Learning in Wartime - or during Covid-19
For the first time in most of our lives our country is experiencing a crisis that has brought all normal American life to a grinding halt. The Coronavirus has our country, our economy, our hearts and our minds in a vice grip. While there have been particular communities that have gone through serious hardships in the past fifty or sixty years, like hurricanes or wildfires, school shootings, wars, and terrorist attacks, none of these have had the kind of sustained country-wide impact as our current situation. The country may have been gripped in the pain or sadness of such events for a few days or weeks, but then, for most, life returned to normal. In the past month, life in this country has changed more than any of us could have imagined. It has been quick, dramatic, and panic-inducing. How many people will be affected by this virus? How many people will die? How long will it take our economy to recover? My husband still has his job, but will he in six months? When will I be able to attend social gatherings again? When will I next be able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist?
For the first time in a generation or two, all three hundred million Americans have had to face existential questions on a daily basis. We are not used to having to grapple with these. Who do we learn from in the middle of an event that doesn’t have modern precedence? The closest comparisons reach back to the Second World War or the Great Depression. One small silver lining in the midst of this crisis is that we are now in an excellent position to learn from those who lived through such harrowing events and then to apply their hard-earned lessons to our lives. One such individual was C.S. Lewis. He wrote and spoke numerous times on the need to maintain elements of routine and normalcy in the midst of the Second World War.
Applying the terms "normalcy" or "routine" to their current circumstances seems laughable to most Americans. There are constant updates about the ever-increasing number of Coronavirus cases in our country and local communities. States and counties continue to ramp up restrictions on our ability to leave our own house. Many of us haven’t socialized in-person with those beyond our immediate families for weeks at this point. We are emotionally fried, tired of the same company, anxious, and constantly feel the need to gain our footing on ever-shifting ground. This is understandable right now, since we’re still in the midst of so many adjustments. However, soon, and the sooner the better, we must find a new normal and begin to think of this time of isolation and quarantine as life itself, not a vacation from it. We must begin to bring back good habits in our daily life. We must continue our Christian journey, growing in virtue, growing in love, and sharing Christ with others. One of the most important ways we do this is returning to our intellectual lives. This is a time to sharpen our minds. In fact, we must sharpen our minds if we are to find ways to resist the temptation to succumb to the emotions of fear and anxiety. However strange it may sound, now is a time to reinvigorate our intellectual life.
University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford where Lewis preached “Learning in Wartime.”
The sermon “Learning in Wartime” was given by C.S. Lewis in October of 1939. Britain had, within the last month, finally admitted the inevitable and declared war on Nazi Germany. The country that had lost almost 900,000 just twenty years previously in the First World War now faced another seemingly impossible-to-win conflict. And so questions began to circulate at the beginning of this new war - How could life remain, in any way, ‘normal’ amidst the crises of this new conflict? Lewis was quick to respond to this question as he addressed his Oxford fellows and students in his sermon “Learning in Wartime.” I will summarize Lewis’ thoughts briefly so that we can apply them to our current situation.
Lewis first acknowledged the validity of questioning the purpose of the intellectual life not just in wartime, but in any time. He wrote, “[A Christian] must ask himself how it is right, or psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to Heaven or hell to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology.” But war, he argues, is just one circumstance among many that would keep an individual from engaging with truth and beauty. As he said himself, “If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with ‘normal life’. Life has never been normal.” [Emphasis mine.] This is the crux of Lewis’ argument. There will always be events, some of them emergencies, that distract us from our vocation and the work we have been given. This is not exceptional, this is life itself. Our job is to remain focused despite the barrage of distractions.
The idea of Christian vocation is also key to Lewis’ argument. God’s path for us in life, the specific way He is drawing us to Himself, works through the world we live in, not around it or in spite of it. And the pursuit of the transcendental is a good and admirable one in life that, when done correctly, draws the student closer to God. “We can therefore pursue knowledge as such, and beauty as such, in the sure confidence that by so doing we are either advancing the vision of God ourselves or indirectly helping others to do so,” Lewis wrote. The dedication to learning is a valid vocation. “The intellectual life,” wrote Lewis, “is not the only road to God, nor the safest, but we find it to be a road, and it may be the appointed road for us.” Lewis ultimately concludes on this note. The life of learning is something we are able to offer to God. That makes it a worthy endeavor in every age, whether war or no.
