--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When humans should have become as perfect…" description: "\"When humans should have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/faf/c-s-lewis-2-132_creation_when-humans-should-have-become-as-perfec_1157970.png" --- # When humans should have become as perfect in voluntary… ![“When humans should have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.” quote by C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/faf/c-s-lewis-2-132_creation_when-humans-should-have-become-as-perfec_1157970.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/faf/c-s-lewis-2-132_creation_when-humans-should-have-become-as-perfec_1157970.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/faf/c-s-lewis-2-132_creation_when-humans-should-have-become-as-perfec_1157970.png) > “When humans should have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.” [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Humans should aim for perfect voluntary obedience like inanimate objects obey nature, then they will achieve a higher, divine glory beyond mere natural order. **In simple terms:** Seek higher purpose beyond mere compliance. Key Takeaway Pursue conscious, moral autonomy. Themes obedience spirituality growth Mood contemplative serious Type philosophical theological When to use this quote - ethical decision making - leadership - personal development Key Concepts free will divine purpose Questions to Reflect On - What does true obedience look like? - How to balance freedom and duty? A Different Perspective Blind obedience can suppress individuality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Glory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/glory/) [Greater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greater/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Lifeless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifeless/) [Lifeless Obedience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifeless-obedience-3303092/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Obedience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obedience/) [Obedience Glory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obedience-glory-3303091/) [Obedience Inanimate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obedience-inanimate-3303093/) [Perfect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Should have](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should-have/) [Voluntary Obedience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/voluntary-obedience-3303094/) ## Related quotes > [Before civil disobedience can be practised on a vast scale, people must learn the art of civil or voluntary obedience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/before-civil-disobedience-can-be-practised-on-a-vast-scale-people/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Obedience is the key that opens every door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/obedience-is-the-key-that-opens-every-door/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Novels without female characters were a lifeless desert.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/novels-without-female-characters-were-a-lifeless-desert/) [Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [Actions are but lifeless forms whose soul is the secret of sincerity in them](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibn-ata-allah/actions-are-but-lifeless-forms-whose-soul-is-the-secret-of-sincerity/) [Ibn Ata Allah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibn-ata-allah/) > [But I almost think we are all of us ghosts. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henrik-ibsen/but-i-almost-think-we-are-all-of-us-ghosts-it-is-not-only-what-we/) [Henrik Ibsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henrik-ibsen/) > [There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/there-is-a-certain-silence-that-can-emanate-from-a-lifeless-object-as/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life and talent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/but-it-is-a-cold-lifeless-business-when-you-go-to-the-shops-to-buy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“...lifeless and shockingly alien in that place where dissolution itself was a seething turmoil of ejaculation tumescence conception and birth, and death did not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/lifeless-and-shockingly-alien-in-that-place-where-dissolution-itself/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [... at the beginning of the human race the woman was made of a rib taken from the side of the man while he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/at-the-beginning-of-the-human-race-the-woman-was-made-of-a-rib-taken/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [“The conversation limped along this line of thought much like a zombie: lifeless and mindless and making a jelly of whatever healthy brains were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-hockensmith/the-conversation-limped-along-this-line-of-thought-much-like-a-zombie/) [Steve Hockensmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-hockensmith/) > [These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-highet/these-are-not-books-lumps-of-lifeless-paper-but-minds-alive-on-the/) [Gilbert Highet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-highet/) > [Hemingway sucks. If I set out to write that way, it would have been been hollow and lifeless because it wasn't me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/hemingway-sucks-if-i-set-out-to-write-that-way-it-would-have-been/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [This lifeless heart..your love had brought it alive.and then it was your love,that made it distraught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/destiny-dreams/this-lifeless-heart-your-love-had-brought-it-alive-and-then-it-was/) [Destiny Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/destiny-dreams/) > [It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/it-was-a-spring-without-voices-on-the-mornings-that-had-once-throbbed/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [A lesser complaint: hair extensions. There are moments on 'All My Children' when half the women actors, young and old, seem to be afflicted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/a-lesser-complaint-hair-extensions-there-are-moments-on-all-my/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) ## More by C. S. Lewis > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Either Jesus is the Son of God ; or a madman or worse. But His being just a great