Book III: Chapter 10 Hope Summary and Analysis

Lewis writes that hope is when a Christian keeps the vision of Heaven squarely in mind all the time, and whatever successes happen in this world are incidental to keeping the vision. The key idea here is that only Heaven will satisfy us. Everything of earthly existence, although possibly satisfying at first, cannot last. Only the satisfaction Christians will receive from Heaven is eternal.

Three approaches to satisfying our need for Heaven are the fool's way, the disillusioned sensible person's way, and the Christian way. The fool's way involves the movement from one thing to another in this world on an impossible quest to find anything here that satisfies forever. The disillusioned sensible person's way is to give up the quest altogether and accept life as one big disappointment. The Christian way is to look...