In coming to understand anything we are rejecting the facts as they are for us in favour of the facts as they are. – C.S. Lewis
About this blog: I spend a lot (most? all?) of my time examining ideas critically, identifying and verifying all of my own presuppositions, and challenging those of others (although not always aloud). I view this as a necessary component of the life of the Christian mind. The term “undeception”, although apparently coined by Hans Georg Gadamer, is sometimes associated with C. S. Lewis, who recognized that the default positions and stances of even Christians need critical evaluation and correction. The concept was central to most of his writings, and is well summarized in the quote above. It is a recurring emphasis especially in his fiction, in which one character disabuses another of his faulty thinking, often in ways that seem counter-intuitive to the latter. As I continually seek to do this for myself, I invite you alongside as we develop more and more accurate glimpses of truth, even if means challenging our own pet assumptions.
I recently changed my blog’s tagline to “Overthrowing the tyranny of majority” to emphasize my belief that the characteristics of being true and being widely acknowledged are not tethered by nature. At the core of this is my belief that truth is too large, complex, and powerful to be apprehended and kept by our finite minds. If one considers that none have all truth and that most do not even have most truth, it is not difficult to conceive that areas of misconception would frequently overlap so as to create frequent examples of the majority agreeing upon an inaccuracy (obviously, this is not always the case). The belief of the majority on certain subjects may suggest that it has been verified by thinking individuals, and so only arrogance casts it aside carelessly; but this is not to say that it is exempt from serious challenge by serious ideas, because so many hold their beliefs unquestioningly and a large number of those beliefs may thus have never been put through the requisite level of rigorous research.
About me: My name is Steve. I live with my wife and children in the southern U.S. where I am trying to make a living while finishing my postgraduate degree. Among my chief interests are writing, old languages, and music. Be sure to leave some comments pro, con, or neutral, if for no other reason than to assure me that what I’m writing is not disappearing into the void of cyberspace unnoticed!
Be sure to check out this page to orient yourself with my current positions on the major topics I discuss on this blog.
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