teacher? He's not left that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/either-jesus-is-the-son-of-god-or-a-madman-or-worse-but-his-being/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [To every soul, God will look like its first love because He IS its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/to-every-soul-god-will-look-like-its-first-love-because-he-is-its/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Don't you understand anything? Isn't it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/don-t-you-understand-anything-isn-t-it-absolutely-essential-to-keep-a/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that. As”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/really-great-moral-teachers-never-do-introduce-new-moralities-it-is/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“When He died in the Wounded World He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/when-he-died-in-the-wounded-world-he-died-not-for-men-but-for-each/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [All I am in private life is a literary critic and historian, that's my job...And I'm prepared to say on that basis if anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/all-i-am-in-private-life-is-a-literary-critic-and-historian-that-s-my/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [If a man is going to write on chemistry, he learns chemistry. The same is true of Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/if-a-man-is-going-to-write-on-chemistry-he-learns-chemistry-the-same/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number of people who say they have seen the Resurrection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/the-first-fact-in-the-history-of-christendom-is-a-number-of-people/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [I#pray because the need flows out of me all the time-walking and sleeping. It does not change # God - it changes me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/i-pray-because-the-need-flows-out-of-me-all-the-time-walking-and/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Are the gods not just?' 'Oh no, child. What would become us us if they were?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/are-the-gods-not-just-oh-no-child-what-would-become-us-us-if-they-were/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Love is more than an emotion, it is a decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/love-is-more-than-an-emotion-it-is-a-decision/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Ink is the great cure for all human ills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/ink-is-the-great-cure-for-all-human-ills/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [A man may have to die for our country: but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. He who surrenders…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/a-man-may-have-to-die-for-our-country-but-no-man-must-in-any/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [War creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/war-creates-no-absolutely-new-situation-it-simply-aggravates-the/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) [Explore all 1,190 C. S. Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) ## More Creation quotes > [“am not suggesting that successes in academics, athletics, or vocation somehow stand outside God’s good plan. Learning and play are joys that God himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-paul-jones/am-not-suggesting-that-successes-in-academics-athletics-or-vocation/) [Timothy Paul Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-paul-jones/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic faith, I see the Creator's plan and purpose fulfilled in our universe. I see a planet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-r-miller/like-many-other-scientists-who-hold-the-catholic-faith-i-see-the/) [Kenneth R. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-r-miller/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [I believe if there is a creator it will basically ask me two questions, how well did you enjoy my creation and what did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-victor-paskavich/i-believe-if-there-is-a-creator-it-will-basically-ask-me-two/) [Stanley Victor Paskavich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-victor-paskavich/) > [With no other choices open to us, we'd turned our gaze seaward. The oceans were our America: they reached farther than any prairie, untamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carsten-jensen/with-no-other-choices-open-to-us-we-d-turned-our-gaze-seaward-the/) [Carsten Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carsten-jensen/) > [In the quiet moments of your day, what do you think and do? When you are with your Self and no one else, how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/in-the-quiet-moments-of-your-day-what-do-you-think-and-do-when-you/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [The creation lives as genesis beneath the visible surface of the work. All intelligent people see this after the fact, but only the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-creation-lives-as-genesis-beneath-the-visible-surface-of-the-work/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [If you are trying to live a life in accordance with the Bible, the concept and call to justice are inescapable. We do justice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/if-you-are-trying-to-live-a-life-in-accordance-with-the-bible-the/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about. I think not just for me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-think-that-storytelling-and-creation-are-very-close-to-what-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [To be part of the creation, I must act humbly. I'll take that over a goddess any day!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-o-hara/to-be-part-of-the-creation-i-must-act-humbly-i-ll-take-that-over-a/) [Maureen O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-o-hara/) > [The country of Iraq is somewhat of an artificial creation going back to colonial days. And so you have the Kurds and then the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clapper/the-country-of-iraq-is-somewhat-of-an-artificial-creation-going-back/) [James Clapper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clapper/) [Browse all 5,225 Creation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When humans should have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "C. S. 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