Reckon it just depends on which pig is being caught as to who does the squealin'.

Actually, I think Lewis is pretty much dead on, as he is in so many of his other writings. Of course any statement can be characterized as a sweeping generalization. The key, as I read the short passage, is that Lewis included the phrase, "but for Grace."

The temptation is, in any human endeavor, be it art or science or education or whatever, that we slip for whatever pure motivation we had when we once started, and as we attain some kind of mastery of any subject, to become more focused on our own mastery of the subject than the subject itself. Lewis was a keen observer of the human situation. If it hurts where he pokes us, maybe it's because there is something wrong with us, not him.

Maybe as an aside, why is it that a pure amateur who writes a song is pleased beyond description if someone later records that song, and a multi-gazillionair who writes a song sues the bejeepers out of that same person who records it? Is it not because the rich feel "threatened" with the loss of their identity, whereas the amateur just wants to see his/her work receive recognition? I dunno, way too many variables involved, but I do know that the higher up the ladder some people climb, it becomes far less about the art that got them there and way too much about the person they are, or claim they are.

Just my opinion, of course.

Freightdawg