No Right to Happiness

In his essay, "No Right to Happiness", C.S. Lewis argues against a common idea that happiness is a right possesed by all men. He brings up the subject by talking about the divorce and remarriage of some of his neighbors and a comment regaurding the situation suggesting that this behavior was excusable on the basis that he was seeking happiness, which after all, was his right. When we discussed this in class, there were arguements from both sides, some agreeing with Lewis and some disagreeing. I myself am in agreement with Lewis on this one. I believe that our happiness is a gift, not something we are entitled to.

My favorite part of this paper is when Lewis talks about the difference between speach and action regaurding sexual impulse. As he was growing up Lewis heard people say that sexual impulse should be treated just the same as any other impulse, but eventually, he realized that what they were doing was the exact opposite. Greed, pride, hatred, all of these are discouraged and held back as much as possible. People realize that they are powerfully distructive and for that reason they fight against them rather than letting them take hold. Sexual impulses on the other hand are given free reign, even encouraged. I find it amazing that people don't seem to realize how differently sexual impulse is treated from any other impulse, and that they don't see the destruction it causes. More than murder, more than stealing, more than disobediance to authority, sex outside of marriage is tearing our society apart. It targets families, which are societies' building blocks. Broken homes, and marriages with the scars of unfaithfulness are the crumbling bricks that we depending on to hold our society together. Once we realize this and deal with it, we will see its possitive effects agains many of the other problems our society faces.

One more thing I found really interesting about Lewis paper is were he talks about the laws of the state being affected by a Natural Law. This Natural Law is the law of God that is written into the conscience of every man. What is your most important reason for not killing someone? Is it simply because of the consequences of breaking the states law, or is it because you know in your hear that it is wrong, and because you would feel terribly guilty if you were to commit such a crime? In a society completly free of conscience, the laws of the state would be of little good. Something stronger than mans' laws is neccesary to reign in mans' sinfulness. Even those who do not believe in God realize this. They know the difference between right and wrong, and they have standards of morality even though they do not acknowledge that thoses standards are God's standards and they have their source in Him.