WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:13.199 Alone and welcome to Mythic Mind. We pursue wisdom in the past between primary 2 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.920 secondary worlds. I'm your host, Andrew Snyder, and I am always grateful 3 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:31.079 for your company. Okay, so I apologize that it's been a little while 4 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:34.119 since the last episode, and it's likely going to be a bit before the 5 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:38.200 next, likely sometime in May. As I mentioned on Patreon and Twitter, 6 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:42.240 I'm currently giving as much attention as I'm able to to the upcoming study on 7 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.439 the philosophy and fiction of C. S. Lewis. As a reminder, 8 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:48.079 it starts in May, and over twelve weeks, we're going to be going 9 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:52.399 through almost all of his major works of fiction, including the Ransom Trilogy, 10 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:56.200 Screwtape, Letters Till We Have Faces, the Great Divorce, and the Chronicles 11 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:00.000 of Darnia. Each week we'll involve at least one, but usually two videos 12 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:03.439 on the reading to watch whenever you're able, And in these videos, I'm 13 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.280 going to delve into some philosophical matters. I'm going to delve into some literary 14 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:14.680 background, some biographical information as is useful, and so basically my goal is 15 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.799 just to help you walk away, not just with a little bits of trivia. 16 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:19.920 Although I'm sure you'll get some of that along the way, but I 17 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.239 want you to walk away with a greater sense that you've been in these worlds 18 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:26.560 that Lewis has created, and that you're able to take some of those worlds 19 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:32.519 back to your own. I'm also going to provide some suggested prompts for producing 20 00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:36.640 your own content, and with your permission, I'll publish these through the Mythic 21 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:41.400 Mind substack and one of our podcasts. Also, we will have weekly live 22 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:45.599 meetings which will be recorded and made available, and we'll have a discord server 23 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:49.400 for ongoing conversation on the reading. So far, we have fifty participants already 24 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.439 enrolled, and so it's going to be a strong group. I'm really looking 25 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.280 forward to getting started on it and seeing a community develop out of this, 26 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.920 but for now, I need to keep pressing in giving as much attention as 27 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:04.959 I can to make this as worthwhile as possible for everyone involved. And if 28 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.599 you would like to join, you can click the link in the show notes, 29 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.439 and as a podcast listener, you are entitled to a special twenty five 30 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:15.719 percent off promo. Just use the code podcast at checkout. If you sign 31 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.199 up, you'll also have the option of adding the upcoming study on Beowulf and 32 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:23.960 Boethius at half off, and now I'm going to include the audio for the 33 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:27.439 introductory video for the course, in which I discussed the flow of the course 34 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.439 and introduce some elements of philosophy and cosmology, kind of building up the medieval 35 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:36.560 worldview, some ideas that are really important for this study. I hope that 36 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:52.120 you find this meaningful. Hello, and welcome to the Philosophy and Fiction of 37 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.159 C. S. Lewis. I'm doctor Andrew Snyder, and I'm delighted to 38 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:58.800 be leading you in this study over the next twelve weeks as we dive into 39 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:04.199 really theory of Lewis's works of fiction. So whether you've been reading Lewis for 40 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:07.080 a long time, you know, you've been reading them on repeat for decades, 41 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.080 or you're just now picking them up for the very first time, I 42 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:15.280 hope that this is going to be a very meaningful experience for you. And 43 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.639 even aside from a diversity in acquaintance with Lewis, I know there's a pretty 44 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:23.560 big diversity in interests and backgrounds represented in the participants of this group. I 45 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:27.479 know that some of you have advanced degrees in the humanities, some of you 46 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.000 have probably done some academic work on Lewis. I know that there are many 47 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.639 of you who just love good stories, and you recognize that there is something 48 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:40.639 more than rest on the surface in Lewis's writing, and you know that range. 49 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:43.719 I mean, it kind of makes sense that you would have that built 50 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.719 around Lewis, that would have this kind of community between those who just love 51 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:53.319 stories and those who are drawn more toward the academic because Lewis himself had a 52 00:03:54.439 --> 00:04:00.479 wonderful career both in the academy as well as in more literature, both in 53 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:04.039 his stories as well as his more popular apologetics works, you know, his 54 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:09.879 mere Christianity and whatnot, and so he really had two robust careers to the 55 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.479 point where you know, if you had never written The Chronicles of Narnia, 56 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.959 he still be well respected in academia, in literary criticism, in medieval and 57 00:04:15.959 --> 00:04:20.120 Renaissance literature, and then likewise, you know, obviously he could have an 58 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.120 entire career solely built off his popular works. However, the same time, 59 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:30.920 his more popular works are very much rooted in deeper wells. And that is 60 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.120 part of what I want to be doing in this course and helping you to 61 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:40.439 you know, pass through the wardrobes that are each of his works in order 62 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:45.120 to find the world that exist on the other side. So it doesn't matter 63 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:50.319 if you are already a party to academic jargon or if the language of philosophy 64 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:56.480 leaves you feeling a little bit confused and a little bit anxious. My goal 65 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.240 is to bring everybody into the mix here so that way we all benefit and 66 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:05.439 we all participate in a meaningful community that is doing meaningful things with these meaningful 67 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:10.920 stories. In this introductory video, I want to do a few things. 68 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:14.240 First, I want to tell you a little bit about my experience with C. 69 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:15.600 S. Lewis, and then I want to tell you a little bit 70 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.600 about the structure and flow of the course so you know exactly what to expect. 71 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:26.319 And then lastly, I want to delve into some of the ideas from 72 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:31.000 the classical and from the medieval world that are particularly important for Lewis, especially 73 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:35.160 as we get ready for the Ransom trilogy, but even beyond. And so 74 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:36.959 when we get to that part, I will let you know that this is 75 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:43.839 going to be probably the most philosophically heavy video that we do. But again 76 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:46.319 I think that this is pretty important for just setting up some ideas that you're 77 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:50.120 going to see again and again and again throughout his writings. After all, 78 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:54.360 if you're familiar with the Last Battle, which we'll be getting to at the 79 00:05:54.439 --> 00:06:00.839 end of the course, you know Professor Kirk, who very much bears kinship 80 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:03.319 to Lewis himself, you know, it says it's all in Plato, and 81 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:06.399 so if you're gonna understand what's going on there, as well as in many 82 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:10.480 of his other stories, it's gonna be helpful if you know a little bit 83 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:16.000 about Plato, if that's where it all is. And so I didn't grow 84 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:20.079 up reading an extensive amount. It is something that I very much lamant today. 85 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:26.160 I just didn't. It was not common for me to voluntarily pick up 86 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:30.319 a book as a kid. Now that being said, I do fondly remember 87 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:36.720 reading the Narnia books with my parents in middle school. I eventually made it 88 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:42.079 through the Hobbit, but even that kind of dragged on. It didn't really 89 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.920 connect with me yet. I wasn't yet prepared to really engage with fiction, 90 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:50.040 and so that didn't really stick to any significant degree. Now, as I 91 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:54.120 got a little bit older my youth later teenage years, I did start to 92 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.240 read a little bit more kind of nonfiction theology works, that sort of thing. 93 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:00.759 I was sort of the mindset that if I'm going to make the time 94 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:05.439 and energy investment in reading, well I need to learn something. And so 95 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:10.279 I didn't see much value in picking up a novel in reading fiction. If 96 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:14.480 I wanted a story, well, I did watch a movie. Now I 97 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:21.639 cringe terribly saying that, because that idea is so anathema in my current evaluation 98 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.199 of the significance of literature. But nonetheless that's where I was, So I 99 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:31.160 really was not an active reader. Now. I studied philosophy in my undergrad 100 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:35.959 at college, and then my experience, my relationship with literature really started to 101 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:41.360 change in grad school when I took a course on Saint Augustine, and so 102 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:45.439 during that course I read the Confession City of God, on Christian Doctrine, 103 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:49.720 on the Trinity, his anti Pallasian writings, and that was really a formative 104 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:55.839 time for me philosophically, intellectually, but more to the task at hand. 105 00:07:56.199 --> 00:08:03.600 The Confessions in particular awakened something within me, something about the way Augustine laid 106 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:07.040 out his life narrative, you know, even though since it is nonfictionary, 107 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:15.160 he's telling his own intellectual rather his own spiritual biography, his own spiritual narrative 108 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:22.199 as he understands it well, that very much mapped onto my own experience, 109 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:26.439 and so that's when I first started to get this idea that when you're reading 110 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:31.399 a narrative, whether it's biographical, whether it's fictional, or whether it's nonfictional, 111 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:37.559 something about narratives play a significant role that more didactic texts simply are not 112 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:41.120 fit to do. And so that's when that started to sort of sink in 113 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:46.600 that there is power in narratives. And then that really got deepened as I 114 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:50.320 started to read and to study Soaring Crekeguard, who became the subject for my 115 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:56.039 doctoral dissertation, and all during this time my study of Augusted, my study 116 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:00.360 of Careguard, I started to kind of get opened up to some of these 117 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:05.320 figures who are doing psychological analysis of fairy tales and myths and you know, 118 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:09.080 bringing out the insights that are embedded in these narratives. And so these ideas 119 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:13.120 continue to work on it continue to work on me until about twenty twenty one, 120 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:18.519 when I was dealing with one of the most difficult seasons of my life. 121 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:20.519 And those of you who've been connected with me for quite a while. 