The Spell of Modernity

And the subsequent collapse of humanity.

Photo by George Hiles on Unsplash

When he was pulled over by a cop, a man recently declined to provide his driver’s license, asserting that he identified as a cat. He handed the officer a cat collar, stating, “This is my preferred method of identification.”

It’s worth a watch...

While this might be concerning, it’s hardly surprising. We know it’s not a one-off but rather a sign of the times. But how did we reach a place where the term “human” has become such a vague, fluid concept? Where men are cats, and women can’t be identified unless you’re a biologist? But not really, even then.

Follow the logic… if you can.

Lewis and Tolkien saw the origins of this trend and largely predicted where it would take us. In my last article, I discussed the rise of the age of science and the new dependence on “neutral facts” to define humanity. I’ve covered that extensively and won’t dwell on it here. But for a more in-depth look, or if my argument seems like too big a leap, you can also click here and here.

What Lewis argued is that a dependence on “science” as the sole source of knowledge led to two results:

1. First, we lost our humanity. By appealing only to stripped-down scientific facts, we created a stripped-down definition of what it means to be human. Humans became mere machines.

   In the novel Project Hail Mary, the main character, Ryland Grace, has a conversation with an alien about what it means to be a person. Human intelligence is defined in two ways: first, the ability to solve problems, and second, the ability to identify a threat and act accordingly—problem-solving and handling threats. Once again, the machine. Humans are reduced to rational minds, and learning becomes merely the accumulation of data.

   The alien then raises a critical question: If that is all we are, why are some (like Ryland and the alien) willingly sacrificing their lives for others? The only explanation offered is an evolutionary impulse to save the species. But this answer is far from satisfying.

   Without meaning to, the story actually presents a far richer view of humanity through this picture of self-sacrifice.

2. The second problem Lewis predicted is even darker. As science took the throne a few generations ago, a new class of “experts” assumed control over society. Scientists replaced priests, lab coats replaced robes, and facts replaced stories.

To quote Paul Kingsnorth (as I did in my last article):

“Into the ruins walked the new authority of ‘science’—an ideology posing as methodology, ready to carve up and remake the world… When we ‘Follow The Science’… we are following instead a pretense of objectivity and a claim to authority. We are following a new priesthood…”

For generations, these experts have lulled humanity into submission with scientifically based meta-narratives.

Lewis illustrates this in The Silver Chair. When Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum travel deep underground into the sorceress’s dark kingdom, she tries to enchant them into believing that her underworld is the only real world. Strumming her lyre and tossing green powder into the fire, the Green Witch smoothly tells them there is nothing else—no Narnia, no sun, no Aslan. She insists that their idea of the sun is merely a wishful projection based on an indoor lamp.

Lewis is showing us that the materialistic claims of modern scientists are just as deceptive—only they’re better at hiding their green powder. They tell us that only the material world exists and that any spiritual reality we imagine is merely borrowed from science. In other words, modernity has long been under the spell of a “dark enchantment.”

And despite its outward appearance of factual knowledge, the age of science has, in fact, created something far more like dark magic.

“C.S. Lewis pointed out that science and magic are more closely related than modern scientists would like to admit because, in essence, they pursue their crafts with the same goal. The modern world accepted ‘the magician’s bargain’: give up our soul, get power in return. The only reason it preferred science to magic is that science worked.”

—Jason Baxter

The occultist Aleister Crowley defined magic this way (as cited by Kingsnorth):

“The science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will.”

A New Race

J.R.R. Tolkien also illustrated this tradeoff fictionally. In The Lord of the Rings, Saruman's industrialized workshop is where he created a new race—the Uruk-hai. This was no side point. According to Tolkien, dark magic reshapes and recreates reality apart from God’s original intent—using science.

When people invent their own identities, they are effectively saying, “I Am Because I Am.”

“Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us for nearly a hundred years.”

—C. S. Lewis

“Neutrality” collapses under its own claims as experts attempt to redefine human beings, even in contradiction to scientific facts.

If these claims seem extreme or far-fetched, look around. The evidence is everywhere. We have pushed “neutrality” to its logical conclusion. Like Saruman, modern thinkers are redefining humanity, creating cat-men, an androgynous, genderless, drag queen story hour, pick-your-favorite-carnival-ride race of humanity.

As a society, America has been conned. We have been deceived.

As Lewis put it:

“Children are not deceived by fairy tales. They are often and gravely deceived by school stories. Adults are not deceived by science fiction; they can be deceived by stories in women’s magazines” (or Instagram, CNN, and school textbooks).

Into the Ruins

The result is the collapse of knowledge. Experts who were once seen as infallible now face skepticism as their authority crumbles under repeated missteps. Modern people trust nothing. Anything can be biased, doctored, fabricated, or exaggerated.

Many conservatives frame this discussion around a search for truth, a belief that we must relearn how to think and trot out all the arguments.

While this is true, we must also heed the warnings of Tolkien and Lewis. Any attempt to reclaim humanity cannot be reduced to a mere gnostic quest for logical arguments. The search for propositional truths can sometimes feel eerily similar to the obsession with neutral facts, leading to the same dead end and collapsing on itself.

In some sense, we need to reclaim something far more powerful: a fully orbed, fully fleshed picture of what it means to be human. If we continue to reduce the Christian faith to mere morals, lists, facts, arguments, or political stances, we will face similar problems.

According to Lewis, we must recover humanity through imagination, a love of beauty, liturgy, and story. These things cultivate a people of higher nobility, honor, and courage. Only then can we offer something whole, rich, and beautiful to a hungry world.

Note: if you’re paying attention, you might notice that I recently promised some forthcoming articles on storytelling elements that I have not yet delivered! Some things came up, and I had to switch around my material, but those articles are in the works—and the moral is, I will never promise upcoming articles again! ;)