A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
Week 3: Section Two — "The same leg is cut off time after time"
Read Section Two (Notebook 2) of A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis.
Want the full guide for A Grief Observed?
Free Week 1 sample in 5 min · $24.99 for all 6 weeks · 7-day refund
In the second notebook, Lewis turns from describing grief to interrogating it — and begins to ask harder, more dangerous questions about what his pain is actually revealing.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Lewis uses the image of an amputee to describe recurring grief: grief comes in waves, and "the same leg is cut off time after time." What makes this image so effective? Have you experienced grief (or any suffering) that felt like it kept starting over rather than gradually fading?
2.In Section Two, Lewis turns a harsh eye on himself and wonders whether his grief is actually self-pity — whether he is mourning H. or mourning himself, his loneliness, his loss. This is an uncomfortable distinction. How would you tell the difference between genuine grief for another person and self-focused mourning?
3.Lewis raises a deeply unsettling question: What if God is not absent, but present and watching — and what we are experiencing in grief is, in fact, God's "surgical" work on us? He compares God to a surgeon who must hurt in order to heal. Does this image comfort you, disturb you, or both? Why?
a.Lewis had used similar imagery more abstractly in The Problem of Pain. What is different about encountering it in the middle of actual loss?
b.Is there a difference between believing God can bring good out of suffering and believing God is actively using suffering to shape you? Does the distinction matter to you?
You're on Week 3 of 6
Don't lose momentum — get the rest of A Grief Observed
All 43 questions across 6 weeks, with closing prayers and a downloadable PDF for your group.
One-time purchase · 7-day refund · Covers your whole group