I took this in Cork, Ireland; July 2010.
“It follows then, in general, and other things being equal, that it is better for your patient to be filled with anxiety or hope (it doesn’t matter which) about this war than for him to be living in the present . But the phrase ‘living in the present’ is ambiguous. It may describe a process which is really just as much concerned with the future as anxiety itself. Your man may be untroubled about the Future, not because he is concerned with the Present, but because he has persuaded himself that the Future is going to be agreeable. As long as that is the real cause of his tranquility, his tranquility will do us good, because it is only piling up more disappointment, and therefore more impatience, for him when his false hopes are dashed. If, on the other hand, he is aware that horrors may be in store for him and is praying for the virtues, wherewith to meet them, and meanwhile concerning himself with the Present because there, and there alone, all duty, all grace, all knowledge, and all pleasure dwell, his state is very undesirable and should be attacked at once.”
– C.S. Lewis “The Screwtape Letters”
Accepting This 