In “The Inner Ring”, C.S. Lewis takes on cliques. These social divisions are present everywhere and Lewis takes a look at how and why they impact us and whether they are good. He attempts to define “inner rings” at the beginning of the lecture. To people on the outside, inner rings are very different than to those who are in them. Those who are in them may not even realize that they are. It is all very strange and hard to define, “it is not so constant” (2). Though they are hard to identify and we cannot always say why we want to be in them, inner rings produce in us a desire to be included. Though they can sometimes produce bad behavior, inner rings do not always have to be bad. We must be careful to not purposefully exclude people from our inner ring and we must be careful to not compromise ourselves in order to be included in an inner ring. For we often find that “if you succeed there will be nothing left” (5).
Inner Rings are present all over our society. This is not a new phenomenon. People have been excluded and included for as long as humans have been recording history. This is not always bad. I will admit that I have never felt particularly disappointed at not being included by a group of guys who are playing video games. Common interest does dictate that there are some natural divisions between groups. But what about the groups that exclude people who have similar interests or tastes? We are often guilty of excluding people for reasons that are superficial or wrong. American high schools evidence this every day. The need to be accepted is something that we humans are trying to fulfill.
Unfortunately, the pettiness of high school does not end as we get older. Calvin has cliques, our parents deal with group friction at their work places. Churches have to deal with the inner ring as well. I find this absolutely unacceptable. The “acceptable” sort of inner ring is one that is based off common interest and excludes people because they do not share the same interest. Churches are filled with people who share the most important common interest! Why is it that families are excluded from church activities? Why do some people feel ostracized in worship settings? This is absolutely unacceptable. In order to mend some of the hurt in the world we must ask for God’s help to fix the things that are wrong on the home front.
Corrie, I liked how you talked about not only high school but also the future. I especially liked how you touched on the Church. I have been seeing this more, especially with working with those with special needs. But yet, there are many other ways too. This is where I think it is so important to get involved and help stop these inner rings. Though it is super important to take action, it also is important that in order to help stop these inner rings, we pray. Pray for love for others and for ourselves.
ReplyDelete"Churches are filled with people who share the most important common interest!" soooo true! It's pathetic how even church-going people can't stop from forming little cliques. This is one the the spots where (I think) the devil comes in. Like we learned in the Screwtape letters, the devil works hard in the church. That's where he WANTS cliques and exclusion to occur. The question is, what are we going to do to stop it?
ReplyDeleteIt's scary how often churches can be non-accepting of newcomers or people who are "different" from what they are used to. Is this why there have been so many problems with people attending the church? I think that we may not be able to change an entire church, but we ourselves might be able to make a difference by accepting anyone who wants to come to church with us. A little difference can go a long way.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's still important to have close friend groups in the church, but walking into a church one should always feel welcome. You should feel like you belong and not like you're on the outside of something or else there's something wrong with the church.
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