"totalitarianism enforces conformity through the willing cooperation of the ordinary person as well as through the overarching mechanisms of propaganda, policing, and surveillance."
Similar to Foucault's "Discipline" : not "the brute fact of the domination of the one over the many, or of one group over another, but the multiple forms of domination that can be exercised in society; so not the king in his central position, but subjects in their reciprocal relations; not sovereignty in its one edifice, but the multiple subjugations that take place and function within the social body."
"...Plato tells a story about a winged chariot which is meant to represent, mythologically, something about the nature of the soul. In the story, the chariot is drawn by two horses, one dark and one light, and guided by a charioteer ..."
This is the Tarot Chariot! (Some versions have lions instead of horses).
[I'll put this comment in a restack so I can include a picture]
Apropos of this, I just started his little book, “The Abolition of Man,” ch. 1 of which is titled “Men Without Chests.” Ire is totally on point. We are living through the start of the transformation and collapse that is the culmination of the project of de-soul’ing described by Lewis (and you).
Lewis has his version of the myth of Eros and Psyche in “Till we have faces” a beautiful account of the journey of the soul to reunite with divinity and told from the point of view of one of Psyche’s sisters, Orual who is trained in the Stoic tradition by a greek slave. I think he would agree with your notes about the soul.
"totalitarianism enforces conformity through the willing cooperation of the ordinary person as well as through the overarching mechanisms of propaganda, policing, and surveillance."
Similar to Foucault's "Discipline" : not "the brute fact of the domination of the one over the many, or of one group over another, but the multiple forms of domination that can be exercised in society; so not the king in his central position, but subjects in their reciprocal relations; not sovereignty in its one edifice, but the multiple subjugations that take place and function within the social body."
"...Plato tells a story about a winged chariot which is meant to represent, mythologically, something about the nature of the soul. In the story, the chariot is drawn by two horses, one dark and one light, and guided by a charioteer ..."
This is the Tarot Chariot! (Some versions have lions instead of horses).
[I'll put this comment in a restack so I can include a picture]
Apropos of this, I just started his little book, “The Abolition of Man,” ch. 1 of which is titled “Men Without Chests.” Ire is totally on point. We are living through the start of the transformation and collapse that is the culmination of the project of de-soul’ing described by Lewis (and you).
Yes, indeed. That will be the focus of the next four essays- with one other thing thrown in to flesh that out a bit. Small world.
Serendipitous small world indeed!
“It is”; not “Ire”
May well be
Lewis has his version of the myth of Eros and Psyche in “Till we have faces” a beautiful account of the journey of the soul to reunite with divinity and told from the point of view of one of Psyche’s sisters, Orual who is trained in the Stoic tradition by a greek slave. I think he would agree with your notes about the soul.
Thanks for sharing that. I won't really get into any of Lewis' fiction in these essays, except a side glance at That Hideous Strength.
Great start to a series! Looking forward to the rest of the installments.
That would be an honor. Thank you. You can message me directly through Substack and we can work out the details.
I'd like to hear this podcast, whenever it happens!
Link for livestream platform/channel? Will it be archived and hosted for viewing afterward?
I’ll let David reply with technical aspects, but I believe I will have link info in advance to send out.