The Inner Ring

In "The Inner Ring" C.S. Lewis talks about how everyone is trying to get into an inner ring and what that does to us. Everyone wants to be in the inner ring and I think we are all working towards that goal whether we realize it or not. Getting into the inner ring could mean a lot different things like being a part of a certain group of friends, working your way up in a large corporation, or joining a gang. "In the whole of your life as you now remember it, has the desire to be on the right side of that invisible line ever prompted you to any act or word on which, in the cold small hours of a wakeful night, you can look back with satisfaction?" When we try to get into those inner rings, generally we do things that we will later regret and Lewis says that getting into these inner rings makes us into scoundrels. Also, whenever you make into that group, there is almost always a more inner ring that will draw you in. The rings are like an onion that keep getting smaller until there is nothing. "You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left. Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain." We are always on the outside of some ring and we have to learn to accept being an outsider or else our whole life will be given away trying to get into the inner ring and we will never be satisfied. Inner rings are always exclusive because if they were not exclusive then nobody would care if they were a part of it. We want to be a part of the inner ring because we are searching for that sense of belonging and we think that getting into that certain group will bring that. There are rings that exist that are not bad though. These rings are rings of friendship that form mostly because of similar interest. This is seen a lot in high school with groups of sports or music. I had a group of four friends that loved to golf, and that formed a sort of inner ring because people that didn't like golf weren't a part of that group. This is not a bad type of ring because we were still friends with those other people, but just outside of golf. We can join rings but we need to make sure that they are not a bad influence on us and that we are not losing friends because we join these rings.