CoFounders of VFF, Randy Hardman and Wes Mullins, continue to reprise their roles as Jack and Beren (Lewis and Tolkien). Randy and Wes met at Drinklings Roastery in Wilmore, Kentucky and quickly found out that they had a lot in common with the two authors. Randy had been more influenced by Tolkien and Wes more by Lewis, it was a match made for the Eagle and Child!

In today's episode, Randy and Wes discuss in-depth some of the themes that VFF brought up on Monday's reading of "Transposition." The issues like the Ontological Argument and is your brain your mind (and many more.) Then Wes asks Randy why and how Tolkien has been such an influence on him. The answer is so rich and deep that everyone needs to hear it.

Further Up and Further In

Tonight we wrestled with this notion of higher and lower transpositional propositions. In short, we seem to unconsciously vacillate between interpretations that we construct from higher and lower sources. How many misinterpretations are we guilty of by applying 1-to-1 correlation to things like love, sex, marriage, friendship, etc.. If we only apply 1-to-1 correlations to every similar sensation and emotion then wouldn't we become erratic in our decision making? Would I have to engage romantically with every person with whom I had fluttering feelings of attractedness?

We are three podcasts in and we still have one more to go...or maybe two. Enjoy!

“We can’t speak outside of the things derived from our experience. We use that
information to impose on the spiritual world instead of coming up with
something new.” -David Whitaker (Member)

Wes submits that the proposition that communication is discoverable and expressed through linguistics and language. This suggests that there are objective truths and meanings wherein humans are experiencing and trying to express. What is available to us as resources to ensure we get closer to truth and falsity? We are about to go deep!! Come on in, the water is fine.

Randy has rejoined VFF and we have started up our "Jack and Beren Show" wherein we discuss things on our minds and hearts stemming from theology to literature to philosophy. It is similar to what happens on Monday nights with the gang but this gives Randy and I chance to dive deeper into certain aspects that we may not be able to on group discussions. Also, we may not even get to the topics of what we are reading, it is sort of an open topic structure for this show. However, Randy comes from a very Tolkien-esque manner (his focus and delight are Tolkien and his works) and I from a very Lewisian manner (Lewis is my focus and my delight).

In this episode, we talk about last year, the coming year, and our current reading of Transposition.

The first Verum Fabula Fellowship meeting of 2020 and it did not disappoint. We began our review of "Transposition." It is an essay written by CS Lewis in 1949. The crux of essay lay in the question of why is the religious, spiritual, and metaphysical experience(s) only expressed in the language of the physical, known experiences of humanity? If you will, why are abstractions best expressed in standard rhetoric? Does language offer the writer/speaker and reader/listener a 1-1 ratio of expression to reality? Does the seeming limitation of language prove the non-existence of such experiences based on there not being adequate language to express them properly

These are some of the questions we dive into; this is a fascinating essay. Enjoy!

We are finishing up "Leaf by Niggle" and it has been an incredible journey. We finally get to attempt to answer does art have purpose? What happens to the art of earth?

Wes, David, Katlyn, Nina, Chris, and Janelle discuss the final chapters of Tolkien's great allegorical work.

PhD Candidate Derek King presents his talk and focus of PhD study "The Hiddenness of God" at VFF. Derek is currently studying at St. Andrews University. He proposes to bring in CS Lewis's anticipation of the Modern Problem of Divine Hiddenness in "Till We Have Faces." The essay he presents in this talk actually was published in "The Journal of Inklings Study."

"Leaf by Niggle" Part Ii. Niggle, the impasioned painter and the lackluster gardener, is still on the docket. We are discussing further into the text and seeing how Niggle deals with distractions and interruptions to his work. The questions still remains does art have value beyond aesthetics? Is art a waste of relational and practical capital?
Join us as we go further up and further in.

JRR Tolkien wrote this short but powerful book after seeing a tree had been felled by its owners. Tolkien seemed to morn the trees passing as an injustice, to which may be only he and some owls would miss the great poplar. This poplar passing affected him and one day in 1947 he woke up and penned "Tree and Leaf", which we now call "Leaf By Niggle."

It is the story of a distracted painter who becomes obsessed with painting only a single tree and the leaves on that tree; he even built a shed for the painting. The distractions array from his pesky neighbors, mundane chores, and procrastinating to pack for his upcoming journey.

We, the members of VFF, did a deep dive into the book, this being Part I or III, and began to ask questions like:
What is the purpose of art? When does passion or obsession become unsustainable? What are your "real" duties in life? What responsibility do you have to your neighbors and society? How does God view our distractedness?

J Wesley Mullins and Phd Candidate Derek King discuss his upcoming talk on "The Hiddenness of God" at VFF. Derek is currently studying at St. Andrews University. He proposes to bring in CS Lewis's anticipation of the Modern Problem of Divine Hiddenness in "Till We Have Faces." The essay he presents in his upcoming talk actually was published in "The Journal of Inklings Study."

This is a preview discussion where the Keynote speakers get to introduce themselves to the VFF listeners and set their intentions for their Keynote address.

(the end audio is a bit funky, we were trying a new functionality that couldn't be edited out. Thanks for being patient with us.)