What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Mark 8:36
“It is the magician’s bargain: give up our soul, get power in return. but once our souls, that is, ourselves, have been given up, the power thus conferred will not belong to us. We shall in fact be the slaves and puppets of that to which we have given our souls.”
C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man (Quebec: Samizdat University Press, 2014) 36.
When it comes to the human pursuit of power, pleasure, and possessions, we become slaves and puppets to whatever we think conquer with competitive aggression. I have found this to be true in my life. Perhaps you would concur?
Lewis calls it “the Magician’s Bargain” because it we get fooled. No one is immune to this. In a materialistic society, we are owned by things or possessions we possess. For those who collect a ‘bucket list’ of experiences, the same is true. As they tick off the items on the list, each gives less satisfaction than anticipated. The quest consumes them. And for the person who endlessly pursues knowledge (admittedly I am such a person), Solomon’s words ring too true. The pursuit is exhausting.
Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Ecclesiastes 12:12
So, how should we relate to power, pleasure, and possessions? With Lewis, I would argue, see them neither as bad (to be avoided) or good (to be collected), but tools (to be useful). Only when used rightly do they help us accomplish our purpose. That is, in the words of Milton, “to know God and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him.” How have you been fooled by the Magician’s bargain? It’s not too late choose another course. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.