a hotel or a prison?

the following is an excerpt from cs lewis' God in the dock. i had hoped to comment on this, but i can't even find the right words. i think this is, as is everything lewis writes, rich commentary on the christian life. some will criticize lewis for focusing too much on heaven, which i think is an unwarranted criticism. for me, the point here is that viewing our life as a hotel actually discourages any good done in this life and thus leaves us unprepared to fully understand or appreciate what is to come.

"the christian view is that men were created to be in a certain relationship to God. if we are in that relation to him, the right relation to one another will follow inevitably. christ said it was difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, referring no doubt to riches in the ordinary sense. but i think it really covers riches in every sense - good fortune, health, popularity, and all the things one wants to have. all these things tend, just as money tends, to make you feel independent of God because, if you have them, you are happy already and contented in this life. you don't want to turn away to anything more and so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last forever.

but God wants to give you a real and eternal happiness. consequently, he may have take all these riches away from you. if he doesn't, you will go on relying on them. it sounds cruel, doesn't it? but i am beginning to find out that what people call the cruel doctrines are really the kindest ones in the long run. i used to think it was a cruel doctrine to say that troubles and sorrows were punishments. but i find it practice that when you are in trouble, the moment you regard it as a punishment, it becomes easier to bear. if you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable. think of it as a place of training and correction, and it's not so bad.

imagine a set of people all living in the same building. half of them think it is a hotel, the other half think it is a prison. those who think it a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable. and those who thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly comfortable. so that what seems the ugly doctrine is one that comforts and strengthens you in the end. the people who try to hold an optimistic view of this world will become pessimists. the people who hold a pretty stern view of it become optimists."