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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">In case anyone is interested, we will
be on chapters 11-16 this Monday.<br>
<i><br>
</i></p>
<h1><i>Saving the Appearances: a Study in
Idolatry</i></h1>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">by Owen Barfield<br>
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Book study group</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Time: 2<sup>nd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup>
Monday at 7:00pm, next meeting Aug 11<sup>th</sup><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Place: Gathman home in
Greenbriar<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:stuart@gathman.org">stuart@gathman.org</a><br>
Phone:
703-378-9641</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">C. S. Lewis credited Owen Barfield
with
making him a theist. Sometimes called the “first and last
inkling,” Barfield wrote quite a bit about the “evolution of
consciousness.” This is a challenging book, which bears reading
multiple times, but it is worth the effort. There are many words
to
be learned to be able to discuss what Barfield means by
“consciousness” and the evolution thereof. <br>
<br>
For example,
we have “figuration,” the process by which the mind creates
“representations” of concepts derived from sensory input.
“Particles” behave according mathematical laws, and although we
cannot perceive them, we believe that they compose the
“unrepresented” things. For our minds build representations of
only a tiny part of the unrepresented things composed of
particles. Before the enlightenment, people were consciously aware
of the role
of representations, and called the process of constructing them
“participation.” Today, participation is unconscious, and most
people believe their mental representations are “reality” (hence
the “idolatry” in the subtitle).<br>
<br>
What are the benefits of
such esoteric inquiry? One benefit, and the one that initally drew
me to this book, is to gain a much better understanding of
Medieval
authors like Thomas Aquinas. What does he mean by “actual” and
“potential,” “participation” and “actualization”? The
same applies to Plato and Aristotle. <br>
<br>
There is the aspect that
consciousness (the things selected for attention and represented
from
the flood of sensory data) depends on language, and is passed on
to
your “children”, whether or not you gave birth to them. You
learn why there is such a drive to redefine words in the
collective
consciousness, and why that is so effective in promoting evil.
Figuration and extracting abstract representations of sensory data
are an important part of artificial intelligence (and even dumb
robots). <br>
<br>
Walker Percy, in “Lost in the Cosmos: the Last
Self Help Book” (a very funny and edifying read) sees the modern
consciousness of self as a non-participating observer of the world
(despite extensive physical evidence to the contrary) as a source
of
alienation. He got this idea while reading Barfield.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">This is a cross-disciplinary book,
potentially of interest whether you seek to study a major idea of
a
mentor of C. S. Lewis in preparation for Oxbridge, are interested
in
artificial intelligence or neuroscience, or seek to better
understand
the way ancient and medieval people perceived the world. </p>
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