Fascinated by early interplanetary sci-fi (War of the Worlds, etc) and spiritual thrillers (Charles Williams), but unhappy with what was available to date, C.S. Lewis wrote to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien:

"We shall have to write books of the sort ourselves. Supposing you write a thriller that's a time-journey—you have such a strong sense of time—and I write one that's a space journey."

Tolkien's story The Lost Road turned out to not be so great, but Lewis' effort gave us his Space Trilogy (The Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). What a gift!

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"We tend to think about non-human intelligences in two distinct categories which we label 'scientific' and 'supernatural.' ... But the very moment we are compelled to recognize a creature in either class as real, the distinction begins to get blurred."
- C.S. Lewis, "Perelandra"
🎨 Matthäus Merian

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On a cross-country flight today, I spent some time with Perelandra today, the second in C.S. Lewis' space trilogy. It's a special book for me because of the beliefs that the author and I share. Unlike most sci-fi, Lewis actually believed in angels and demons, and the eternal consequences of human actions (as do I). His fiction is just a cover, a mechanism to help us to better understand reality.

I feel that the first book in the series, The Silent Planet, is more purely sci-fi and explores the core idea of the series, that angelic beings rule the planets of our solar system and use human agents as part of a cosmic struggle.

The third is Lewis just having fun for the most part, bringing Merlin back as a sort of powerful druid who is also a Christian and exploring Satanic influences in modern institutions.

But Perelandra is different. It's more theological. It's like a theological sci-fi devotional. I read it meditatively. Lewis explores many profound theological questions, such as how demonic possession would work, the obliteration of a person's humanity when they finally turn away from God, and the purpose of the command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There's something for me to pause and ponder over every few pages.

#cslewis #SpaceTrilogy #perelandra

Aktualności:
»60 lat temu zmarł C.S. Lewis«

22 listopada 1963 roku w wieku 65 lat zmarł brytyjski pisarz, nauczyciel akademicki i świecki teolog Clive Staples Lewis.
https://www.fahrenheit.net.pl/aktualnosci/60-lat-temu-zmarl-c-s-lewis/

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Elon Musk is serious about enabling humanity to become multiplanetary. This 2014 interview (link below) is the best resource to capture his thoughts on this subject. He still reaffirms this goal today.

I'm not against colonization of Mars or building a starship that could carry and sustain a population. It actually sounds cool. But it seems to beg the question of what we are here for in the first place. Without agreement on that, you can end up in a dangerous place.

People who think like Musk seem to think the purpose of existing is just to exist. We're conscious at a high level, so we have to be sure that we as a species go on being conscious. And if that's our primary purpose, then you can do all kinds of terrible things in service of that goal: "For the greater good ..."

For Musk in particular, I think it allows himself to excuse his own behavior, such as fathering nearly a dozen children by multiple women. It's sort of a weird rationalization where he can think of himself as a virtuous person because he's pro-human.

It all reminds me of Professor Weston, the antagonist in the first two parts of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. He was willing to sacrifice others (and admittedly, himself) in service of the goal of bringing humanity to other planets. Even in 1938 (publication of Out of the Silent Planet), Lewis anticipated that people like Musk would come along. He tried to expose the hubris of that ideology and type of evil that it would lead to.

Has anyone else been struck by the parallels between the character Weston and our real-life Musk?

https://aeon.co/essays/elon-musk-puts-his-case-for-a-multi-planet-civilisation

#cslewis #outofthesilentplanet #perelandra #multiplanetary #musk #spacex