{"id":1794,"asset_id":2103,"title":"From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II Compiled in Yours, Jack","alias":"from-the-collected-letters-of-c-s-lewis-volume-ii-compiled-in-yours-jack","introtext":"<p>TO ARTHUR GREEVES: <i>On the meaning of interruptions and real life; on the difficulty of being patient; and on expiating through embracing one\u2019s own sufferings<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n<p>20 December 1943<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Things are pretty bad here. Minto\u2019s varicose ulcer gets worse and worse, domestic help harder and harder to come by. Sometimes I am very unhappy, but less so than I have often been in what were (by external standards) better times.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one\u2019s \u2018own\u2019, or \u2018real\u2019 life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one\u2019s real life\u2014the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one\u2019s \u2018real life\u2019 is a phantom of one\u2019s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it\u2019s hard to remember it all the time\u2014I know your problems must be much the same as mine (with the important difference that mine are of my own making, a very appropriate punishment and, like all God\u2019s punishments, a chance for expiation.)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Isn\u2019t it hard to <i>go on <\/i>being patient, to go on supplying sympathy? One\u2019s stock of love turns out, when the testing time comes, to be so very inadequate: I suppose it is well that one should be forced to discover the fact!<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I find too (do you?) that hard days drive one back on Nature. I don\u2019t mean walks&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. but little sights and sounds seen at windows in odd moments.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I had a most vivid, tranquil dream about you the other night, just chatting in the old way. Let\u2019s hope it will happen sometime. For the rest, I\u2019ve no news.<\/p>\r\n<p>From <i><a href=\"https:\/\/link.biblegateway.com\/click\/34194184.13277\/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYW1hem9uLmNvbS9kcC9CMDAyRkszVTZPP2llPVVURjgmY2FtcD0xNzg5JmNyZWF0aXZlPTkzMjUmbGlua0NvZGU9dXIyJnRhZz10aG9tYXNuZWNvbS0yMA\/5ef5087d3f8d747b4f7c2923B13f8d2d4\">The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II<\/a><\/i><br \/>Compiled in <i><a href=\"https:\/\/link.biblegateway.com\/click\/34194184.13277\/aHR0cHM6Ly9iaWJsZWdhdGV3YXkuY2hyaXN0aWFuYm9vay5jb20vQ2hyaXN0aWFuL0Jvb2tzL3Byb2R1Y3Q_aXNibj05NzgwMDYxMjQwNTkx\/5ef5087d3f8d747b4f7c2923B2c17dbb7\">Yours, Jack<\/a><\/i><\/p>","fulltext":"","state":1,"catid":"8","created":"2024-02-01 17:15:22","created_by":"873","created_by_alias":"","modified":"2024-02-01 17:15:22","modified_by":null,"checked_out":null,"checked_out_time":null,"publish_up":"2024-02-01 17:15:22","publish_down":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","images":"{\"image_intro\":\"\",\"float_intro\":\"\",\"image_intro_alt\":\"\",\"image_intro_caption\":\"\",\"image_fulltext\":\"\",\"float_fulltext\":\"\",\"image_fulltext_alt\":\"\",\"image_fulltext_caption\":\"\"}","urls":"{\"urla\":false,\"urlatext\":\"\",\"targeta\":\"\",\"urlb\":false,\"urlbtext\":\"\",\"targetb\":\"\",\"urlc\":false,\"urlctext\":\"\",\"targetc\":\"\"}","attribs":"{\"article_layout\":\"\",\"show_title\":\"\",\"link_titles\":\"\",\"show_tags\":\"\",\"show_intro\":\"\",\"info_block_position\":\"\",\"info_block_show_title\":\"\",\"show_category\":\"\",\"link_category\":\"\",\"show_parent_category\":\"\",\"link_parent_category\":\"\",\"show_associations\":\"\",\"show_author\":\"\",\"link_author\":\"\",\"show_create_date\":\"\",\"show_modify_date\":\"\",\"show_publish_date\":\"\",\"show_item_navigation\":\"\",\"show_icons\":\"\",\"show_print_icon\":\"\",\"show_email_icon\":\"\",\"show_vote\":\"\",\"show_hits\":\"\",\"show_noauth\":\"\",\"urls_position\":\"\",\"alternative_readmore\":\"\",\"article_page_title\":\"\",\"show_publishing_options\":\"\",\"show_article_options\":\"\",\"show_urls_images_backend\":\"\",\"show_urls_images_frontend\":\"\"}","version":1,"ordering":null,"metakey":"","metadesc":"","access":"1","hits":null,"metadata":"{\"robots\":\"\",\"author\":\"\",\"rights\":\"\",\"xreference\":\"\"}","featured":"1","language":"*","xreference":"","note":""}