The Inner Ring

     Lewis wrote this paper for the oration at the University of London in 1944.  Although things today are a bit different, "Inner Ring" still exists today the same (if not more) as it did back then.  People today are so driven toward success in school, their families, their workplaces; don't get me wrong, goals are important to have-but only if they're for the right reasons.  Lewis addresses this unwritten and unorganized system of hierarchies into which no one is actually formally admitted. 
     Lewis talks about how one intrinsically knows when he is outside or inside this ring, but it gets confusing when one lies on the borderline.  These rings exist everywhere in society and often one notices that when he makes it into the ring that "there was a Ring yet more inner."  Lewis says that "in all men's' lives at certain periods and in many men's lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside."  These inner rings are unavoidable and can exist as good or evil.
     Lewis talks about the danger of what I think we call today "peer pressure" within these groups.  A man of good moral character may exist outside the ring but once he enters he chooses to follow suit of those withing the ring, thus making poor decisions in the eye of the group.  I myself am guilty of this.  Although I have always been blessed with very good friends who are strong in their moral behavior and relationship with God, there have been a couple times when I chose to go along with a different group.  For example, my roommate last year (who is no longer at Calvin) was a little bit (sometimes a lot bit) of a partier and I, coming from a small, Dutch CRC town and a private school where I very much avoided that side of things, was naiive to all that was going on.  One night I went out with her and some of her friends and went to a hookah lounge (I had no idea what that even meant) and although I had previously decided I was never going to smoke any substance, I set aside my moralities in order to look cool.  Now, I know there are far worse things to do than hookah and I will admit I kind of enjoyed it (but will never do it again for the sake of my lungs), it is still an example of what the inner ring does to you. 
     This is not a very serious example, but if I would have continued to hang out with that group of people, who's to know what other moralities such as those related to alcohol, drugs, and sex I would have set aside.  Every time you get into one of those "inner circles" it's like peeling off another layer of an onion, and once you get to the middle, there's hardly anything left (this is using the onion example in a different context than what Lewis originally had...)
     However, Lewis does say that these groups can be good.  Close friendships with people who share similar interests with you are important.  However, it is the intent of the group that makes it good or bad.  For in the Inner Ring, "exclusion is no accident; it is the essence."  Lewis makes the powerful statement "The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it."  I think that we need to be aware of what we are striving for and for what reasons.  We need to be careful in who we choose for friends, but we also need to sometimes reach out to people who we might not like because that is the only way the Ring can be broken.