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  • Mysterious Ways

    End Note

    Sep 24, 2022 1 minute
    —Roma Maitlall, EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
    “Joy is the serious business of heaven.”
    —C. S. LEWIS

    ritish writer (1898–1963) lost his faith a few years after his mother died when he was a boy. Then, in his thirties, he had a mystical experience while heading to the zoo: “When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did,” he explained in his spiritual memoir, . His reignited belief wasn’t rational or emotional but mystical: “It was more like when a man, after long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake.” Lewis went on to experience what he called “stabs of Joy”—moments of transcendent bliss—throughout his life that deepened his faith and influenced his famous writings, most notably The Chronicles of Narnia.

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