Opinion
Opinion

C.S. Lewis in the Age of Bleakness

C.S. Lewis in the Age of Bleakness
A lion-like carving in a door of Brasenose College in Oxford, UK. It is said to have inspired C.S. Lewis to create “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.” chrisdorney/Shutterstock
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Commentary

In the age of modernity, we find ourselves confronting a familiar affliction: bleakness. Our lives are marked by disillusionment. We doom-scroll, our eyes glazed over, while once useful dopamine receptors quietly shoot their last remaining endorphins. The YouTube rabbit hole is not so much an experience in enjoyment as much as it is a reflex of our current era. We watch videos of others cosplaying luxurious livelihoods all while sitting in a darkened room hoping for something more. And then what few icons we may look to as heroes the world often tells us are evil. To put it simply: in the era of algorithms and digital experiences we have become bored and uninspired.

Josh Appel
Josh Appel
Author
Josh Appel is a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute.