Natural Supernatural Quote by C.S. Lewis
““I am not sure whether I can make you understand it. It was something more than a prudent desire to avoid creatures alien in kind, very powerful, and very intelligent. The truth was that all I heard about them served to connect two things which one's mind tends to keep separate, and that connecting gave one sort of a shock. We tend to think about non-human intelligences in two distinct categories which we label "scientific" and "supernatural" respectively. We think, in one mood, of Mr. Wells' Martians (very unlike the real Malacandrians, by the bye), or his Selenites. In quite a different mood we let our minds loose on the possibility of angels, ghosts, fairies, and the like. But the very moment we are compelled to recognise a creature in either class as real, the distinction begins to get blurred: and when it is a creature like an eldil the distinction vanishes altogether. These things were not animals-to that extent one had to classify them with the second group; but they had some kind of material vehicle whose presence could (in principle) be scientifically verified. To that extent they belonged to the first group. The distinction between natural and supernatural, in fact, broke down; and when it had done so, one realised how great a comfort it had been-how it had eased the burden of intolerable strangeness which this universe imposes on us by dividing it into two halves and encouraging the mind never to think of both in the same context.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Weight of Glory, 1949
Human minds split non‑human intelligence into “scientific” and “supernatural,” but true understanding blurs that line, revealing deeper comfort in categorization.
In simple terms: We separate science and myth, but they overlap.
Question our mental categories.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- science fiction
- theology
- philosophical debate
- personal belief
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What does blurring categories reveal about fear?
- How can we integrate scientific and spiritual views?
May ignore nuanced perspectives; can be overly abstract.