens when I think correctly but
reach a false conclusion because I have been misinfromed about facts. Why God -- who
presumably knows the real facts -- should be at the pains to think one of His perfectly
rational thought through a mind in which it is bound to produce error, I do not
understand. Nor indeed to I understand why, if all "my" valid thinking is really God's,
He should either Himself mistake it for mine or cause me to mistake it for mine. >>
I wonder if the Hindu doctrines of Ahamkara etc could have clarified Lewis' confusion
here?
> I would rather stick to the correct authority on these
> matters and that is the relavent religious instructions in my case the
> Vedas, the Bible in other peoples cases.
>
> I know of a number of very good translations of the Vedas that will enable
> you to understand them better.
I would appreciate any suggestions.
Regards,
Mary
>
> mary@dragontree.com wrote in article <ghenE8p1KL.6EC@netcom.com>...
> > I have been an admirer of Hindu doctrines for many years, and often wish
> > that I could find them explained in idiomatic English, as Lewis
> > explained Christian doctrines. Also, some of Lewis' ideas sound more
> > Hindu than Christian, when really examined.
> >
> > Has anyone else here read Lewis? Any comments?
> >
> > Mary Ezzell
> > --
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