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In 2008, during a Holy Week RCIA retreat, I led a reflection on The Last Things -- death, judgment, heaven and hell. Rather than diving right into a discussion of things ultimate, I decided to provide some context, and some of that context came from C.S. Lewis. In The Weight of Glory, Lewis observes that "we are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Music for the podcast has been provided through the generosity of Dennis Crommett. Check out his music over at DennisCrommett.com.

Resources:

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

the upset of Easter, and the last things

on the passage through life

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 988-1014; 1020-1050

Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft

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This is my first podcast episode affiliated with my new Substack.

You can read the article and view the associated videos by visiting my Substack here: https://doxaweb.substack.com/

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In this episode, Kale and I discuss the final pages of The Abolition of Man. In a world allegedly without objective values, what conditions the conditioners? Chesterton’s idea of play and rules providing freedom; the reality that a value-free neutrality does not exist; trans-humanism and post-humanism; the dismembering of nature and disenchantment; the magician’s bargain: how the last step toward the abolition of man is unlike every prior step; the common ancestry of science and magic; how seeing through everything is the same as not to see.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Will the Future Be Human? - Yuval Noah Harari

Faustian bargain, Britannica.com

The Freedom of Boundaries in G.K. Chesterton - Zak Schmoll

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 675-676: "The Church's ultimate trial"

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Today, we begin discussing the final chapter of The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. Topics include: slavery and freedom; the conquest of man over man; the flight from the reality of death; the world state as a surrogate for the Tao; eugenics, trans-humanism and post-humanism; man as raw material for the post-human project; the impact of World War I on the thinking of Lewis; and what a positive and humane technical progress could look like.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Learning in War Time - C.S. Lewis

On Living in an Atomic Age - C.S. Lewis
Reprinted in a collection entitled Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays.

Will the Future Be Human? - Yuval Noah Harari

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis

"Standing reserves" - Martin Heidegger

Miracles - C.S. Lewis

"Cover stories for a theft" - Eric Weinstein

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My friend Kale Zelden and I finish discussing the second chapter of The Abolition of Man: “The Way.” We discuss the rebellion of the branch against the tree; whether authority can be interrogated from within or without the Tao; addressing moral relativity before making an apologia for faith; and how the end of this chapter of The Abolition of Man echoes the tower of Babel and The Screwtape Letters.

Click here for the show notes.

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My friend Kale Zelden and I begin discussing the second chapter of The Abolition of Man: "The Way." We discuss Innovators and Debunkers, the limits of instinct, and the indispensable role of the Tao.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Bishop Barron's conversation with evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

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My friend Kale Zelden and I complete our conversation about the first chapter of The Abolition of Man: "Men Without Chests." We discuss debunking, the cultivation of just sentiments, the Tao, the poem Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, and the chest as essential mediator between the head and the belly.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

Awakening from the Meaning Crisis - John Vervaeke

Shadowlands

Theology after Wittgenstein - Fergus Kerr

Dulce et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen

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My friend Kale Zelden returns to the podcast to discuss with me The Abolition of Man, a collection of lectures on ethics that C.S. Lewis first delivered in 1943 at the University of Durham. Today's episode contains our opening conversation about The Abolition of Man.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man - Michael Ward

The Stranger - Albert Camus

A Critical Look at The Stranger: The Culpability of Moral Estrangement

That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis

The Inner Ring - C.S. Lewis

Mis, Dis, Malinformation (MDM) - CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency)

Prebunking - August 28, 2021 issue of WIRED magazine

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