122 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.440 Probably already know something about what I'm talking about. But anyways, it was 123 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:31.399 during this time of great suffering when I started to become more real, when 124 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.639 I started to develop a greater sense of desire for something that can carry me 125 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:43.080 through the brokenness. And this is when I really started to get this strong 126 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:50.320 sense of desire, it kind of broken longing for something real, and I 127 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:56.200 didn't even know exactly what I meant by that. I on one hand, 128 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:58.639 you know, it was a time of deepening of faith, right, I 129 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:05.480 learned and what it means to press into the wounds of Christ with the hope 130 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:11.120 that they could hold every faithful sorrow and would redeem them in the fullness of 131 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:15.360 joy. And so during this time my faith is deepening, I'm pressing into 132 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:18.120 Christ. I'm learning what it means to not just no truth, but to 133 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:24.639 experience truth. And something about all of this, my philosophical, intellectual development, 134 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:31.080 my spiritual development. I was primed now to appreciate stories. Now. 135 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.960 I'm very grateful that also during this time, I was connected with some solid 136 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:39.720 people on Twitter who were really into Tolkien, and so I kind of just 137 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:43.840 started to get pulled in through some of the content that they were putting out. 138 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.399 A started listening to podcasts, despite the fact that up to this point 139 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:50.399 my relationship with Tolkien was pretty nominal. I mean, like I said, 140 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:52.799 I made it through The Hobbit in middle school. I watched the movies as 141 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:56.240 a kid and enjoyed them, but that's pretty much where it ended. Well. 142 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:58.840 During this time, thanks to again to some of these people who were 143 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.840 producing some worthwhile content, I was getting my attention. I finally ordered the 144 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:09.200 books and I started reading. Now, this was a definitive turning point in 145 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:13.799 my life, not just in my literary pursuits, but in my life. 146 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.639 From the very beginning of reading The Fellowship of the Ring, I knew that 147 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.960 I was reading something real, that this wasn't made up. Now, obviously 148 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:26.559 we don't live in a world with Hobbits and elves and dwarves and you know, 149 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.879 all this stuff. But at the same time, Tolkien is communicating something 150 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.039 that is true. At the same time it might be different kind of truth, 151 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:37.559 there's still nonetheless true. And you know, at the time, I 152 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:43.200 didn't have the categories for understanding exactly what I even meant by that, but 153 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:46.320 I knew as true. And one thing that really pulled me in and caused 154 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:54.600 me to particularly attach to Tolkien was the way that he brought sorrow together with 155 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.639 beauty and love and joy. This is a common theme throughout his legendary and 156 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:05.879 writing, this idea that faithful, sorrow and joy are directly connected. He 157 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:09.879 has this great line in the Silmarillion that is something like, if joyful is 158 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:15.639 the fountain that rises in the sun, it's springs are in the wells of 159 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.039 sorrow, unfathomed at the foundations of the earth. That might not be exactly 160 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.879 right, but that's the basic idea, the idea that the Cross of Christ 161 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.679 ultimately is the world tree that brings heaven to earth, but it also reaches 162 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.679 down into hell. And so it's this idea that the worst that we can 163 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:35.159 experience is brought up to the best that we could experience when it is following 164 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:39.320 this redemptive, crystological direction. And ultimately, I mean, that is the 165 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:43.440 Christian message. But it's something that really was It's something that I really learned 166 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:48.480 how to experience even better through Tolkien's writings, as well as many other things 167 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:50.320 that I could talk about as well. But this is not a Tolkien class 168 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:54.799 and so I finish out Lord of the Rings, immediately go to Silmarillion, 169 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:58.799 and then the Great Tales Baron and Luthian Fall, Gondolin, Children of Huron, 170 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.000 as well as some other Tolkien writings. It's then aside to switch to 171 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:07.000 Lewis, and that's the natural next step. And I jumped right into Till 172 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:11.240 We Have Faces, which once I got to the end, that absolutely just 173 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:16.159 blew me up. And I just knew I needed to read everything that Lewis 174 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:22.440 had to write, and so Rowis ran through and I have not stopped running 175 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:26.799 through as much Lewis as I can get my hands on. And so I 176 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:30.840 say all that to say that I'm approaching this from kind of a unique perspective. 177 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.759 On one hand, Yes, I came to Lewis later in life, 178 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.639 relatively recently right I started this, I mean started Lewis probably a couple of 179 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:45.480 years ago. But I approach him with an academic background in philosophy and theology, 180 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:50.360 which I think gives me a unique perspective of dealing with Lewis. Also, 181 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:54.440 I approach him with a passion. Right, this is not a slow 182 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.600 simmering interest. This is something that I'm passionately invested in and It's something that 183 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:03.399 I've been filling my mind with continually, in text, in audio. Lewis 184 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.559 very much lives in my mind at this point, and I'm delighted to be 185 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.679 sharing some of that passion with you. I'm delighted to be sharing some of 186 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:16.120 my research, some of my thoughts, some of the ways that I've appropriated 187 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.120 Lewis. But this is not fundamentally about me. This is about Lewis, 188 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:24.840 and I hope that in this study that you, if you don't already have 189 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:26.840 it, that you will develop a passion for his writing. Not the sense 190 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:30.559 that you have to agree with everything he has to say, but I mean 191 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:33.559 you should probably agree with most of what he has to say. And that's 192 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:37.679 because you know, he's often understood as being a stage of sorts, a 193 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:45.919 kind of profit, and that he had penetrating insights into his times in ways 194 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:50.960 that have really come to even greater fulfillment in our time. And the reason 195 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.519 why he had such insight is not simply because he was a naturally remarkable man, 196 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:58.799 although I'm sure he was that, but one reason why he was able 197 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:03.440 to have such brilliant insights while he had such a keen grasp on kind of 198 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.120 what is going on in the world of ideas, in the world of human 199 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:13.600 experience is because he was deeply rooted in another time. CS. Lewis was 200 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:18.159 very much a medieval man in the way that he thought. Now, that 201 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:22.799 doesn't mean that, you know, the medieval mind is full only of wisdom, 202 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:26.480 But what it does mean is is full of a different kind of wisdom, 203 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.440 for certain than the kind of wisdom you would get from a modern man. 204 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:35.440 Cs Lewis talks about this in his introduction to Athanasiuses on the Incarnation. 