Perspective Of Lewis’s Thought About Suffering And Transcendence According To "a Grief Observed"

"A Grief Observed" is a real mourn note which written by C.S. Lewis at the death of his wife. In the face of suffering, Lewis showed his real inner thoughts, which make this note become intricate and complex. And he eventually got quiet of heart from God.The grief of death, the isolation of life and death, the confusion of faith is the concrete manifestation of suffering in this work. In addition to the account of suffering,"A Grief Observed" also illustrates the process of the way how Lewis exceeded suffering. In this process, questioning suffering, affirming suffering, bearing suffering are important steps of Lewis to walk away from suffering. By endlessly questioning, Lewis inquired and examined the suffering. By rational thought, Lewis realized new mysteries of the suffering, and got new thought about the isolation of life and death and the confusion of faith. By the patience in trusting, Lewis finally walked away from the cycle of grief.The reason which Lewis had been able to transcend the suffering is related to his suffering life experiences and profound view of suffering. The grief of losing mother at his early years, the tragic life in boarding school, nightmare of war at youth and his beloved wife’s death in his later years, which made Lewis had special feelings and understanding of suffering. Influenced by Christian culture, Lewis’s concept of suffering contains three aspects including the analysis of the relationship between the suffering and all-powerful and all-good God, the affirmation of the positive significance of suffering, as well as, the thought which regards suffering as "mystery" rather than "problem". This concept of suffering provided a theoretical basis for Lewis’s special transcendent approach.To Prominent the characteristic of Lewis’s transcendent approach, the article is compared with another Mourn prose named "Six Chapters of a Floating Life". Through comparison, it is found that they both faced the same pain of the death of wife, the isolation of life and death, and they both looked for the cause of suffering from religious beliefs, but they used different methods to overcome grief and also used different transcendent approach. Unlike the realm transcendent approach which affirms one’s self-cultivation on the basis of the theory that human nature can be self-sufficient cultivation, conversational transcendent approach which Lewis insisted on inclines to recognize one’s self-cultivation which establish on the basis of the theory of "Original sin". It is also the reason why Lewis can endure suffering in patience.