I can only imagine...

So, I was sitting back to start enjoying "The Screwtape Letters" for the second time, and it struck me quite forcefully that I was not yet finished with "The Great Divorce."  So, here I set about writing my initial conclusion after reading this book.  I'm sure as I reflect on this work again later on and throughout my life, this conclusion will change, but for now, I find myself terrified.

We've all heard songs like "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe.  Heaven is portrayed as overwhelmingly beautiful.  Our beings will be consumed by Love itself, and we will overflow with worship for him.  These images are certainly found in "The Great Divorce."  You would be hard-pressed to argue that Lewis disagrees with this picture of heaven.  There is another picture here, however, which strikes me even more.

As fallen humans, potential residents of hell or heaven, visit heaven's foyer on refrigerium, we see the ultimate shame of humanity:  we are insubstantial, only remnants of reality.  The stark real-ness of heaven shows us what we really are.  Humans are immaterial, vulnerable, uncomprehending, stubborn.  Heaven is found to be a dangerous place full of burning Spirits, ferocious beasts, and painful terrain.  Lewis, as the narrator of the novel, soon is struck by fear: "Terror whispered, 'This is no place for you' " (p. 58).  

This is not the first or only instance where Lewis correlates the great with the terrible.  Think of Aslan.  Williams also references a "terrible good."  I refuse to change my opinion of heaven; I am assured of the beauty and peace of the coming paradise.  This, however, is the first inkling I have had that heaven may also be dreadful.