Jason Pratt on Lewis and getting high

Hey, Victor!

I don't know if anyone ever bothered to look up the fundy anti-Lewis
reference to Sheldon Vanauken's _A Severe Mercy_; but I finally got around
to doing so last night.

The phrase _is_ there. ("We must have some good, long talks together [if
you come to England], and perhaps we shall both get high.")

There is no specific contextual reference to what Lewis meant, either in
the letter, or in Van's text preceding it for several pages (back through
another letter from Lewis.) The only certain inference that can be drawn,
is that Lewis is responding to something Van had written in the
(unpublished) letter to which Lewis is here replying.

Taking the actual _story_ (and _history_) of the situation into account,
however, there are two explanations which would fit to a lesser or greater
degree (respectively).

a.) Neither Lewis nor Vanauken was much for 'high church', though both were
very much fond of the sort of intense aesthetic experiences which 'high
church' rituals tend to communicate. They just both preferred to receive
such aesthetic experiences from a different route. Studying the overt
history of both of them (the positive evidence actually available,
including in ASM itself), it's obvious that they sought this aesthetic
experience in a mystical appreciation of Nature (especially if that
experience could be shared with a friend), and also in intellectual
contemplation of principles of truth. At the same time, Lewis certainly
believed (and so did Van in his own way) that they were being priggish
about not appreciating high church, especially in such a way; and
considered a certain amount of submission to this to be a healthy
mortification of their natural tastes. So,

a1.) Lewis could be referring to the possibility that, between the two of
them, they might finally be able to come to a better acceptance of 'high
church' ritual (i.e. _perhaps_ they shall both "get high");

a2.) Lewis could be referring to the shared aesthetic experiences both of
them actually did treasure (appreciation of Nature and intellectual
contemplation).

If one wonders why two men so strongly inclined to appreciate such things
would _perhaps_ "get high" on such a visit, instead of it being an expected
given, then we only need look at Van's current emotional situation to
understand that at _that_ time such a result would _not_ be such a given;
leading to:

b.) Van was, at that time, grieving horribly for the death of his beloved
wife (with whom he had spent some years previously in sharing the sort of
aesthetic experiences they both appreciated along with Lewis, btw.) This is
what the story in his book has been leading up to (in his authorship of
hindsight), and would soon be recognized by him (thanks to Lewis' help) as
being "a severe mercy" (thus the title he chose for the book): because
before Jean's ("Davy's") death, she had become a considerably more devoted
Christian than Van in some ways, and Van had become somewhat jealous of God
about this--enough so that he had developed an infatuation with a mutual
friend of theirs (named Jane) who reminded him of how Davy _used_ to be.

Not long before writing the letter to which Lewis was replying in the quote
excerpted by the anti-Lewis fundamentalists, Van had (in his grief)
attempted to renounce his Christianity in vengeance against God--and had
failed. (Not many years later, Lewis would do something almost as strong in
his grief over the death of _his_ wife, too.) It is this attempt and
failure and its implications which Lewis spends most of his letter (printed
by Van in the book) addressing; obviously, Lewis would now have an even
clearer idea than before how horribly depressed Vanauken must be.

I expect, then, that Lewis was most probably hoping (by means of a2 above)
to help Van get over his _depression_; the "get high" being a slang
shorthand for this.


Admittedly, none of this logically excludes the possibility that Lewis
would be offering to do drugs of some sort with Van during their trip (one
could even tease a path of temptation toward that from a2); but... well,
damn... {snorf!} What the hell kind of people would imagine, given all this
situation, that Lewis and/or Vanauken would _mean_ that??? It would
actually make more sense (as little as _that_ would nevertheless be) to
imagine them having a tacit homosexual relationship with each other. (There
_is_ at least overt correspondence between them on the topic of
homosexuality--though not in _that_ regard.)

There are some 'Christians' whom I wish I could backhand into eternity.

Then I recall that God is the one Who will certainly be doing that.

(And _then_ I recall that _I_ had better watch out, not to be such a
'Christian' myself... {self-critical grimace} And that if God has to do it,
it's _for_ their sakes, not against them. Whereas I, the sinner, would
honestly prefer to flush and forget them. It's a good thing God is better
than I am. {s})


Jason