The term C.S. Lewis associated with an intense longing for joy and another world was Sehnsucht. It is a German word that can suggest yearning, longing, or an elusive desire for something beyond ordinary experience.
Lewis discussed this idea in autobiographical and reflective writing, especially Surprised by Joy. He described moments when a sudden feeling of desire or wonder overwhelmed him, yet the feeling itself seemed more important than any object that could satisfy it.
For Lewis, Sehnsucht became connected with the idea that earthly pleasures may point beyond themselves. The longing is not simply homesickness or ordinary sadness; it is an awareness of an absent or unreachable fulfillment. This theme became important in his Christian interpretation of imagination and desire.
The term is not a word Lewis invented, and it has meanings in German beyond his usage. Readers also sometimes equate it with “joy” itself, but Lewis treated Sehnsucht as the longing that can awaken or accompany joy.