C.S. Lewis on the Love of Country (Part I)

In the course of reading and re-reading C.S. Lewis over the past few weeks I've focused primarily on his writings regarding a healthy love of country. It seems as if Lewis also speaks of this in relation to three areas. First he always discusses a healthy love of country in contrast to an unhealthy nationalism. This makes sense in the context of Lewis's writings. Both world wars were the result of a nationalism so overpowering that it eventually became a destructive ideology. Second, Lewis discusses love of country in relation to the necessity of teaching good history. I find this an interesting connection on Lewis's part for it all of a sudden elevates the role of education in the ordinary lives of all people. Third and finally, Lewis always enters a discussion of the temporary versus the permanent, the dichotomy of the City of God and the City of Man. Confusing the two often leads dire consequences according to Lewis.

For this post, I will focus on the healthy love of country Lewis describes especially in relation to the sacrifice of the dead in war. Such thoughts are fitting as another Memorial Day has come and gone in America, and we as citizens remember the sacrifice of the many brave generations before us.

In The Four Loves Lewis emphasizes a patriotism that "asks to be left alone" for it values home, place, community, and a particular way of life. Such a man appreciates his own local customs and habits recognizing "all the things he would miss" if it were lost. Certainly, many of our soldiers have died for their home and families protecting those particular things about home that only they themselves could love and appreciate.

In his essay "Learning in Wartime," Lewis points out the worth in dying for ones country. However, such a tremendous duty is not worth living for as the only type of life worth living and dying for is spiritual in nature. It is from the sacrifice of war do we realize the reality of death and pain. Lewis observes that war is not unique to suffering for we will all most likely suffer as we ourselves die. Neither does war deprive men of a chance to have peace with God for its reality forces men to confront their eternity much sooner. What war does to death according to Lewis, is that it forces us to remember it. By making death real, we can be aware of our own mortality.

In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis through Screwtape reminds Wormwood how much better it would be if "all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie... promising life to the dying..." War threatens the "contented worldliness" that men often fall into for "In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever." Similar to "Learning in Wartime" Lewis notes the fragility of life that naturally accompanies war.

Lewis's brilliant but simple reminders encourage the citizen to love his country and remember those who died before us. The reality of death only helps us see more clearly the temporary state of the world we are in. A healthy love of country allows us to recognize our proper place in the world we live in and the place of those who have died before us.