“When we are not who we should be, we become shadows of ourselves.  We are not real.  We are not the real person we were meant to be when we’re petty,…jealous,…aggressive,…ruled by our passions and prideful.  That is not who we really are.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher

On life’s journey, we may stumble into traps without realizing it.  These pitfalls can unwittingly keep us from becoming who we want to be.  How can we become more self-aware? How can we know where we might be getting tripped up--where our own self-blindness is keeping us from the personal growth we long for?

In his book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis attempts to expose subtle spiritual traps through a metaphor of a group of people in Hell boarding a bus bound for Heaven.  Listen to this podcast to hear about each of the "personalities" in Hell and what is keeping them from Heaven. Through their behavior you may just find the key to better self-awareness--leading you out of your own self-made Hell and into the Heaven that awaits you! 

Listener's Guide:

Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast.

2:10  C.S. Lewis’ picture of Hell

5:23  What we can learn from people waiting for a bus to Heaven

21:43  What these individuals have in common

27:35  How they reacted to Heaven

Quotes from this episode:

“When we are not who we should be, we become shadows of ourselves.  We are not real.  We are not the real person we were meant to be when we’re petty,…jealous,…aggressive,…ruled by our passions and prideful.  That is not who we really are.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher

“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies, and itchings that (Hell) contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all.” ~C.S. Lewis

“Who you really are is strong and competent… and amazing…As you think about the types of people in Hell and as you spend your time with The Great Divorce with CS Lewis, I challenge you to look at the people who changed,…why they change[d] and how they change[d], and to be on that journey to be the best you, to stay away from being a victim and from being selfish,…petty and small and to make more of yourself—to become who you were really meant to be.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher

"A damned soul is nearly nothing; it is shrunk, shut up in itself." ~C.S. Lewis

Books from this episode: