Until you step off the plane of the picture into the large dimensions of death you cannot see the gold." If this opinion is false, he says, then something better than his opinion is waiting. That heaven is "doubtless the continually successful, yet never complete, attempt by each soul to communicate its unique vision to all others (and that by means whereof earthly art and philosophy are but clumsy imitations) is also among the ends for which the individual was created. For union exists only between distincts." Lewis shows how this is even demonstrated in the Trinity: "The Father eternally begets the Son and the Holy Ghost proceeds: deity introduces distinction within itself so that the union of reciprocal loves may transcend mere arithmetical unity or self-identity." Lewis furthers the illustration saying that the soul is a hollow that God continually fills in eternity followed by a constant emptying, self-dying, self-giving by the soul so as to become more truly itself. This self-sacrifice, Lewis says, is not something we can escape by remaining earthly or being saved. "What is outside this self-giving is simply and solely Hell". This "holy game" is a party led by God himself where he gives Himself eternally and receives Himself back in sacrifice. He finishes by saying that "all pains and pleasures we have known on earth are early initiations in the movements of that dance… it does not exist for us, but we for it". Appendix Lewis takes this opportunity to color in some lines using some clinical experiences from a fellow Inkling – Dr. R. Havard. He talks about the effects of physical and mental pain, the latter of which Lewis says is the hardest to bear and less visible. He points out the phenomenon that many recognize and answer the challenge of pain and preserve their serenity and selflessness and sometimes produce brilliant work and sharpen their characters into tempered steel. He concludes the book by saying "Pain provides an opportunity for heroism; the opportunity is seized with surprising frequency." Relation to other works Lewis' philosophical approach in Problem of Pain bears some similarity to his later, more personal, approach to the problem of evil in A Grief Observed, a reflection on his own experiences of grief and anguish after the death of his wife. See also Miracles by C.S. Lewis A Grief Observed (book) by C.S. Lewis Problem of evil References