Where Ayn Rand and C.S Lewis agree...

"There lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing." (Weight of Glory, Lewis)

It is not the intensity of our pursuit of happiness which causes so much trouble in the world, but rather the weakness of it or the denial that it is within our right to be seeking it. If we could but accept "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life"(Atlas Shrugged, Rand) wholeheartedly and unashamedly, without apology for refusing to sacrifice one's soul on the alter of altruism, then one could strive after what would satisfy us....yet this is where Rand and Lewis part ways, seemingly to never realign; for which direction they feel this pursuit ought to lead.

"We are half hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea." (Weight of Glory, Lewis)

WE ARE FAR TOO EASILY PLEASED

..."And so we settle for mud pies of appetite instead of infinite delight." (Dangerous Duty, Piper) because who would have thought that GOD'S PASSION TO BE GLORIFIED AND MY PASSION TO BE SATISFIED ARE NOT AT ODDS? Who would have thought that perhaps "delighting in Him may be the work of our lives?"(Richard Baxter)... that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him?.... that the purpose of our lives may be pleasurable and self seeking in the sense that pursuing joy and fulfillment is synonymous with pursuing God?... that joy is obedience?

Who would have thought that in obedience and giving up all for Christ we can look back upon our lives, at the shedding of all those "fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose"(Augustine) and TRUTHFULLY say with Livingstone,"I NEVER MADE A SACRIFICE."