Our Imagination Is Under Attack

It's a startlingly simple thought, but it blew my mind.

I am watching an online lecture series about C.S. Lewis, put out by Hillsdale College. Today, the lecturer was discussing Lewis' "Space Trilogy". The fundamental purpose Lewis had in writing his fiction was, as the lecturers put it, "to rehabilitate the imagination".

In the discussion of the Space Trilogy, the lecturer brought up the "temptation" of Tinidril on Perelandra. This is a fictional retelling of the Garden of Eden, with the twist that Tinidril does not succumb. Anyway, the point was made that the Tempter, Weston, was using arguments, trying to reason her into sinning, and eventually gave that up and moved to stories.

This is what blew my mind (and this is in my own words): "Stories, more than arguments, attempt to change the way we think about the world. Stories succeed where arguments can't." The second point he said was (again, in my own words): "The imagination is in more danger from misconstruction then, say, reason." In Perelandra, Weston wants to change Tinidril's default settings; for her to lose her receptivity to what is actually real and true.

Authors and filmmakers today get this. They fully understand the power of stories and the imagination and they are using it to change our culture, our society, our way of thinking and looking at the world. 

Maybe on some level, I knew this, but it really went off in my head today. It makes so much sense now why people use books and movies to introduce what they want to change. It's a little scary how well the secular world understands this concept and how well they wield it. 

Little by little, they put subtle things in; things you might miss, even if you were looking for them. Your subconscious picks up on this, though, and is conditioned without you even being aware! Lewis recognized this in his day, and sought to "fight back", if you will, with his fiction. He was trying to combat the conditioning with reconditioning to reality and truth.  

I've known for a while that the media I consume is teaching and telling me something, but this was a startling realization for me and I think I'll be more aware of how media is trying to condition me in the future.