The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis; chapters 4-7.

Previous chapters of Lewis’ tale have successfully brought us to a fantastical world of bright spirits and unimaginable beauty, but now the shadowy figures of the dimly lit Town must leave the bus and find their way in to this strange and wonderful new world…easier said than done. We meet different ghostly characters in each successive chapter, each with their own restrictions and flaws that serve as boundaries to the bright land beyond the bus.

In chapter 4 we encounter a ghostly man who has largely struggled through his earthly existence on the edge of the law, but an existence that he proclaims was always one that proved his righteousness. The ghostly man cannot bear the thought of his heavenly tour guide being a man whose disreputable earthly past included murder – how was one such as that allowed here? After a rather long soliloquy of “right” and “wrong” by the ghostly man, the spirit-filled guide tries to convince the ghostly “righteous” man to leave his past in the past and follow the path in to the land. There was no overcoming the ghostly man’s indignation and he cannot bring himself to enter a place where other “unworthy” people reside – the dingy Town seems a better option: all appears to make sense down there in the dark.

A shadowy Episcopal Bishop is the central focus of chapter 5 – an inwardly focused man that has led a life full of intellectually stimulating pursuits for religious truths. The ghostly Bishop is not ready to abandon his personal joy of defining God and, when given the opportunity to see God face to face, he struggles to imagine a time where God can be known in a close and personal manner. Lewis provides a few opinions of his own in chapter 5, but the Apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthians best describe the Bishop’s choice, “now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.” (1 Cor 13:12). The ghostly Bishop is not ready to see God because the truth of God may very likely shine the light on the Bishop’s faults; the Bishop returns to the bus in order to be an important man in an unimportant place.

Chapters 6 and 7 provide us with encounters with men who face selfishness and a depressing lack of Hope. The man of chapter 6 walks slowly and cautiously along a river until he finds a beautiful apple tree. After much posturing and with great difficulty the man obtains a piece of fruit but attempts to bring it back to the bus so that he may have the divine fruit in a manner that suits his “comfortable” life…the two are incompatible and the man and the fruit are separated. In chapter 7 we meet an irascible man who holds great distrust of nearly everyone and everything…every instance of life being arranged as one great conspiracy. The chapter’s focus turns to the depressing thought that no matter the direction of one’s choosing the outcome is known and life generally ends quite unpleasantly. Stripped of all free will, the shadowy man plods along without Hope, returning to the bus headed for the dimly lit Town.

We have encountered a number of distressing people and their circumstances, but our journey through Lewis’ book is now not quite half done and we should hold on with great hope and know that there are many lessons in store for us!