It may be possible for each of us to think too much of his
own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him
to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor.
The load, or weight, or burden, of my neighbor's glory should
be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility
can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is
a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting
person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw
it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship--or else a
horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only
in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping
each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the
light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe
and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct
all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves,
all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), "The Weight of Glory" [1949]
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