205 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:41.399 When Lewis talks about the value of reading old books, it's not because books 206 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:48.320 are good just because they're old. Old books create the mistakes that were common 207 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.879 during the time that they were made. However, those mistakes are going to 208 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:54.200 be different than the mistakes that we make today. Two heads are better than 209 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:00.399 one, and so if we can use the strengths of the past to correct 210 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:03.919 the weaknesses of today, well also again, not missing the mistakes of the 211 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:08.919 past, well would that not be better? And so Lewis stands apart as 212 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:15.679 somebody who's able to operate under the auspices of medieval wisdom to understand what's going 213 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.559 on in the modern era. To find our blind spots and to give us 214 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:25.679 warnings about some of the trajectories that we are on. Okay, so now 215 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:29.440 let's talk a little bit about the structure and flow of this study so you 216 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:33.200 know exactly what to expect. Well. Each week is going to have typically 217 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:37.279 a couple of videos. The first one will be a short introductory video that 218 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.120 it's going to be short because I don't want to give any spoilers for those 219 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:44.840 of you who are reading the stories for the first time, nor do I 220 00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:49.399 want to put too many preconceived notions in your mind as you encounter these stories, 221 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:53.279 because I want for you to be able to explore these strange worlds as 222 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:56.919 the narrative develops. I think that's important, and so the initial video is 223 00:16:56.919 --> 00:17:03.240 really just going to get at some major themes. I'm going to tell you 224 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.359 what some companion text might be. I'm going to give you some basic ideas 225 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.279 that you should look out for, but they're not gonna be very comprehensive, 226 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.480 because again I don't want to ruin anything for you. And then at the 227 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:17.279 end of the week, there'll be a longer video in which we go back 228 00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:21.440 and do a deeper analysis, pointing out some of the ideas that are play 229 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:26.000 some the implications these ideas have some connections to other literature and that sort of 230 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.920 thing. Now, I should say that, you know, in this course, 231 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:33.079 we are doing a lot, We're covering a lot of ground in twelve 232 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:37.279 weeks, and so what I can't do a chapter by chapter analysis. I 233 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:41.799 can't look at every single detail, because well, if we're gonna do that, 234 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:45.240 then any one of these books could easily take well more than twelve weeks. 235 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.319 And so as far as the pre recorded videos go, I'm really going 236 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.960 to focus on big picture and looking at some of the details as they point 237 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:56.079 out some of these big pictures or you know, a few of these major 238 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:59.519 angles that we should look at that I think will play an important role in 239 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:03.240 helping to get more significance, more substance out of the text. That will 240 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:08.279 help us go further up and further in, which obviously is a phrase that 241 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:15.599 many of you will recognize now in our ongoing discord chat. That's when we 242 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:18.960 can really get into more of the details, more of the particular things that 243 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.559 interest you, questions that you have, things that you see as particularly significant 244 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.720 on the smaller scale level, and so you can find the link to the 245 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:33.680 discord server in the first module, and so follow that link over to the 246 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:37.240 Mythic Mind discord server that's going to land you in the general chat over there. 247 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:41.079 Once you get there, just post something about who you are and that 248 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:42.359 you're part of the course, and then I'll make sure that you get permissions 249 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:47.640 to join the course channel. Now, in that course channel, the discord 250 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:51.759 channel, that's when you can and said, get into the various things that 251 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.119 interest you. You can ask questions, you can have free flowing conversation with 252 00:18:55.160 --> 00:19:00.559 the other participants in the course. I strongly encourage you to participate in this. 253 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:03.680 I think that this is going to be in a very important component of 254 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:08.559 this of this experience that we're doing here together. It's an important way to 255 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:14.039 build some community, and it's an important way to get more out of it, 256 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:15.400 to kind of choose your own adventure and to focus on the things that 257 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:22.440 are most important to you. And also the discord conversation will play an important 258 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:26.039 role in helping me to shape the live conversations that we're going to have on 259 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:30.160 a weekly basis for those of you who are able to join, Because I 260 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.160 don't want the live conversations to just be more of me talking about the things 261 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:37.559 that interest me. I want those conversations to be based on the things that 262 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:41.759 interest you, and so kind of mining that discord conversation is going to help 263 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:48.160 me to structure those live conversations to be most meaningful, to be most valuable 264 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.039 to you, the people who are actually participating in the course. And exactly 265 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:56.720 what those live conversations will look like will largely depend on how many people are 266 00:19:56.759 --> 00:20:00.880 able to join live. But I think that's going to be a good component 267 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:04.200 of the study. And if you're not able to make it, I'll make 268 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.279 sure that they are recorded and posted so that way you can watch the recording. 269 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.680 And so that's basically how this course is going to run. Now I'm 270 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:15.359 going to go take a coffee break and then I'm going to come back and 271 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:21.799 we'll talk a little bit about some of the philosophical ideas that shape Lewis's thought. 272 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.440 All right, So, as I said, this is going to be 273 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:32.279 the most extensive philosophical conversation that we have, And really what we need to 274 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:36.440 do is we need to introduce you to Plato, and we need to introduce 275 00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:41.720 you to the medieval view of the cosmos. But before we even get to 276 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:44.799 Plato, we need to go a little bit before Plato, and so we're 277 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.279 still in ancient Greece, but we're going to go to the pre Socratic period, 278 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:52.680 which simply means the philosophers who came before Socrates. Now, this is 279 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:57.359 when we get the beginning of a very important conversation for the Greek philosophers as 280 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:02.200 well as for really the entire histy a philosophy, and that is the conversation 281 00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:07.319 between being and becoming, between movement and stability. And really the question at 282 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:14.519 play here is is ultimate reality this world that we experience with our senses, 283 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.440 the material world, which is always moving, right, we are always in 284 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:22.000 a process of change. The world around us is in a process of change. 285 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:25.759 That's what it means to be creatures of time living in a world of 286 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:33.319 time. Time is change or is there a stable truth? Is reality something 287 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:37.480 more than the material world, something that we access with our minds, right, 288 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:41.559 that we're able to use reason to grasp, to latch onto to gain 289 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:48.440 some sense of stable identity and purpose and meaning that transcends this moving world around 290 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.000 us. And so that really is the question that's a play here. And 291 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.720 so first we're going to talk about Heraclitis. Now, Heraclitis was very much 292 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:02.640 a philosopher of becoming, meaning he focused on the change that we experience, 293 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:08.880 the fundamentally unstable reality that we experience. And so he famously said that all 294 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:12.119 of existence is like a ripper, and you can never step into the same 295 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:15.720 water twice. And so we are always moving. The world around us is 296 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:22.599 always moving. There's no such thing as repetition. We are always moving down 297 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:26.079 the river. Now this creates some problems. For one thing, it kind 298 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:32.880 of means that there's really no me across time. Right, everything is moving, 299 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:37.559 Then whatever it is that I identify as myself is also constantly changing. 300 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:41.559 And so when I think of myself existing across time, when I think of 301 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:45.319 my own past, present, and potential future, really that itself has to 302 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:48.440 be some kind of illusion. If everything is in a process of change, 303 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:53.519 that means there's no me that endures across time. Furthermore, there's a problem 304 00:22:53.559 --> 00:23:00.039 regarding our conceptions of truth, because if I'm always changing, the world is 305 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:03.240 always changing, than any thought, any impression that I have in my mind 306 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:08.279 never truly correlates with the way things actually are. If for no other reason, 307 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:12.920 there's always a delay in representation between the way things are and the way 308 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:18.079 things are image in my mind. And so I lose any kind of sense 309 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.640 of identity if everything changes. Also I lose any sense of enduring truth if 310 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:27.599 everything changes, and so I'm kind of lost with nothing more than sense experience. 311 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:30.839 And so this was Heraclitus's focus, the idea that everything is in a 312 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:36.200 process of change. However, it is worth noting that even Heraclitis recognized that 313 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:40.400 there's one thing that does not change, and that is the process of change 314 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.759 itself. And so the river might always be moving, but the river always 315 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:47.839 moves in a consistent manner. And you understand the forces at work here, 316 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:51.839 the process of change itself, then you're actually able to predict where the river 317 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:56.319 goes. And so this source of this one source of consistency for Heraclitis is 318 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:00.880 the process of change itself, or that which change. And this is idea 319 00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:06.119 that he identified as the lagos, which is obviously where we get our word 320 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:11.960 logic. But the word logos literally means word, and so the word is 321 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:18.079 the one stable reality that gives some sense of order, that gives that allows 322 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:22.960 us an ability to have something like understanding. The more we understand the lagos, 323 00:24:22.359 --> 00:24:26.240 the more we understand the process of change, and in turn, the 324 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:30.759 more we even understand ourselves. And so this logos by Heraclitis is a kind 325 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:37.759 of a divine or at the very least, a semi divine reality that structures 326 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:42.519 and maintains order amidst this world of change. So why would the word be 327 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:48.200 this principle of order? Well, imagine that you had a bag of scrabble 328 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.079 tiles that you poured out randomly. You have this just random arrangement of letters. 