
It occurs to me that Lewis knew all too well, in his cultural context in England, the problem of people being outwardly civilized or moral,but still being "hellish creatures" on the inside. So, throughout the book he reinforces a spiritual formation concept like the quote above. After all, living out the Christian life depends on us being made into the image of Christ from the inside out.
"There is a difference between doing some particular just or temperate action and being a just or temperate man. Someone who is not a good tennis player might now and then make a good shot. What you mean by a good player is a man whose eye and muscles and nerves have been so trained by making innumerable good shots that they can now be relied on. They have a certain quality or tone when he is not playing, just as a mathematician's mind has a certain habit and outlook which is there even when he is not doing mathematics. In the same way a man who perseveres in doing just actions gets in the end a certain quality of character. Now it is that quality rather than the particular actions which we mean when talk of virtue."
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