Gandhi and C.S Lewis

Materialism and Idealism

The “conversion” stories of C.S Lewis and Mahatma Gandhi are two example of working professionals who for some reason or another decided to abandon their current way of life in lieu of something more substantial. In the case of C.S Lewis a staunch atheist, his conversion to Christianity came after he realized that for him “there was nothing else to do but become a Christian”. I chose Mahatma Gandhi because his transformation from lawyer to Indian Liberator is just as stunning as C.S Lewis’ story of conversion.

These two stories touch on some of the key issues the “Teacher” was trying to outline in the book of Ecclesiastes. I think that C.S Lewis realized that all of the money in the world didn’t stop his mother from dying, it didn’t give him a better childhood and it certainly didn’t give him a purpose for his life. It was at this moment that he realized just as “Teacher” did that God rather than our self pleasure is the most important thing. In Gandhi’s case he chose to devote his life to the restoration and preservation of Indian sovereignty, and the fair treatment of his fellow Indians. He saw the toil and oppression that the Indian people were being subjected to under the British and just like “Teacher” (Ecclesiastes 4:1) he chose to do something about it.  

These two men have left completely different marks in the world. However both of them utilized the wisdom of “Teacher” and made their lives count for something other than themselves.