329 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:57.079 Well, what do those letters mean? And by themselves they mean nothing. 330 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:00.599 You just have a cacophony of sounds. There's no inherent meaning there. 331 00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:04.400 However, when you take those tiles and then you give them the form of 332 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:11.039 a word, well, now the otherwise discordant sounds are brought together into something 333 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:18.440 meaningful, something ordered. And so a word gives form to discordant sounds, 334 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:25.480 discordant letters. That then allows them to have meaning. And now each particular 335 00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:30.000 letter now has meaning within this form that it would not have by itself. 336 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:33.960 And so a word brings form, a word brings order, a word brings 337 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:38.680 meaning. And I mean, of course this should sound familiar if you're familiar 338 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:45.119 with John's Gospel, which begins an ark hen hoologous. In the beginning was 339 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.759 the word. John is going to identify the Word with Christ. He is 340 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:52.559 the one through whom all things are made. He is the one in whom 341 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:56.519 all things hold together. And so if we're going to understand proper order within 342 00:25:56.599 --> 00:26:00.440 the New Testament framework, we have to understand logoffs. We have to understand 343 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:04.400 Christ, the one in whom, to whom and through whom are all things. 344 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:10.359 And so anyways, heret Cleidis. He doesn't have a what I would 345 00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:14.160 call a fully developed idea of stability, but he's starting to get there. 346 00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:18.519 Nonetheless, he's principally identified as a philosopher of becoming. He gives us the 347 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:22.359 world of change. Well, on the other side, we have a philosopher 348 00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:30.799 of being named Parmenides. Parmenides believed that Reason says that movement is impossible. 349 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:34.839 Therefore the change that we experience with our senses is ultimately an illusion. It's 350 00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:41.000 not the real world, because again Reason dictates that change must be impossible. 351 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:44.000 His disciples is, you know, it gives us a couple of parables that 352 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:48.480 help us to understand this. So he says that imagine there's a race between 353 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:52.319 Achilles and a tortoise. Now, obviously Achilles has the advantage, and so 354 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:53.720 the tortoise is going to get a head start we'll say one hundred yards. 355 00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:57.359 And so the tortoise is at the one hundred yard mark when Achilles starts at 356 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:02.559 the beginning, and they're off to the race. Well before Achilles can catch 357 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:06.359 up even where the tortoise began at one hundred yard mark, first Achilles has 358 00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:08.559 to go fifty yards. Well, before he can hit the fifty yard mark, 359 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:12.079 he first has to go twenty five yards, and then twelve and a 360 00:27:12.119 --> 00:27:15.119 half, and then six and a quarter, and so forth, and so 361 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:22.839 forth and so forth into infinity. Now, if you can divide distance into 362 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:26.519 infinity, then what that means is that there is an infinite amount of space 363 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:29.799 between any two distances. Well, how long does it take you to cross 364 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:34.599 an infinite amount of space an infinite amount of time, which is another way 365 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:40.119 of saying that it's impossible, right, you can never cross an infinite space. 366 00:27:40.599 --> 00:27:42.680 And so what this means is that there's an infinite amount of space between 367 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:49.079 any two points. Therefore, movement is rationally impossible, and so Parmenides emphasize 368 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:53.319 the fact that all reality is fundamentally stable because reason dictates that it must be, 369 00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:59.359 and that our sense experience of the world around us is simply an illusion 370 00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:03.519 of this reality that we know by reason. And so now we have our 371 00:28:03.559 --> 00:28:07.319 philosopher of becoming, and now we have our philosopher of being. We start 372 00:28:07.319 --> 00:28:12.039 to get a synthesis in Plato. Now, the best introduction to Plato is 373 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:18.160 probably going where introductions to Plato usually begin, and that is his allegory of 374 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.599 the Cave, which comes from the Republic. In the Republic, Plato's teacher 375 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.680 turned character, Socrates, tells a story about these people who spent their entire 376 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.119 life chained up in a cave. They can't even turn their heads to look 377 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:33.000 behind them or to the side. All they can do is look at this 378 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:37.759 wall that is in front of them, which is illuminated, and shadows periodically 379 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:41.519 pass across this wall, across this illuminated space that they can look at. 380 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:48.279 Now they start to develop this hierarchy system where the wisest among them are able 381 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:52.799 to pick up on the patterns and they can detect which shadow is going to 382 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:56.640 pass next. And so they get this whole value system based around the right 383 00:28:56.680 --> 00:29:00.960 detection of shadows, the figuring out of the pattern. Well, eventually one 384 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.839 of the prisoners is set free. We're not really told how, but that 385 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:07.000 doesn't really matter. So he gets out of his chains. He looks behind 386 00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:10.920 him and he sees this roaring fire. Now, at first he's blinded by 387 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:14.480 the light because he's never seen light that directly before. But eventually his eyes 388 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:18.799 adjust and you see what's really going on here, that this fire is burning 389 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:22.559 in the cave, and in front of the fire are passing these two dimensional 390 00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:26.920 cutouts of these animals that are then casting shadows on the wall. And so 391 00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:32.839 now he sees a glimpse of what is really going on here. That the 392 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.599 entire world that he's known before was nothing but a shadow. It was a 393 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:41.720 pale imitation of this more real reality. Well, he continues to explore the 394 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:45.640 cave. He eventually finds his way out into the open world, and at 395 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:51.119 first he's blinded again now by the light of the sun. But eventually his 396 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:56.000 eyes adjust and he starts to look around and he sees all of these realities 397 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.119 that he had never known before. He actually even sees the the animals that 398 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:04.640 were imaged in the cutouts which then created images on the wall. And so 399 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:10.279 now he's able to see the real world for the very first time. And 400 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:14.160 so he gets this paradigm shift in his mind and he recognizes that everything that 401 00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:18.440 he experienced before was but a pale imitation of this grander, more real reality. 402 00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:22.920 Well, remembering his fellow prisoners back in the cave, he wants to 403 00:30:22.920 --> 00:30:26.039 go back and share the good news of what he's experienced, this new revelation, 404 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:30.440 and so he goes to them and he starts to explain to them all 405 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:33.599 the things that he's seen and that this world that they know is built fundamentally 406 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:37.480 on a lie. It's not real. Well, they don't take kindly to 407 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:41.240 that at first. They think he's mad, and eventually that she get so 408 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:45.200 angry because he's disrupting their value system that they actually end up killing him. 409 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:48.359 And that's how the parable ends. And obviously, when player's telling the story, 410 00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:52.039 he very much has his own teacher, Socrates in mind, who was 411 00:30:52.119 --> 00:30:56.880 executed by the court of Athens for corrupting the youth. Now, in this 412 00:30:56.039 --> 00:31:02.680 parable, we get being and becoming brought in to relation, and so the 413 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:07.559 world of shadows is the world of becoming. It's this world that's constantly moving. 414 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:11.960 It's not stable, right, This is the river of Heraclitis is constantly 415 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.519 moving, and so to that degree, in many ways, it's not real 416 00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:19.839 because to be real, to have actuality, well there has to be something 417 00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:26.160 that you're being actualized into, otherwise you are constantly moving. And so these 418 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:30.200 shadows are the world of movement. In many ways, they're not real, 419 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:36.839 They're simply reflections of reality. As the prisoner progressed, you know, with 420 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:40.240 each stage, first seeing the fire and then eventually seeing the light of the 421 00:31:40.279 --> 00:31:42.839 sun. You know, he is temporarily blinded. That's because you know, 422 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:48.119 whenever you're getting to a new paradigm, you have to develop the tools for 423 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:49.680 understanding what it is that you're looking at. In fact, there's a great 424 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:52.240 line out of the side of the planet where Ransom, the main character, 425 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.920 is, you know, in this strange new reality, and he makes the 426 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:00.000 point that you really can't see something until you know what it is. And 427 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:06.759 so the prisoner is going on this blinding journey toward greater vision and eventually finds 428 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.799 his way outside where he's able to see things by the light of the true 429 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:14.160 light. He's able to see things by the light of the Sun. Now, 430 00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:17.079 the sun, in this allegory represents the highest reality. For Plato, 431 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:23.319 