Owen Barfield was the genius Inkling, said CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. But why does he so much matter today?

They consider how Owen Barfield addresses the idea of secularism developed by Charles Taylor and why that might matter in a cultural moment that feels like a folk in the road. 

They speak personally of how Barfield touched them and why his insights might matter to the psychedelic renaissance.

A central idea is that of polarity - moving beyond the dualisms that trap people, on the left and on the right, in a flatland mentality.

They ask how Barfield’s vision of final participation can be understood, even experienced, in language, in nature, with Indigenous traditions, in sacrament. They also consider how Rudolf Steiner, so important to Barfield, might be appreciated critically.

Fundamental is the Christian insight that the transcendent is also immanent, the many are reflections of the one, and that humanity shares in divine purposes.

For more on Mark, including his book on Barfield’s understanding of Christianity - www.markvernon.com

For more on Ashton - https://ciis.academia.edu/ashtonkohlarnoldy

0:00 Barfield's relevance today

06:47 Monotheism and the singular self

12:02 Encountering worlds of spirit

20:26 The task of integration

27:49 The ongoing Christian revelation

32:34 Steiner and politics today

44:03 The experience of polarity

49:22 Barfield and ecology

53:03 Taylor's interspace and imagination

56: 29 The divine power of language

01:01:08 Poetry and the evolution of consciousness

01:06:54 The past in the present and the future

01:11:09 Questions of identity

01:16:44 The future orientation of Christianity

01:21:09 Residual unprocessed positivism

01:25:38 Critical readings of Steiner

01:30:42 Concluding remarks