Returning to our current situation, what pieces of wisdom can we take with us? First and foremost, we must accept that sin, death, suffering, plague, war, and famine are with us always while we live in this world. But in turn, we must immediately recall the words of Jesus, “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) We mustn't lose hope; we must keep our eyes on heaven despite the strife set before us by sin. However, as humans, we keep our eyes on heaven most effectively when we are able to participate in a routine. We see the wisdom of this reflected in the orders of almost every monastery and convent that have existed through the ages. Additionally, there are some, as Lewis reminds us, who are explicitly called to incorporate the intellectual life into their daily routine. This means, despite the anxiety we are experiencing as a society, it is time for us to return as fully as possible to our intellectual lives.
“You are not, in fact, going to read nothing, either in the Church or in the line: if you don’t read good books, you will read bad ones. If you don’t go on thinking rationally, you will think irrationally.”
Some of us may counter Lewis’ advice with realistic objections. Forming a routine in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis does not seem to immediately demand a return to the intellectual life, does it? The answer to this question takes discernment of your vocation. There is little question that you ought to heed Lewis’ advice if you were incorporating intentional study into your life before the world came to a crashing halt. This means you have already discerned that it is something you are called to participate in actively. The sooner you return to this habit, the better. After all, Lewis pointed out, “You are not, in fact, going to read nothing, either in the Church or in the line: if you don’t read good books, you will read bad ones. If you don’t go on thinking rationally, you will think irrationally.” This is a penetrating critique for most of us. It is difficult to reasonably complain that we don’t have the ability to study, when we consistently choose to take in more news stories about the spread of the pandemic. And it is the over-consumption of these kinds of materials that heighten our anxiety and stress. As I stated above, we must guard against the temptation to give into fear. This comes from exercising discipline and good judgment about what kinds of information to consume (and how much) and intentionally choosing what we will fill our minds with. For a certain set this means returning, with vigor, to a life of study.
“The scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.”
Others may be less sure that taking up intellectual pursuits in the midst of a nation-wide quarantine is for them since they have never before taken up the habit of study. Is this the time to begin? Ultimately, each of us must practice the discipline of discernment about what the Lord is calling us to and at what time. There are many just and noble endeavors that still demand your attention. However, I would ask you to consider a couple points from “Learning in Wartime” as you discern. First, Lewis reminds us, “If all the world were Christian, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated.” That is, we must remember that an inherent part of our calling as Christians is to engage the world evangelically. In order to evangelize we must educate ourselves to a certain degree. There is no better time to “learn up” as a Christian. Second, and perhaps even more appropriate to our current circumstances, Lewis wrote, “The scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.” If we have studied history and “lived” in many an age, we will be less affected by the blare of panic and fear that constantly muddles the information we receive from the media. Taking the time to engage in study will help us maintain perspective and a proper handle on our present circumstances.
This is a time of change, but it does not have to be a time of chaos. We have many great minds who came before us who have also found themselves face to face with human fragility. They too turned to the intellectual life as a refuge in a storm. Boethius wrote “The Consolation of Philosophy” while awaiting his own trial and execution. Cicero read every work of Greek philosophy available to him after the death of his beloved daughter. How many of our greatest poets pronounce the sting of death in their works? It is not only natural to turn to learning and study in times of trouble, but it is an activity that joins us to God and His will for us. My friends, take up your books, pull out your pencils, and sharpen your minds.
Want to read “Learning in Wartime” and other sermons by C.S. Lewis? It is included with eight other sermons in the collection The Weight of Glory, which you can purchase on Bookshop (and support Penelope’s Loom at the same time!) Not interested in spending money? We understand. Here is a free PDF copy of "Learning in Wartime."