this is the good. Perhaps it wouldn't even be wrong to say that this 432 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:28.839 is God for Plato. Now, as with the sun, right, the 433 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:30.720 best way to study the good is not staring at it directly. You don't 434 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:35.440 study the sun by looking at it directly. You study the sun by looking 435 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:38.319 at its effects. You look at its heat, and most importantly, though, 436 00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:43.279 you look at that which it illuminates. So too, the good, 437 00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:46.839 for Plato, is really not something that we can clearly define. It's not 438 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:53.519 something that we fundamentally look at. It's that by which we see everything else. 439 00:32:54.519 --> 00:33:00.440 In Plato's dialogue, Euthifro Socrates encounter is this guy named Euthifro outside the 440 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:04.799 courthouse. And Socrates asked Euthifhro what he's doing, and Eutheriphro says that he's 441 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.640 bringing charges and murdered against his father for killing one of their servants. And 442 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.400 Socrates says, all right, Eutheriro, you're bringing charges of murder against your 443 00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:16.079 own father. Clearly you are somebody who understands piety. You have some ethical 444 00:33:16.119 --> 00:33:21.720 expertise, and so tell me, Euthiphro, what is good, and Eutheripro 445 00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:23.759 says, what I'm doing right now is good. Obviously, that didn't really 446 00:33:23.759 --> 00:33:28.200 answer his question, and so they go back and forth a little bit, 447 00:33:28.279 --> 00:33:32.119 but it becomes evident the question that Socrates is asking is what is it that 448 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:38.079 makes good things good? And Eutheriphro tries a couple of times to answer this 449 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:43.200 question. He says, well, it's what the gods love, and Socrates 450 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:46.079 says, okay, what. Obviously the gods in the Greek system they don't 451 00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:49.640 all agree with each other, and so is it what some of the gods 452 00:33:49.640 --> 00:33:52.279 love? And Etherproo says, okay, it's whatever all the gods love. 453 00:33:52.440 --> 00:33:55.440 That twas good, and then Socrates says, okay, we're seem to be 454 00:33:55.440 --> 00:34:00.640 getting somewhere, but it doesn't really answer the question, because is goodness what 455 00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:04.440 the gods happen to love? Or do the god's loving something make it good? 456 00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:07.159 And you at that point pretty much says I've got to wash my hair 457 00:34:07.199 --> 00:34:10.880 and then runs off scene and that's the end of the dialogue. But really 458 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:15.440 that question of what makes good things good is very important for Plato, and 459 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:21.320 ultimately what makes good things good is the good? However, we can only 460 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:23.719 say, but so much about what the good is. And that's because if 461 00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:29.000 we're gonna say that reason itself is good, though, what that means is 462 00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:34.639 whatever this goodness is that is implicit in reason, stands above and beyond reason. 463 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.880 Right reason participates in the good. The good doesn't participate in reason. 464 00:34:40.360 --> 00:34:45.800 And so because reason as a good thing is nested within this grander reality, 465 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:51.320 we're talking about something that stands above reason is something that reason itself cannot see. 466 00:34:51.800 --> 00:34:54.519 It's interesting to note that in the Psalms, sometimes God is portrayed as 467 00:34:54.920 --> 00:35:01.440 residing in unapproachable light. Other times he portrayed as residing in impenetrable darkness. 468 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:07.239 And that's because once you get above the level of finite reason, your categories 469 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:12.079 of understanding entirely fall apart. It's so whether talking about blinding light or absolute 470 00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:15.280 darkness, it's more or less the same thing. We can't find our ways 471 00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:20.400 around anymore. Our categories of understanding have fallen apart. This is why when 472 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:24.280 you read the Medievals right, even the very reasoned based medieval thinkers, you 473 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:28.639 eventually reach a point where they start to fall into a kind of mysticism, 474 00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:34.559 This idea that as you approach that by which you reason, your reason can 475 00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:37.840 no longer carry you. So any distance that you're going to progress beyond reason 476 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:44.760 has to be something that's not necessarily irrational, but superrational. That's something that's 477 00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:49.960 able to carry you the rest of the gap from the from the bounds of 478 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:52.920 reason up to the ultimate, namely to the dwelling place of God. And 479 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:58.599 so there is a kind of mysticism that is implicit in this idea that we 480 00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:04.360 see very clearly in Plato. And so we never can clearly see the good, 481 00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:08.199 but we see things by the good, and in getting a better understanding 482 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:14.880 in might and soul, in affections and appetites, by cultivating our soul to 483 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:19.920 move closer and closer to the good, we are moving on the path of 484 00:36:19.960 --> 00:36:23.920 wisdom, even though ultimately we're moving towards something more real than we can actually 485 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:29.360 know through our use of reason. Now, even though we can never understand 486 00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:31.800 the good fully through our reason, what we can know through reason is what 487 00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:36.880 he calls the world of the forms. This is the ideals, right, 488 00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:39.480 This is the world of being. This is the world that doesn't change. 489 00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:44.760 And so just as we have down here in the changing world, we have 490 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:47.320 appearances, we have what it looks like to be human. We have what 491 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:52.559 it looks like to execute justice. We have what it looks like to be 492 00:36:52.599 --> 00:36:55.440 a horse, we have what it looks like to love. But all of 493 00:36:55.480 --> 00:37:01.119 these appearances are imitations of the reality, the things that they could be if 494 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:05.920 they were fully themselves. And so, according to Plato, we have never 495 00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:10.159 experienced the ideal of love in this world. We've always experienced some corrupted form, 496 00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:16.400 some kind of shadow. So two, none of us have ever fully 497 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:22.920 actualized our ideals as humans. The ideal of human nature resides in this world 498 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:27.159 of being, But as soon as the world of being enters into material reality, 499 00:37:27.320 --> 00:37:30.840 it enters necessarily into a world of change. And if you're changing from 500 00:37:30.840 --> 00:37:35.360 better to worse, what that means is that the material world is not just 501 00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:39.400 a place of change, it's ultimately a place of corruption within the platonic mindset. 502 00:37:39.719 --> 00:37:45.280 And so there's something inherently inferior and something inherently corruptible about material reality. 503 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:51.039 And so nothing that we experience with our senses is the ideal is what it 504 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:54.559 could be, what it perhaps should be if it were being ethically responsible. 505 00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:00.800 And so the idea of love, the ideal of justice, the ideal of 506 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:02.039 what it means to be human, even the ideal of what it means to 507 00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:07.760 be a horse or whatever. Everything that we see with our eyes is an 508 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:15.440 imperfect copy of the ideal, unmoving reality of what it could be and what 509 00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:19.679 it should be. And so what we need to do is to figure out 510 00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:24.079 what true justice actually is, what true love actually is, what it truly 511 00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:29.280 means to be human, And then we continually cultivate not only our understanding, 512 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:31.760 but our appetites are affections, and so that all of what we are is 513 00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:37.119 increasingly being conformed to this world being, to the ideal, to the form, 514 00:38:37.199 --> 00:38:40.159 the way that things should be, the way that things could be. 515 00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:46.519 And as we move increasingly toward this reality, the more real we in turn 516 00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:52.000 become, And so wisdom and the platonic mindset is very much based off the 517 00:38:52.039 --> 00:38:55.960 orientation of your soul. Which way are you facing? You know, are 518 00:38:57.079 --> 00:39:00.920 you facing yourself toward the shadows? And if so, then you are increasingly 519 00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:05.119 moving toward the shadows, and you are really approaching nothingness. And that's what 520 00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:09.719 evil is, right, It is a lack of goodness, And so evil 521 00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:14.280 and nothingness are really more or less the same thing. That's not a way 522 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:16.280 of saying that, well, I guess it is a way of saying that 523 00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:20.960 evil isn't real, evil doesn't exist, and that's because it is a movement 524 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:24.599 away from reality, away from the actuality of things. You're moving toward becoming, 525 00:39:24.679 --> 00:39:30.199 away from being, whereas an orientation toward wisdom, toward the ideal, 526 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:35.719 toward the way that things should be, means that you are facing reality and 527 00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:39.840 you're increasingly moving toward it, seeking to participate in reality as it exists, 528 00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:45.239 in this stable world of the forms, and you're trying to nurture the world 529 00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:51.639 around you so that it is kind of cultivated into something real, something stable, 530 00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:55.920 something true. And I think that there's a lot of wisdom in this 531 00:39:57.119 --> 00:40:00.679 right, whether or not you do it or don't take Plato as a whole, 532 00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:04.039 and I certainly don't take Plato as a whole. I think that there 533 00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:07.719 is wisdom in the fact that wisdom itself is not only a matter of the 534 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:12.519 mind, although it absolutely involves the mind, it is also a matter of 535 00:40:12.719 --> 00:40:19.360 the affections. It's a matter of moving towards something that we principally cannot grasp 536 00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:22.159 with our minds, because ultimately, I mean, as we're pursuing the ideal, 537 00:40:22.239 --> 00:40:25.280 pursuing the world that we can do through the reason. Ultimately, we're 538 00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:30.079 doing that because we're pursuing something we can't know by reason, right, we're 539 00:40:30.119 --> 00:40:35.719 pursuing the good ultimately. And so for Plato, philosophy, the path of 540 00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:39.559 wisdom very much is an act of love. It is not simply a cerebral 541 00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:46.000 matter. And the word philosophy means philosophia is the love of wisdom, and 542 