The Four Loves

Lewis sets Charity apart from the “natural loves” because they are not “self-sufficient” (116). He uses the example of a beautiful garden. In its own right, the garden is a good thing, but it requires a gardener to nurture it and help it reach its potential. If left untended, the garden will become overrun with weeds and languish, and so it is with the “natural loves” (116). They are good in Lewis’s view, but they are not enough on their own. Unless they are nurtured by a higher love, they remain mere feelings.

The world that God created is compared to the garden, with God as the gardener. It is God’s grace that shapes Charity, and Charity is the love that helps the natural loves reach their potential, while mitigating their shortcomings. 

In the Confessions of Saint Augustine, Augustine mourns the death of a friend and reflects on his despair: “This is what comes of giving one’s heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away” (120).

Lewis describes his own temperament as being “safety-first” (120).