In “God In The Dock,” Lewis also said this, which walks astride your comments on Babel perfectly.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.”
Well said! The self-righteous “follow the science”….violating all rules that science was to follow…..suddenly “absolutes” established to concentrate power (and all that goes with it).
Glad I clicked on this and read it. Like the old saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men 'gang aft agley.' On the upside, whether the WEF or "teh Science" are in truck with evil powers or not, I know that by stubbornly refusing to use the metric system except when expressly required to for combat, I am fighting one tiny corner of pre-Armageddon. Maybe the Bard, who was lightly-ribbed posthumously for knowing "little Latin and less Greek," was in his portmanteaus and coinages doing the same. Ah well, back to the office I go.
I need to try that series again. It was hard to get going, but that Hideous Strength is mentioned so often, it feels I'm missing something crucial. Has anyone read just that 3rd book?
Yeah apocraphyl writings do put abraham in this story. I guess what I take from it is the unlimited good that one man can do when he turns his heart to the fathers so that the whole earth is not smitten with a curse. "Here's my heart o take and seal it."
Tolkien's Sauron echoes this goal of the elites. He wanted to conquer and dominate Middle Earth so that wherever his flaming eye looked, it would see nothing that was not Sauron.
It is not that there are no virtuous men; they abound. However, they are not incorruptible virtuous men. Listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, and just finished the life of David and Solomon. Great men, good men, men of God, graced with his blessings and strength, wisdom and riches, yet both failed repeatedly and tragically. All seduced by our common human frailties.
Babel was a good analogy given how the NICE (amazing that the UK actually uses this acronym!) was stopped, by the fuddling of their language. Much more was done also. Read the book if you have not.
Even better was L.Frank Baum’s conception of language in his clockwork android. There were 3 clockwork mechanisms that had to be wound, and each one controlled a different aspect of language and speech, more clearly laid out than most physicians understand today. Dysarthria (inability to pronounce), conceptual language (producing the thoughts to turn into words) and I think understanding was the third (It’s been 40 years since I read them to my kids—my memory is a bit hazy). Tik-Tok was his name, and the book was Ozma of Oz. Good reads to children.
In “God In The Dock,” Lewis also said this, which walks astride your comments on Babel perfectly.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.”
Right on!!!
"The darkest part of the story isn’t that the builders are doing evil. It’s that they think they’re doing good."
We humans are Very good at any number of things. Right At The Top Of The List has to be Rationalization.
Perhaps cognitive dissonance is the soul trying to nudge the brain and body away from that tendency.
You just summarized the WEF in one short essay. And that is truly an excellent meme.
BTW, track down and read “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” as well. I think this was written yesterday, by CS Lewis. The old fellow nailed it.
Screwtape Proposes a Toast - by C.S. Lewis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSr5T7hy12k&t=334s
Well said! The self-righteous “follow the science”….violating all rules that science was to follow…..suddenly “absolutes” established to concentrate power (and all that goes with it).
FYI
That Hideous Strength audiobook youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@arriatta_d681/videos
Glad I clicked on this and read it. Like the old saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men 'gang aft agley.' On the upside, whether the WEF or "teh Science" are in truck with evil powers or not, I know that by stubbornly refusing to use the metric system except when expressly required to for combat, I am fighting one tiny corner of pre-Armageddon. Maybe the Bard, who was lightly-ribbed posthumously for knowing "little Latin and less Greek," was in his portmanteaus and coinages doing the same. Ah well, back to the office I go.
I need to try that series again. It was hard to get going, but that Hideous Strength is mentioned so often, it feels I'm missing something crucial. Has anyone read just that 3rd book?
Yeah apocraphyl writings do put abraham in this story. I guess what I take from it is the unlimited good that one man can do when he turns his heart to the fathers so that the whole earth is not smitten with a curse. "Here's my heart o take and seal it."
Tolkien's Sauron echoes this goal of the elites. He wanted to conquer and dominate Middle Earth so that wherever his flaming eye looked, it would see nothing that was not Sauron.
It is not that there are no virtuous men; they abound. However, they are not incorruptible virtuous men. Listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, and just finished the life of David and Solomon. Great men, good men, men of God, graced with his blessings and strength, wisdom and riches, yet both failed repeatedly and tragically. All seduced by our common human frailties.
Babel was a good analogy given how the NICE (amazing that the UK actually uses this acronym!) was stopped, by the fuddling of their language. Much more was done also. Read the book if you have not.
Even better was L.Frank Baum’s conception of language in his clockwork android. There were 3 clockwork mechanisms that had to be wound, and each one controlled a different aspect of language and speech, more clearly laid out than most physicians understand today. Dysarthria (inability to pronounce), conceptual language (producing the thoughts to turn into words) and I think understanding was the third (It’s been 40 years since I read them to my kids—my memory is a bit hazy). Tik-Tok was his name, and the book was Ozma of Oz. Good reads to children.