Lewis begins his article with fictitious character Mr. A divorcing his wife for Mrs. B who in turn divorces her husband. Mr. A and Mrs. B love each other and being together will bring them happiness. Lewis' character Clare says, "They had a right to happiness." Lewis discusses whether or not we do have a 'right to happiness' and sex is indeed the main focus of his article.
Hedonism has certainly led to the growth of this idea and the phrase "pursuit of happiness" is present in The Declaration of Independance. However, in the U.S. this is only within lawful means and I think the same holds true for Gods law. A right to happiness is a selfish concept. Lewis discusses how we start to see ourselves as good lover as Mr. A does and pity ourselves for having a lover who is not as great as we see ourselves. Mr. A leaving Mrs. A is dishonorable and dishonest. It breaks Gods law and infringes on the happiness of Mrs. A.
I don't think it's right to divorce a faithful partner, and I believe there is much agreement on this conclusion. Yet men and women are constantly doing this same thing that Mr. A and Mrs. B have done. Lewis says he has great sympathy for women because the characaristic by which they most easily possess a man, beauty fades fast as they age. The same is not true for men. Lewis explains that a good marriage requires two "good people; controlled, loyal, fair-minded, and mutually adaptable." Mr. A and Mrs. B are not such people though they may be in love, so their marriage will most likely turn to ashes.
Continuing on the same line Lewis says that women are biologically hardwired to be fore monogamous than men. I don't necessarily agree; by statistics this may look true, but I've seen plenty of examples to the contrary. What I do see is that a promiscuous man is seen as confident and sucessful by society; whereas a woman is seen as having low self esteem if she sleeps around. I agree that women get the short end of the stick in this type of world. It's clearly a fallen way to live life and I see why God didn't intend for us to live in this type of society.
I agree with what you said about Mr. A and Mrs. B (and of course any real life situations that are similar to this.) They are sick and tired of being with their current spouses, and they are in love, so of course they will be truly happy now that they have each other, right? That's the way it may seem at first, but I think that once they get started thinking that, they will never change unless they get their heart going in the right direction. I don't think they'll ever be fully satisfied otherwise, and therefore will always be in the pursuit to their 'right to happiness'.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you use the counterexample of a promiscuous women being seen as having low self-esteem while a promiscuous man can be seen as being successful. I think its important to realize that there will always be exceptions, however, in general I believe that our culture views sexual infidelity as more acceptable than other forms of disloyalty.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comments on Lewis' take women's disadvantages in our kind of society. I also agree that it is not fair to assume that men cannot be as monogamous as women in many cases. I think that is a lot of truth in your statement that "a promiscuous man is seen as confident and sucessful by society; whereas a woman is seen as having low self esteem if she sleeps around." It clearly shows one aspect of the infiltration of sin in our society, and as you pointed out, it is not God's plan for our lives.
ReplyDeletethe idea that female are more monogamous than males only is a biological trend that explains that since females have a limited number of eggs whereas males have unlimited sperm. in order to protect the limited number of eggs females will generally partner with fewer males since their resourse is more valuable,(I hope this helps explain what I think he ment)
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