“These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good 
images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us for nearly a hundred years.”
Who wrote it?
If you have not read this book, I plead with you to read it. It is very short, but it is profound to the highest degree. I read it a couple times a year.
You can read it for free here: http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf
Who wrote it? C.S. Lewis, of course.
Alright, I confess. I checked before I posted. But honest. I read the teaser and was thinking of him as I came upon the words “…they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found….” Those words and that sort of thought process were definitely identifiable as those of the esteemed author and thinker.
Now I need to go check out the rest of the essay.