00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:51.360 this really plays an important role in his dialogue the Fato. Now, the 543 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:59.000 Fato takes place after Socrates is sentenced to be executed for corrupting the youth, 544 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:01.199 and he has too many questions. So now the city of Athens is going 545 00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:06.119 to silence him. And so while he's awaiting his execution, some of his 546 00:41:06.199 --> 00:41:09.199 friends come to him, and I mean, one thing, they've already said 547 00:41:09.239 --> 00:41:10.559 that. You know, we can get you out of this. You know, 548 00:41:10.599 --> 00:41:13.840 the right person's willing to take a bribe. You can just go off 549 00:41:13.880 --> 00:41:16.400 into exile. It'll be fine. So he says, no, I'm going 550 00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:20.400 to go through with this. I would not be who I am without the 551 00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:22.840 city of Athens. The least I can do is subject myself to her laws. 552 00:41:24.360 --> 00:41:30.639 And so part of what this Fato is is Socrates giving an apology or 553 00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:36.320 a defense for his willingness to go through with his execution, and so its 554 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:39.719 focuses around this idea of the immortality of the soul that perhaps, at least 555 00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:45.880 for the whiyse, for the philosopher, death might not be a terrible fate. 556 00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:49.920 And so I'm not going to get into all these arguments he provides about 557 00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:52.719 immortality of the soul. That's just kind of outside the purview of where I'm 558 00:41:52.719 --> 00:41:55.800 trying to go. But in the midst of this he does bring up some 559 00:41:55.840 --> 00:42:00.159 important ideas that can be very important for Lewis, and that is this idea 560 00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:07.840 that all true knowledge is ultimately recollection, meaning it's kind of the coming to 561 00:42:07.960 --> 00:42:12.840 mind of things that we principally know already. For example, I told you 562 00:42:12.880 --> 00:42:16.400 that according to Plato, we have this idea of the good, even though 563 00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:22.800 we can never truly understand what this idea is. And so the question is, 564 00:42:22.840 --> 00:42:24.280 how do we get this idea of the good if it's something we've never 565 00:42:24.360 --> 00:42:28.960 experienced, nor is it even something that we understand. At the same time, 566 00:42:29.320 --> 00:42:31.039 if we are properly attuned to wisdom, it's something that all of us 567 00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:36.480 can recognize as the principal object of desire, and so how do we have 568 00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:39.679 this understanding of the good? Or? Another thing he brings up is we 569 00:42:39.719 --> 00:42:45.920 have all these ideas of fixed realities right the forms that we've never experienced with 570 00:42:45.920 --> 00:42:49.039 our senses, and the question is how do we actually know about them? 571 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:52.360 For example, he brings up the idea of equality or like sameness. So, 572 00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:54.280 for example, the room I'm in right now is kind of drunkie. 573 00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:59.559 You can see these two chairs behind me, and you could say that they 574 00:42:59.599 --> 00:43:04.800 are the same, or the very least, that they have very similar attributes 575 00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:07.239 to them, very similar properties, and so they are both chairs. They 576 00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:10.320 both fit within this form of chair. However, as soon as we say 577 00:43:10.360 --> 00:43:16.480 that things kind of belong within a common category, we're saying is that one 578 00:43:16.599 --> 00:43:20.880 chair is similar to the other chair, and they participate in some of the 579 00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:25.119 same reality, some of the same properties. However, where did I get 580 00:43:25.199 --> 00:43:30.119 my idea of similarity idea of equality. Now one hand, you might say, 581 00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:34.400 well, I can look at those two chairs, and because they have 582 00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:37.440 so many things in common, we can perhaps then pull through reason the fact 583 00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:42.400 that they are similar. But the problem is, how would I recognize them 584 00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:45.039 as being similar if I didn't first have an idea of similarity in my mind. 585 00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:50.559 And so it brings up this idea that the idea of equality or idea 586 00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:53.360 of similarity is actually not something we got from our sense experience of the world 587 00:43:53.440 --> 00:43:59.199 around us. It's actually idea that was already in our minds that then is 588 00:43:59.239 --> 00:44:04.480 brought to our atten when we recognize things that are similar, things that bear 589 00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:07.960 you know, however imperfectly equality. And so the idea of equality is not 590 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.599 something I got from the world around me, but it is something that is 591 00:44:10.639 --> 00:44:15.840 almost innate within my mind that then I used to properly understand the world around 592 00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:21.159 me. He talks about some elements of geometry, and so if I asked 593 00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:23.639 you to draw a line, all of you would know exactly what to do. 594 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:27.760 But at the same time, you wouldn't actually be drawing a line, 595 00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:31.599 nor likely would you even be thinking of a line. Because a true line 596 00:44:31.639 --> 00:44:37.519 is one dimensional and extends into infinity in both directions. Well, you've never 597 00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:43.639 seen anything that's one dimensional and extends infinitely into two directions. At the same 598 00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:46.519 time, we know the lines are real, right, If the line was 599 00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:51.639 unreal, then we couldn't do architecture, or navigate or really any number of 600 00:44:51.639 --> 00:44:54.360 things. Right, And so there's reality to the idea of a line, 601 00:44:54.360 --> 00:44:59.400 despite the fact that we've never experienced a line in this world with our senses. 602 00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:02.239 And even if I ask you a draw a line, all you would 603 00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:06.639 actually be doing is drawing a representation of a line, but you would not 604 00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:09.159 actually be drawing a line. However, through that representation, you would know 605 00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:12.960 what you mean by line, and I would know what you mean by line, 606 00:45:13.199 --> 00:45:16.119 despite the fact that neither of us would actually be looking at a line. 607 00:45:16.760 --> 00:45:22.039 And so we have these ideas in our mind that are real that makes 608 00:45:22.119 --> 00:45:25.760 sense of the world around us, but that we've never actually experienced in the 609 00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:30.679 world around us. And so, and he takes the same argument to apply 610 00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:36.800 to things like you know justice that rightly thinking, we don't get justice from 611 00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:40.719 seeing justice in the world. We're able to recognize justice because we already have 612 00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:45.519 this idea of justice in our minds that we can recall when we are thinking 613 00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:50.320 clearly. And so all of our true knowledge, for Plato, there are 614 00:45:50.440 --> 00:45:53.039 knowledge of stable reality, of the world of being, the world of the 615 00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:59.320 forms. That all of this reality, or all this knowledge rather is imprinted 616 00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:02.440 in our minds. And so then the question that Socrates raises is why is 617 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:07.800 this? Why do our minds seem to be naturally related to reality as it 618 00:46:07.880 --> 00:46:13.079 actually is? You know, I find it very interesting that you know, 619 00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:15.760 we were able and I say we like I did it, But you know, 620 00:46:15.760 --> 00:46:21.519 we were able to predict the existence of Neptune based off gravitational calculations before 621 00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:24.159 we were able to observe it with our senses, with the you know, 622 00:46:24.199 --> 00:46:30.440 with the instruments. And so our minds properly thinking are able to use these 623 00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:37.639 kind of immaterial codes, these immaterial realities, to predict things that we would 624 00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:42.199 eventually observe with our senses. Well, that's not insignificant. Something about the 625 00:46:42.280 --> 00:46:47.440 human mind is naturally related towards the way that things are, And so Socrates 626 00:46:47.519 --> 00:46:52.199 ask why is this? Well, one idea he throws out is this idea 627 00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:57.679 of reincarnation that perhaps, you know, we go through these cycles of life 628 00:46:57.719 --> 00:47:00.480 and death, that life gives way to death and death gives way life, 629 00:47:00.760 --> 00:47:06.239 but that between these cycles we had unmediated access to the forms to real reality, 630 00:47:06.920 --> 00:47:10.960 which then we kind of forget as we are brought back into the corrupting 631 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:15.039 material reality, but we don't forget it entirely, right, We have these 632 00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:20.840 dim recollections, and so it's kind of like if you've ever been dreaming, 633 00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:24.599 but in your dream you start to get this inkling that you are dreaming and 634 00:47:24.639 --> 00:47:29.840 that there is a greater reality that you'll experience upon waking. Well, this 635 00:47:29.960 --> 00:47:32.920 is very much the Platonic mindset that we get here in the Phato. The 636 00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:38.880 idea is that we knew true reality, but then we forgot it through incarnation, 637 00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:44.360 but in the path of wisdom, we can start to recollect that which 638 00:47:44.400 --> 00:47:51.880 we once knew. Now. Platonic scholars will debate exactly what Plato was really 639 00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:54.320 getting at here, like did he literally believe in reincarnation or is he just 640 00:47:54.360 --> 00:48:00.280 kind of putting it forward as a myth of source to get this idea thatultimate 641 00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:05.079 reality is something that we're acquainted with even when we don't recognize it. And 642 00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.159 so did he literally believe for incarnation or is it just sort of a myth 643 00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:10.719 he's proposing. That's not really something I feel like we need to get into 644 00:48:10.920 --> 00:48:16.079 the important part for what we're doing right now is that ultimate reality is something 645 00:48:16.079 --> 00:48:22.920 that we know that we've received directly from ultimate reality, but that for whatever 646 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:29.000 reason we've largely suppressed, we've largely forgotten. And so real knowledge is a 647 00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:32.760 matter of remembering that which we already know, and that I can tell you 648 00:48:32.840 --> 00:48:36.320 right now. This can to be particularly important when we get to the silver 649 00:48:36.440 --> 00:48:43.320 chair, but also elsewhere. Now, continuing with the Fatom toward the end, 650 00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:47.639 Socrates gives us what he even calls a myth or a tale, meaning 651 00:48:47.880 --> 00:48:52.239 he's not suggesting this is literally true, but it is communicating something that is 652 00:48:52.480 --> 00:48:57.039 he believes is real, something that is true. And this is his tale 653 00:48:57.119 --> 00:49:01.639 about what happens after people die, so that when you die, your damon 654 00:49:01.719 --> 00:49:07.639 which is kind of perhaps a loaded term, but it's something like a spirit 655 00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:13.320 at least semi divine reality that lives in the air. And notice I said 656 00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:16.119 daemon, which is not the same thing as demon, although you can probably 657 00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:21.320 figure out how this idea developed into Christian thought. And so your daemon, 658 00:49:21.559 --> 00:49:27.599 the spirit is going to ultimately bring you through judgment and land you at your 659 00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:30.960 destination. And so those who are truly wicked get tossed into Tartarus at the 660 00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:36.920 center of the earth, which is essentially Greek hell. A lot of people 661 00:49:36.960 --> 00:49:39.960 will end up in this lake where they kind of swirl around in purgatory sorts 662 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:45.599 for a while, getting their wickedness out, and then they're going to enter 663 00:49:45.719 --> 00:49:50.920 back into the life cycle, get reincarnated into an animal or a human. 