{"id":66345,"date":"2017-12-17T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=66345"},"modified":"2021-06-29T11:14:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T18:14:05","slug":"the-eagle-and-child-s1e13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2017\/12\/17\/the-eagle-and-child-s1e13\/","title":{"rendered":"PWJ: S1E13 – MC B3C1 – “The Three Parts of Morality”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Convoy\"<\/p>\n

Today in Mere Christianity, we begin Book III! This new book is entitled “Christian Behaviour”. In this chapter, in addition to\u00a0learning about the qualities\u00a0of my ideal woman(!), we\u00a0discover what C.S. Lewis regarded as “the three parts of morality”. To\u00a0illustrate these different parts, Jack uses the\u00a0analogy\u00a0of a convoy of ships.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe\u00a0manually<\/a>, or\u00a0any place where good podcasts can be found\u00a0(iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0Google Play<\/a>,\u00a0Podbean<\/a>,\u00a0Stitcher<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0TuneIn<\/a>). Please send any objections, comments or questions, either via email\u00a0through my website<\/a>\u00a0or tweet us\u00a0@pintswithjack<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Episode 13: “The Three Parts of Morality”<\/strong>\u00a0(Download<\/a>)<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/TEAC-S1E13.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

<\/p>\n

— Show Notes —<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0My outline for this chapter is available\u00a0here<\/a>. Also, we finally have a C.S. Lewis doodle<\/a> again!<\/p>\n

\u2022 From now on, Matt will be offering us a quotation each week related to the topic at hand. This week’s quotation comes from a later chapter in Mere Christianity:<\/p>\n

“<\/em>Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that”<\/em> (Mere Christianity)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 The Beer-of-the-week was\u00a0Franziskaner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0I read\u00a0the Collect<\/a> from the Episcopal Church for the anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ death:<\/span><\/p>\n

“O God of searing truth and surpassing beauty, <\/span>
\n<\/span>we give thee thanks for Clive Staples Lewis, <\/span>
\n<\/span>whose sanctified imagination lighteth fires of faith in young and old alike;<\/span>
\n<\/span>Surprise us also with thy joy <\/span>
\n<\/span>and draw us into that new and abundant life which is ours in Christ Jesus, <\/span>
\n<\/span>who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, <\/span>
\n<\/span>one God, now and for ever. Amen”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 A schoolboy is asked to describe what God is like and he says\u00a0that God is\u00a0“…the sort of person who is always snooping round to see if anyone is enjoying himself and then trying to stop it.”\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span>Many people think that morality is there to\u00a0impede\u00a0fun, but Lewis explains that morality is there to ensure the successful running of “the human machine”<\/span>. Matt and I share some analogies related to this: me teaching salsa dancing, Matt’s soccer practice in High School and my failed attempts at CrossFit.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We discuss Ideals and Idealism vs. Rules and Morality. We explain that Jack thinks it’s unhelpful to speak about “moral ideals” because\u00a0it implies that these ideals are simply a private taste and therefore not binding on all people.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We discuss my ideal woman, Amy Farrah Fowler<\/a>, long-suffering girlfriend of Sheldon Cooper<\/a> on the TV show, “The Big Bang Theory”<\/a>. Matt, painfully predictable as always, prefers\u00a0Penny<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The other\u00a0problem with speaking of moral ideals is that\u00a0it can foster Pride.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We explain human morality by looking at Lewis’ convoy analogy. In order for the fleet to have a successful voyage, they must have…<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Group Integrity<\/strong>
\nThe ships must not crash into each other<\/p>\n

2. Interior\u00a0Integrity<\/strong>
\nThe ships must each be in good working order<\/p>\n

3. Correct destination<\/strong>
\nThey must all end up at their intended destination<\/p>\n

I give each of these areas names:<\/p>\n

1. Exterior Dimension<\/strong>
\nThe relationships between humans.<\/p>\n

2. Interior Dimension<\/strong>
\nEach person’s “interior life”<\/p>\n

3. Teleological Dimension<\/strong>
\nOur ultimate purpose. Our purpose depends, quite obviously, on whether or not there is a Creator who made us.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0We look at Jack’s other analogy of a music band:<\/p>\n

1. Exterior Dimension<\/strong>
\nEach instrument must come in at the right time to form a tune, harmonies etc.<\/p>\n

2. Interior Dimension<\/strong>
\nEach person’s instrument is in tune.<\/p>\n

3. Teleological Dimension<\/strong>
\nThe right kind of music must be played. Remember Jack’s comment in Book 1 that “The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys”<\/span>?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Modern society only focusses on the Exterior Dimension, since it is the most obvious and the area in which we more generally agree. The trouble is that if we stop there we’ll still end up in problems. The “Interior Dimension” will leak out into our Exterior life.\u00a0Recently there have been a flurry of Hollywood celebrities being charged with sexual misconduct. I explained this by pointing out that for generations society has taught us to pollute our\u00a0Interior lives with pornography, teaching us to reduce people to objects and the drain\u00a0the sexual union of all meaning.\u00a0Are the results of this really that surprising?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Likewise, we set ourselves up for failure if we ignore the Teleological Dimension. Religion is statement about fact and it makes a big difference whether they’re true or false.\u00a0If Christianity is true, we are going to live forever…<\/p>\n

\u2022 Matt mentions the book\u00a0The Road to Character<\/a> by Jewish author, David Brooks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 I’m rather proud I didn’t\u00a0giggle when Matt spoke about having “duties”. I must be growing up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today in Mere Christianity, we begin Book III! This new book is entitled “Christian Behaviour”. In this chapter, in addition to\u00a0learning about the qualities\u00a0of my ideal woman(!), we\u00a0discover what C.S. Lewis regarded as “the three parts of morality”. To\u00a0illustrate these different parts, Jack uses the\u00a0analogy\u00a0of a convoy of ships. If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe\u00a0manually, or\u00a0any place where<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3111],"tags":[1992,5012,2969,4601,4365,542,2829,1993,4438],"class_list":["post-66345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-amy-farrah-fowler","tag-c-s-lewis-2","tag-featured","tag-ideal-woman","tag-mere-christianity","tag-morality","tag-sheldon-cooper","tag-the-big-bang-theory","tag-the-eagle-and-child-podcast"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Convoy-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66345"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81936,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66345\/revisions\/81936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}