"We Have No Right to Happiness"

"I went away thinking about the concept of a 'right to happiness'" says Lewis, as he begins his essay on this topic. He focuses on the example of a man (Mr. A) who leaves his wife (Mrs. A) for another woman (Mrs. B.) who has left her husband for Mr. A. Lewis uses this situation as a basis to support his opinion that a "right to happiness doesn't, for me, make much more sense than a right to be six feet tall...or to get good weather whenever you want to have a picnic".

Lewis "can understand a right as a freedom guaranteed me by the laws of the society I live in" meaning that we have the right to do whatever the law allows us to do. Therefore, since divorce is permitted under the laws of the state, it is regarded as a right, so Mr. A has a right to leave his wife, just as he does in the above example. In our society, the Natural Law, and the laws of the state are regarded as the same thing - 'if the law permits me to do it, then it must be morally right'. When I say Natural Law, I mean the laws of what is morally right and wrong, which has been instilled in our conscience. It is often easy to fall under this influence, but I believe that they are completely separate. We must not allow "the actual laws of the state [to] become absolute" as Lewis points out. The fact that people today are establishing the laws of the state as their moral standard is just an excuse to achieve our sinful desires. Even those who are not Christians are given a conscience from the beginning, so the issue is that we cannot decipher the truth or not, but that we neglect what we know deep down is truth. Also, when the Holy Spirit is not present in us, our conscience becomes distorted and our judgement of right and wrong is thrown off track. Although this may be the case, it is still no good reason for why we should deny the truth.

I think anyone if they really think about it using their conscience can see that Lewis's example of Mr. A leaving his wife for Mrs. B is morally wrong. If not, their conscience must either be quite twisted, or they are simply denying the truth. This is (although I don't like to say it) immature, because this method of denying the Natural Law and finding a way around the laws of the state is easy to do with anything. Someone could say for example, "I don't feel like working or going to class this week, I'm just going to take a trip and relax till next week". What is it that keeps most of us from doing this? After all, it would make us 'happy' and it would relieve a lot of stress. Well, we know that it is right for us to work hard and do well in our classes, and we would feel guilty for skipping a week of class. This is a simple example showing difference between the laws of the state and the Natural Law. It is easy to get around the laws of the state in any situation, so we must remember not to take the easy way, the way of today's society but fight against it and cling to the truth - our compass, our conscience. "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" - Proverbs 4:23.