664 00:49:51.800 --> 00:49:55.159 Some people are going to be raised up to the top where they dwell on 665 00:49:55.719 --> 00:50:01.760 the true surface of the earth, because Socrates suppose that perhaps what we think 666 00:50:01.760 --> 00:50:05.840 of as the surface of the earth is not actually the true surface. It's 667 00:50:05.880 --> 00:50:08.960 not the real reality. It's not the real earth. He says that, 668 00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:13.920 Okay, imagine if you spent your entire life living in the ocean, and 669 00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:19.119 so the water's murky, most of it's very dark, it's very dim, 670 00:50:19.559 --> 00:50:22.239 and but for your entire life, that's the only reality that you knew, 671 00:50:22.280 --> 00:50:25.519 and so you didn't know that your vision was dim. Well, eventually you're 672 00:50:25.559 --> 00:50:29.920 able to rise to the top and explore the surface world, the surface world 673 00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:32.920 as we know it. And at this point your entire vision is radically altered, 674 00:50:34.159 --> 00:50:37.920 because now you're able to see things clearly. You see new shapes, 675 00:50:38.280 --> 00:50:45.119 you experience a new kind of solidity, you see a more vibrant array of 676 00:50:45.159 --> 00:50:50.320 colors, maybe even see new colors altogether. So everything that you once thought 677 00:50:50.360 --> 00:50:53.239 to be normal life. Everything that you thought to be vision you now recognize 678 00:50:53.239 --> 00:50:58.400 as a pale imitation, perhaps even a mockery, of this new reality you're 679 00:50:58.440 --> 00:51:02.119 able to perceive. Well, he says, what if when you look up 680 00:51:02.159 --> 00:51:07.719 at the big blue sky above you, that that is simply another ocean of 681 00:51:07.800 --> 00:51:10.920 sorts, and that if we could get to the top, we would discover 682 00:51:12.360 --> 00:51:19.559 the true surface world, a world that has again more vibrant colors, that 683 00:51:19.639 --> 00:51:22.519 has a higher resolution than we could ever know. We're able to see things 684 00:51:22.800 --> 00:51:28.480 absolutely clearly, and we're able to recognize the fog that we once thought to 685 00:51:28.559 --> 00:51:32.440 be clarity. And so this is the real world where we live amongst the 686 00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:37.239 gods directly, no longer speaking through oracles, but now we have direct fellowship 687 00:51:37.280 --> 00:51:42.360 with the gods because we, like them, have direct access to reality as 688 00:51:42.400 --> 00:51:47.239 it is. And perhaps every single good, every beautiful thing that we've experienced 689 00:51:47.480 --> 00:51:52.519 down here in the valley is simply the runoff of this higher reality with you 690 00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:57.760 know, mountains made of precious stones, and you know, again all these 691 00:51:57.760 --> 00:52:00.280 just kind of glorious realities which in many ways kind of read like some of 692 00:52:00.280 --> 00:52:04.800 the images we get of heaven in revelation. And so it's idea of the 693 00:52:04.960 --> 00:52:10.679 more real reality, that to which our hearts are naturally drawn, when we 694 00:52:10.719 --> 00:52:15.239 are rightly directed, when we are operating in the cord with our nature. 695 00:52:15.599 --> 00:52:17.760 And so he says that when you die, you know, perhaps you go 696 00:52:17.920 --> 00:52:22.719 into hell, perhaps you get reincarnated, perhaps you rise up to the surface, 697 00:52:23.119 --> 00:52:27.920 or in the ultimate reality, the ultimate reward for the wise, for 698 00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:32.599 the true philosophers, you live as an immaterial reality. With immaterial reality. 699 00:52:32.960 --> 00:52:37.360 You live in the world of being. And you know, living up here 700 00:52:37.400 --> 00:52:43.679 in this surface world and living in this the true surface, well, now 701 00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:46.840 your sky is actually what we downe here tend to call the ether, or 702 00:52:47.280 --> 00:52:51.599 what we call space, which is a word that we'll be talking about a 703 00:52:51.599 --> 00:52:57.000 good bit. But up on the surface world, your sky is the clear 704 00:52:57.119 --> 00:53:00.199 realm of the stars, of the moon, of the planets. And so 705 00:53:01.239 --> 00:53:06.639 in the cosmology here that Plato gives us you have Tartarus is at the center 706 00:53:06.760 --> 00:53:10.000 of the earth. As you move up, you eventually get to the surface 707 00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:15.639 world as we know it, which itself is really a valley looking up to 708 00:53:15.880 --> 00:53:21.400 the true surface above the sky as we know it. And so the progression 709 00:53:21.559 --> 00:53:25.519 from the worst to the best, the most the least real to the most 710 00:53:25.599 --> 00:53:30.880 reel really goes from Tartaris and then really, I suppose the ocean to the 711 00:53:30.920 --> 00:53:34.679 surfaces we know it to the true surface, which then looks out on the 712 00:53:34.719 --> 00:53:38.639 heavens. Well, now let's jump a generation to Plato student Aristotle, who's 713 00:53:38.679 --> 00:53:44.639 going to continue this conversation regarding being and becoming. And Aristyle is going to 714 00:53:44.679 --> 00:53:46.920 look around and he's going to see with Heraclitis that this world as we experience 715 00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:51.960 it is indeed moving, it's in the state of flux. It is becoming. 716 00:53:52.440 --> 00:53:54.719 However, you look up on a clear night and you see things that 717 00:53:54.800 --> 00:54:00.840 don't move. You see the stars that are fixed, as well as the 718 00:54:00.920 --> 00:54:06.039 wanderers, namely the planets. However, even the planets, although they're moving, 719 00:54:06.159 --> 00:54:09.480 they moved in a fixed and predictable pattern. Well, in Aristotle's book 720 00:54:09.519 --> 00:54:14.960 The Metaphysics, he notices that as I said that the world around us is 721 00:54:14.960 --> 00:54:17.639 in a state of flux, it's always changing. However, even that change 722 00:54:17.639 --> 00:54:23.480 happens in a logical and orderly way, and so effects have consequences. That 723 00:54:23.599 --> 00:54:28.199 when a domino falls, it falls because the domino before it knocked it over. 724 00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:30.760 Well, if you follow that chain of dominoes back far enough, then 725 00:54:30.920 --> 00:54:36.639 eventually you have to get to the beginning domino, that first domino that's able 726 00:54:36.679 --> 00:54:39.599 to kick over the entire sequence. Well, this is a very simplified argument 727 00:54:39.840 --> 00:54:44.840 for the idea that at the beginning of the sequence of change there has to 728 00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:50.119 be one thing that causes change but is not itself changed. This is Aristotle's 729 00:54:50.360 --> 00:54:53.519 prime mover. Now, for this argument, it's very important that the prime 730 00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:58.480 mover itself does not change, meaning it doesn't actually take action, because it 731 00:54:58.559 --> 00:55:01.079 is fully actualized. There's nowhere for it to go, nothing for it to 732 00:55:01.119 --> 00:55:06.079 do. It's always doing everything that it can do. That's what it means 733 00:55:06.119 --> 00:55:09.119 to be fully actualized. It has no potential. And so what it means 734 00:55:09.239 --> 00:55:15.360 is this God doesn't act. Okay, And so when we talk about Aristotle's 735 00:55:15.400 --> 00:55:21.280 prime mover causing motion, it's not in even necessarily an intentional way. The 736 00:55:21.320 --> 00:55:23.840 way that it causes motion and this is in the same way that a beloved 737 00:55:24.039 --> 00:55:29.880 attracts a lover. And so, as the only fully actualized being, the 738 00:55:29.920 --> 00:55:37.800 only truly eternal, unmoving reality, the only true good, the prime mover 739 00:55:37.199 --> 00:55:43.840 is supremely lovable, and this is how it causes the cosmos to move in 740 00:55:44.079 --> 00:55:50.840 continual imitation of the changeless reality of the prime mover, and so on the 741 00:55:50.920 --> 00:55:54.519 outer level of reality. Here we have the heavenly spheres which are moving, 742 00:55:54.639 --> 00:56:00.280 right, the planets move, and the way this attraction works, which is 743 00:56:00.159 --> 00:56:07.320 the cosmos itself moves through the cycle of spheres that are moving in imitation of 744 00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:13.000 the unchanging reality of the prime mover. How did Aristotle get here? Well, 745 00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.960 he believed that love tends to imitate, and the best way for moving 746 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:23.199 realities, namely the moving cosmos, to imitate the unchanging reality of the prime 747 00:56:23.199 --> 00:56:28.960 mover, is to move in a spherical shape. Right. I mean, 748 00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:34.039 imagine you had a perfect sphere that was rotating. Well, if you have 749 00:56:34.079 --> 00:56:37.599 a perfect sphere rotating that in many ways, you wouldn't even be able to 750 00:56:37.639 --> 00:56:40.360 tell that it's spinning. Because movement in the sphere is a way of imitating 751 00:56:40.400 --> 00:56:45.960 stability, it's a way of imitating unchanging reality. The first kind of movement 752 00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:51.280 that you have here is not even really a physical movement. This outer sphere 753 00:56:51.360 --> 00:56:54.960 is called the primum mobile. It's the idea of the first thing that's moved, 754 00:56:55.239 --> 00:57:00.360 but it itself isn't really moves physically, it's more of a sphere ual 755 00:57:00.440 --> 00:57:05.039 movement. It's the movement of love, which then starts to turn the next 756 00:57:05.039 --> 00:57:07.880 sphere, which at this point start to get associated with the planets. And 757 00:57:07.920 --> 00:57:16.280 so the planets in the Oristilian mindset are either moved by divine realities or perhaps 758 00:57:16.280 --> 00:57:20.719 they themselves are divine realities. This is not entirely clear, kind of gets 759 00:57:20.719 --> 00:57:24.559 debated, but nonetheless there's some kind of divine reality associated with the spheares that's 760 00:57:24.599 --> 00:57:30.599 causing them to move in imitation of the sphere before it, which itself is 761 00:57:30.679 --> 00:57:34.840 moving in imitation of the sphere before it, which is eventually going down the 762 00:57:34.880 --> 00:57:38.360 line we get to the outer sphere that is moving in imitation of the prime 763 00:57:38.360 --> 00:57:43.599 mover of God himself. Well, as we follow these spheres down further and 764 00:57:43.639 --> 00:57:46.679 further and further to the Earth, eventually we get to the moon, which 765 00:57:46.719 --> 00:57:51.800 also moves in a regular and predictable pattern. It has order. However, 766 00:57:51.840 --> 00:57:55.079 this is also where order starts to break down. You can look at the 767 00:57:55.119 --> 00:58:00.159 moon with your naked eye and see what we recognize as craters, has imperfections 768 00:58:00.199 --> 00:58:04.599 and also it changes, It goes through these cycles. It has a light 769 00:58:04.679 --> 00:58:07.039 side, It has a dark side, and so basically the moon is still 770 00:58:07.159 --> 00:58:12.719 orderly, but it is the place where order starts to break down, where 771 00:58:13.679 --> 00:58:19.760 being really starts to turn into becoming, where corruption starts to play out. 772 00:58:19.840 --> 00:58:23.159 And now at this point I'm actually starting to already combine kind of Aristyle's thought 773 00:58:23.239 --> 00:58:28.440 with Ptolemy and moving into the medieval world and kind of bringing all us together 774 00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:30.920 at this point. And so the planets as we know them, they're named 775 00:58:30.920 --> 00:58:36.239 after the Roman gods. And that's because the planets themselves, which Aristytle recognized 776 00:58:36.320 --> 00:58:40.360 as divine realities, are at least associated with divine realities, became identified with 777 00:58:40.480 --> 00:58:45.880 the Greco Roman pantheon. It's worth noting at this point that how the gods 778 00:58:45.880 --> 00:58:52.880 of the philosophers, namely those who are wise in power and wise in true 779 00:58:52.960 --> 00:58:58.639 understanding, are a more sanitized form of the Olympian soap opera, where now 780 00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:02.360 the gods are their ideal state and literally reside in the heavens, and it 781 00:59:02.400 --> 00:59:06.960 is from the heavens that they exert their influence down here on Earth. Now, 782 00:59:07.159 --> 00:59:10.079 these planets are going to be played a very important role in the medieval 783 00:59:10.119 --> 00:59:15.039 understanding of the cosmos, and very much are going to play an important role 784 00:59:15.199 --> 00:59:19.239 in and especially in the Ransom series that will be beginning with. And so, 785 00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:22.920 like I said, each of these planets actually at this point probably the 786 00:59:22.960 --> 00:59:24.719 best to give you a diagram of the cosmos, and then we'll go back 787 00:59:24.719 --> 00:59:29.119 and carry some of these thoughts that I've started here. And so at the 788 00:59:29.239 --> 00:59:31.280 very center of the cosmos, at the center of the Earth, even you 789 00:59:31.360 --> 00:59:37.440 have Hell, then you