“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
— C. S. Lewis.
Hello dear friends,
My name is Brooklyn
I am creating this blog because I think art and literature and philosophy are immeasurably important. As an english tutor, I hear a lot of people talking about why books don’t really matter. Just like C. S. Lewis says above, they don’t really seem to have any practical value.
But, my goodness, they are so valuable! Most importantly, books and art and philosophy teach us critical thought and empathy. These things are not superfluous – rather, they are building blocks of a good society.
There is a story which I have noticed repeats itself again and again and again in literature. It goes like this:
There is a society which is being manipulated and controlled by an evil institution. This institution instils fear into the society so that its people will conform. The people in this society tend to be sheep, blind to what’s going on, or too scared to speak up. However, there is one person, often the protagonist, who challenges this power, sometimes triumphing, but usually dismally failing. If this sounds familiar, books and movies which reflect this plot include; The Crucible, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, The Village and The Truman Show. This story, despite being set in some distant world, is always a reflection of our own, and I believe that if more people understand this story, and the importance of critical thought, our world will be a better place. Critical thought is integral in a democratic society. It allows us to question what our government and corporations are doing, and challenge them. It allows us to notice when we are blindly conforming, when we are being tribalistic and when there is injustice.
The second thing art and literature give us is empathy – the ability to understand and relate to those who are different to us. I think empathy has the power to break down the barriers that divide our society. It can shatter tribalism and allow us to show kindness to the marginalised and vulnerable. I became convinced of this when I watched J. K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech titled, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” I highly recommend it.
Finally, as a Christian, I think love (particularly, the radical, enemy-loving love of Jesus) is the only thing that can make our society a better place. So part of this blog is also going to discuss how literature, philosophy and art interact with my Faith. This blog will be a journey for me, and will show the unravelling and weaving together of my thoughts. Part of my reason for making this blog is to understand and explain (partly to myself) the conviction that literature can improve our society. Since I have the same conviction about Christianity, I’m inevitably going to be discussing them together.
On that note, I invite you to take this journey with me!
arnot.art 