C. S. Lewis and The Tao
Although at first I had difficulty with C. S. Lewis’ incorporation of an eastern religious concept, the Tao, into a Christian discussion, as I began to understand Lewis, I realized how effective his argument really was. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis does not seem interested in offering a distinctive “Christian†argument, but rather a universal argument against the subjectivism which characterizes our culture. The Tao, or The Way, as offered by Lewis, may be understood as “natural law†or “objective moralityâ€. It is not just Christians who have a sense of objective truth. It is all mankind which possesses this intuition. In the appendix to this book, he offers various illustrations of the Tao from various cultures and periods of history.
Certainly, one may appeal to Christian teaching to establish the objectivity of truth and morality, but this is not necessary. Paul, in Romans 2:14-16 speaks to this very issue:
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
One of Lewis’ most biting arguments against those who deny the Tao is found when he asserts that those who would attack it have undercut any foundation upon which their attack stands (p 41):
All the values which he uses in attacking the Tao, and even claims to be substituting for it, are themselves derived from the Tao… If the Tao falls, all his own conceptions of value fall with it. Not one of them can claim any authority other than that of the Tao. Only by such shreds of the Tao as he has inherited is he enabled even to attack it.
Lewis also points out, in this discussion, that their must be something which is self-evident (the Tao), or else nothing can be proven. If any objective ground for morality is rejected, then one can find no ground for any value judgments at all. Society is reduced to a Nietzschean ethic in which the Tao is dead, and there is no hope of finding any way to even speak of morality. Any hope of doing so was surrendered along with the Tao.