The Inner Ring

In The Inner Ring, C. S. Lewis talks about what we now call cliques. He calls them inner rings. An true inner ring is characterized by the desire for exclusivity, not a common purpose. A common purpose is what characterizes true friends, so they will be exclusive to a certain extent because not will have the same interests. Lewis says, “the difference is that the secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and no one was led thither by the lure of the esoteric: for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do things that they like.”

Lewis talks at length on how we all naturally desire to get in to the inner ring. There are a range of reasons, for this, from wanting to be needed, to simply feel superior to those who are still outside. Whatever the reason, though, Lewis says that nothing good can come of it. In fact, he says that, “Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.” This is the bogey man of peer pressure that our parents always warned us about. When someone who is in says everyone is doing it, then how can you say no if you also want in.

I have moved around a lot. Whether it is because of this, or for some other reason, I have felt the desire to get in to the inner ring a little differently than I think most others do. I could be wrong though, and this might be more common than I thought. While the desire to get into a certain ring is there, and it is strong, I have always wanted to be part of more than just one ring. To be outside and alone is bad, but to be in and suffocated by lack of variety is also.

In both cases, the key seems to be to search for true friendships. “The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters.” He who would gain his life must lose it. This seems like the task of a lifetime. I know I am nowhere close to breaking the desire for the inner ring.