have Earth, then you have the air above the 790 00:59:37.480 --> 00:59:40.559 Earth. Then you have the moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, 791 00:59:42.119 --> 00:59:46.280 Saturn, Jupiter, primum obila imperiod of God. Right, this is where 792 00:59:46.400 --> 00:59:52.400 God dwells. This is the highest reality, that which is most real, 793 00:59:52.719 --> 00:59:55.360 that which is most fixed, that which is most unmoving. And then we 794 00:59:55.519 --> 00:59:59.880 progress further further. The heavens themselves are perfect, but they are moving, 795 01:00:00.199 --> 01:00:04.480 but they're moving in order, moving in harmony, in direction of God. 796 01:00:04.719 --> 01:00:07.519 Well, once you get to the moon, this is where things start to 797 01:00:07.559 --> 01:00:12.440 break down. And so the moon is this transitory element. It's looking toward 798 01:00:12.480 --> 01:00:15.280 the Earth, which has fallen, but it also has a face out toward 799 01:00:15.400 --> 01:00:17.360 the heavens. It has a light side, has a dark side. It 800 01:00:17.440 --> 01:00:22.559 is orderly, yet it also goes through these monthly transitions, and so the 801 01:00:22.599 --> 01:00:27.639 moon as Luna has its correlation with the water, which also emphasizes as kind 802 01:00:27.639 --> 01:00:32.239 of liquid nature. It's given over to change to inconsistency. And so the 803 01:00:32.280 --> 01:00:37.159 moon itself is good, and in fact it produces silver in the earth, 804 01:00:37.199 --> 01:00:40.880 which is good. However, it also is an influence that can easily go 805 01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:46.119 wrong, and so lunacy gets its name from the moon. From Luna. 806 01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:52.000 It's the idea that you're given over to change to chaos because you have a 807 01:00:52.039 --> 01:00:55.559 misrelation with the influence of Luna, which is inherently good but also perhaps the 808 01:00:55.639 --> 01:01:00.920 easiest to go wrong. And you know, it's for this reason that we 809 01:01:01.039 --> 01:01:08.079 get your werewolf stories, in which a particular misrelation to Luna leads to such 810 01:01:08.079 --> 01:01:14.880 a degradation of order, such a reversal of the movement that our soul should 811 01:01:14.960 --> 01:01:20.960 take that instead of our souls rising upward toward the more rational, the more 812 01:01:21.079 --> 01:01:25.519 virtuous, they actually go downward, and our beastly in state instincts take over 813 01:01:25.639 --> 01:01:30.360 as well. And of course, the only way that werewolf can be killed 814 01:01:30.559 --> 01:01:35.320 is with silver, and so very poetically we get this image that the only 815 01:01:35.360 --> 01:01:39.039 way that Luna can repent of her sins is through her tears, and so 816 01:01:39.920 --> 01:01:45.519 a lunatic is somebody who has a misrelation to the influence of the Moon. 817 01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:51.519 However, a positive relation to the lunar influence takes the form of a traveler, 818 01:01:51.679 --> 01:01:55.920 a wanderer, perhaps ironically Lage just said, even a hunter, right, 819 01:01:55.960 --> 01:02:01.159 and so it's somebody who has an appropriate relationship with the influence of change. 820 01:02:01.679 --> 01:02:06.480 Well, all the seven planets, so Moon, Mercury, Venus, 821 01:02:06.519 --> 01:02:12.159 Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, exert some kind of influence that radiates out through 822 01:02:12.199 --> 01:02:15.760 the spheres. Now, these influences themselves are good, right. They operate 823 01:02:16.199 --> 01:02:21.960 in an unfallen reality, They operate in the heavens, they are perfectly ordered. 824 01:02:22.320 --> 01:02:27.480 However, it's when these influences enter into our atmosphere that is not only 825 01:02:27.559 --> 01:02:32.079 given over to corruption in light of our material nature, but also in a 826 01:02:32.119 --> 01:02:39.719 more theological sense, right in our fallen earth, these influences tend to get 827 01:02:39.760 --> 01:02:45.159 twisted into corrupted versions of what they are meant to be. And so I 828 01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:52.079 think it's probably worth talking just very briefly about what each of these planetary influences 829 01:02:52.119 --> 01:02:55.599 tend to do. So Mercury is the fastest planet. Mercury is associated with 830 01:02:55.719 --> 01:03:00.079 speed, with speed of wit, with speed of feet, it's especially with 831 01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:07.000 movement, and so a positive relation with mercury can lead to you being quick 832 01:03:07.000 --> 01:03:10.239 witted, but also it can lead to you being perhaps a thief of a 833 01:03:10.280 --> 01:03:14.760 pickpocket, you're quick with your fingers, or maybe even you're a sophist. 834 01:03:14.880 --> 01:03:17.400 You're right, you have a quick tongue, but not always for a wise 835 01:03:17.480 --> 01:03:22.559 and good and noble purpose. And so mercury tends to be associated with the 836 01:03:22.639 --> 01:03:29.719 idea of speed of quickness, a kind of fluidity. Lewis talks about this 837 01:03:29.840 --> 01:03:34.440 in The Discarded Image that the best way to get understanding of what mercury is 838 01:03:34.440 --> 01:03:37.000 is we look at some in a dish and the way that it kind of 839 01:03:37.079 --> 01:03:40.960 moves and swirls around. Next, you have venus, obviously a feminine ideal, 840 01:03:42.400 --> 01:03:45.199 very associated with love, with that which is nurturing, that which is 841 01:03:45.719 --> 01:03:52.679 motherly, and so you have a good, a kind of a sweet influence 842 01:03:52.719 --> 01:03:57.760 here. It's something that brings images of gardens and life. But obviously a 843 01:03:57.960 --> 01:04:03.360 misrelation can look like somebody who gives themselves over to their passion, someone who's 844 01:04:03.440 --> 01:04:12.559 overly amorous and doesn't maintain wisdom in their amorous pursuits, or perhaps even the 845 01:04:12.559 --> 01:04:17.400 mother that will counter in the Great divorce, who has a possessive relationship with 846 01:04:17.440 --> 01:04:23.920 her child. That would also be a negative association with Venus's influence. Okay, 847 01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:29.119 Now, the sun or soul is the source of wisdom, is seen 848 01:04:29.239 --> 01:04:33.559 as the eye of the cosmos. And notice the sun is the central of 849 01:04:33.639 --> 01:04:39.199 the seven planetary spheres. And so in one way you can say the Earth 850 01:04:39.280 --> 01:04:41.760 is at the center, but another way you can say that the Sun is 851 01:04:41.800 --> 01:04:45.039 at the center of the medieval cosmos. They just mean that a little bit 852 01:04:45.079 --> 01:04:46.599 differently. And so, like I said, the sun is the eye of 853 01:04:46.599 --> 01:04:51.280 the cosmos. It is the light of divine reason, particularly associated with philosophers 854 01:04:51.280 --> 01:04:57.280 and theologians. Also, the sun produces gold in the earth. But at 855 01:04:57.280 --> 01:05:01.519 the same time, the sun is associated with liberal with generosity, and so 856 01:05:01.639 --> 01:05:08.880 an appropriate relationship with the Sun would look like wisdom, it would look like 857 01:05:09.280 --> 01:05:14.679 a right use of wealth, whereas a negative relationship with the solar influence would 858 01:05:14.719 --> 01:05:19.039 actually lead to greed, to not giving away wealth, but actually giving yourself 859 01:05:19.079 --> 01:05:23.760 away to wealth and being consumed by it. If you've read Voyage of the 860 01:05:23.800 --> 01:05:28.599 Dawn Treedder already, perhaps you can see some way that that can play a 861 01:05:28.679 --> 01:05:32.880 part. Next you have Mars, obviously the Roman god of war, and 862 01:05:32.920 --> 01:05:39.960 so the Mars is associated with the martial influence. And so in a positive 863 01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:43.320 sense, this can look like the noble knight who is fighting injustice. It 864 01:05:43.320 --> 01:05:48.639 can also look like the noble martyr who is maintaining a steadfast spirit well injustice 865 01:05:48.679 --> 01:05:54.400 is done to him. And so Mars associated with martyrs, associated with the 866 01:05:54.440 --> 01:05:59.000 noble knights, with the good warriors. Now, a negative relation to the 867 01:05:59.039 --> 01:06:04.280 martian influence obviously looks like a tyrant, someone who's bloodthirsty, somebody who engages 868 01:06:04.360 --> 01:06:09.000 in combat for the sake of combat rather than for the sake of a higher 869 01:06:09.039 --> 01:06:13.719 ideal. Now side note, and this is going to be important, there 870 01:06:13.719 --> 01:06:19.840 are also some older connections between Mars and vegetation. This the idea of Marsilvanis, 871 01:06:19.920 --> 01:06:25.519 and so it's the idea that Mars is not only associated with war and 872 01:06:25.559 --> 01:06:30.079 with destruction, but that Mars also has some less known associations with life, 873 01:06:30.199 --> 01:06:36.800 with vegetation and with nature. Hence March at the beginning of springtime. Now, 874 01:06:36.880 --> 01:06:40.519 next you have Jupiter, which is of course the king of the gods, 875 01:06:40.800 --> 01:06:43.880 or in this case the king of the planets. And so this is 876 01:06:43.920 --> 01:06:49.480 the idea of the true king who is enthroned in justice and serenity. He 877 01:06:49.559 --> 01:06:56.119 not only properly orders the world the spheres around him, but he also orders 878 01:06:56.159 --> 01:07:00.480 his own passions. And so this is the magnanimous king, owned in peace, 879 01:07:00.800 --> 01:07:06.280 in serenity, and enjoy. In fact, another name for Jupiter is 880 01:07:06.559 --> 01:07:14.079 Jove, hence joviality or even the English expression by jove. Pay attention to 881 01:07:14.119 --> 01:07:18.159 that, and so Jove is the enthroned king sitting on high. Next you 882 01:07:18.239 --> 01:07:24.920 have Saturn. Now, Saturn is the most sluggish of the planets. Its 883 01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:30.559 influence tends to lead to things falling apart, toward corruption, disease, aging. 884 01:07:31.480 --> 01:07:35.960 Saturn is also associated with the Titan Chronos time. It's this idea, 885 01:07:36.320 --> 01:07:41.880 it's associated with things kind of wearing down. Know that this is the first 886 01:07:41.920 --> 01:07:45.039 planet that moves, and so there's this connection with movement, and the way 887 01:07:45.039 --> 01:07:50.719 that this gets received in Earth's atmosphere tends to be movement for the worst things 888 01:07:50.800 --> 01:07:57.039 running down, things losing both their potentiality and their actuality. However, despite 889 01:07:57.079 --> 01:08:00.920 the fact that Saturn is generally seen as the least design influence, a right 890 01:08:01.000 --> 01:08:05.559 relationship with Saturn is a kind of penitential wisdom. It's the kind of wisdom 891 01:08:05.599 --> 01:08:10.960 you can only find by going through sorrow. This is the wisdom of Mementomori. 892 01:08:11.199 --> 01:08:14.280 Remember that you will die, and there is real wisdom and real good 893 01:08:14.320 --> 01:08:17.479 to be found in that, even if it's not that which we might most 894 01:08:17.520 --> 01:08:23.720 desire. And so all of these planetary influences are inherently good. I dons 895 01:08:23.760 --> 01:08:27.640 they exist in the heavens, but tend to fall into corruption in the way 896 01:08:27.680 --> 01:08:31.880 that we relate to them as they enter into our fallen material atmosphere. Now 897 01:08:31.920 --> 01:08:35.399 you may be asking the question, okay, what are these Roman gods doing 898 01:08:35.439 --> 01:08:42.039 in a medieval Christian context? And that doesn't seem to be something that particularly 899 01:08:42.119 --> 01:08:45.600 troubled theologians at the time. However, I mean, obviously they're not serving 900 01:08:45.680 --> 01:08:50.560 Roman deities, but the names themselves I mean tended to stick. However, 901 01:08:50.600 --> 01:08:55.119 they got repurposed, and instead of recognizing them as Roman gods, I mean, 902 01:08:55.119 --> 01:09:00.279 they were seen as divine realities something like angels, which the Medievals lead 903 01:09:00.439 --> 01:09:04.000 I mean, actually filled the atmosphere. But you know, I think that 904 01:09:04.079 --> 01:09:08.199 I'm going to pause right there. We've already covered a lot of ground. 905 01:09:08.560 --> 01:09:12.920 I'm going to return to some of this. I'm going to emphasize certain elements 906 01:09:12.920 --> 01:09:15.239 and even talk a bit more about angels as well as other things that might 907 01:09:15.279 --> 01:09:20.600 exist within the medieval world. But I'll get to that in the next video. 908 01:09:21.399 --> 01:09:25.399 I think that if I went any further now, I would end up 909 01:09:25.920 --> 01:09:30.159 ruining some of the mystery of out of the Silent Planet, which I will 910 01:09:30.159 --> 01:09:32.680 briefly introduce in the next video. And so we did a lot in this 911 01:09:32.800 --> 01:09:36.000 video. Like I said, moving forward, we're not going to spend so 912 01:09:36.199 --> 01:09:42.840 much time doing these big philosophical overviews, but I wanted to lay out some 913 01:09:42.960 --> 01:09:46.319 important ideas that you should keep in mind. Perhaps we're turned back to as 914 01:09:46.319 --> 01:09:49.840 you do your reading. We'll get more into some of this, but like 915 01:09:49.880 --> 01:09:55.439 I said, moving forward will be more focused on the actual text. But 916 01:09:55.520 --> 01:09:58.680 I hope that this was enjoyable. I hope that you've got something valuable out 917 01:09:58.680 --> 01:10:01.079 of this. If you have any question, then please hop on over to 918 01:10:01.159 --> 01:10:05.079 the discord chat and let me know, and otherwise I will talk to you 919 01:10:05.079 --> 01:10:18.760 next time. All right, So I hope that was helpful for you, 920 01:10:18.920 --> 01:10:23.439 And again I encourage you to enroll with a link in the show notes if 921 01:10:23.439 --> 01:10:26.359 you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter at 922 01:10:26.399 --> 01:10:30.560 andrew In Snyder or email me at Mythicmind Podcast at gmail dot com. But 923 01:10:30.600 --> 01:11:03.520 that's it for now, and I wish you many meaningful roads ahead