When CS Lewis lived he did not have to answer to the late 20th century philosophers like the Frenchman, Michel Foucault. Or else I am confident CS Lewis would have written something against the ideas of Foucault, much like CS Lewis wrote Miracles against the naturalists1.
In The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis believed that the enemy2 wishes to avoid the intellectual realm in the battle for our souls. Because in the end our Father wins3. That is why the method of the first attack in keeping us from our Father is to make us into materialists. The goal of the enemy is get us away from thinking about existential questions (e.g., Why are we born? What happens after we die?). Instead, we are constantly distracted by the questions of this world (e.g., What will I eat tonight? What updates from friends await me on Facebook? Will Real Madrid win the Champions League?).
If we manage escape the trap of our material thoughts and start to ponder about things such as what created the world? What happens after we die? We will face the next attack from the enemy. The next attack is in the form of naturalism. The naturalists believe that there is no supernatural interaction in our universe. If you are in this stage, I suggest you read Miracles by CS Lewis. The enemy is constantly perverting the Truth, sometimes just barely so that it might seem like the Truth. For if the goal is heaven, he only has to take us a centimeter away and not necessarily make us miss by a mile. In the case of naturalism, the enemy is aiding us to miss by a mile.
If you transcend above the thoughts of how the universe came to be and start to ponder about your purpose in the universe, the enemy will attack you with ideas such as those of the late philosopher Michel Foucault. To simplify the beliefs of Foucault, he did not believe in absolute truth, but only in subjective truth. In other words, each society and time period creates their own version of the truth. Foucault would say nothing meaningful about our purpose here on earth, only that it is different for every society. The consequence of Foucault's view is that without absolute truth there is no absolute right and wrong. The right and wrong would also be decided by each society and time period.
At the age of 20, I took an anthropology class. The teacher introduced the class to Foucault while we were studying about discourse, power, and the self. I thought Foucault's ideas of no absolute truth were wonderful. At the time his ideas were honey to my ears. To me, Foucault explained why Germans in the 1930's could follow a man like Hitler. The power in society (which could be the majority), had always dictated what is wrong and right throughout history. The power in society writes the history books. The absence of absolute truth explained how the views on slavery changed from being something that was justifiable to something that was abhorrent within a couple of decades in the United States. I thought that all of human history, most notably the horrible acts, could be explained by Foucault's idea of the subjective truth each society creates.
However, there is a grave danger to Foucault's idea of the the lack of absolute truth. I know first-hand the damage your soul will take as a result of following the beliefs of Foucault. At 20, when I was introduced to the ideas of Foucault, I was only months removed from my confirmation into the Catholic Church. Already I was being chocked by the weeds of this world, unable to bear good fruit. For the next five years, I believed in the notion of no absolute truth and in the end I was left restless, in pain, and without a sense of purpose.
Without a foundation of absolute truth, your morals denigrate4. You start believing: "This action is not wrong, society only tells me this is wrong. I am going to step out of society and do the action anyways because I want to do it. I know better than society." In the end you do the questionable action. But we are not meant to define right and wrong, that has already been defined to us as part of the Truth that is our Lord. He has implanted us all with a soul (which includes a conscience) that helps us to know when we falter in our path towards him. We can choose to suppress our souls. Deny the existence of our souls. But when we falter, we know, because our souls let us know. We have that pain, that guilt, that restless feeling in our lives. Rich or poor, we lack the permanent joy of being in God. We are left chasing the fleeting happiness of this world (e.g., drugs, sex, partying). When you hit this stage, the pain will be too great to ignore. You can choose to Love God or wither away indulging yourself in the fleeting and empty happiness of this world. The choice has always been yours.
God did not make the choice difficult for us. We made the choice difficult for ourselves. The Lord has always been searching for you. You might not have had the best parents, but God always sent his agents towards you. Best of all he gave you a part of him in your soul. It might take years, like me, to fully believe. Be patient, the first step is to decide to want to be better.
1. See the definition of naturalist, here.
2. The enemy = the great deceiver and fallen angel, Lucifer.
3. If you seek the Truth, it will be revealed to you. The path is "long and arduous", but worth every second and drop of sweat. Go beyond the superficial, seek the Truth everyday of your life.
4. Take Foucault as an example of denigrated morals. Foucault was a supporter of man-boy relationships. He signed a petition sent to the French Parliament in 1967 to decriminalize consensual sexual relations between adults and minors under 15.
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