21 July 2010

Lewis: Mere Collectivism vs True Membership

A convict has a number instead of a name. That is the collective idea carried to its extreme. But a man in his own house may also lose his name, because he is simply called 'Father.' That is membership in a body. The loss of the name in both cases reminds us that there are two opposite ways of departing from isolation.
--C. S. Lewis, 'Membership,' in The Weight of Glory, p. 124

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