Dr Paul Allen

Image via Wikipedia Does this not confirm Hilaire Belloc 's extraordinarily prescient description in 1929 of what he termed the "Modern Mind" - that cultural conceit that has been formed through the intermingling of arrogance, ignorance and sloth - and the "instrument" which feeds and deepens its malaise? " The popular Press ," writes Belloc, tends to present "as objects for admiration a bundle of things incongruous: a few of some moment, the great part trivial. Above all it grossly distorts ... Thus the 'Modern Mind' dislikes thinking: the popular Press increases that sloth by providing sensational substitutes.  Disliking thought, the 'Modern Mind' dislikes close attention, and indeed any sustained effort; the popular Press increases the debility by an orgy of pictures and headlines. The 'Modern Mind' ascribes a false authority to reiteration; the popular Press serves it with ceaseless iteration ... In all these ways and...

Image via Wikipedia What Aslan Means to Liam Neeson From a  Daily Mail  interview with actor Liam Neeson, the voice of Aslan in the  Narnia films : Aslan symbolises a Christ-like figure but he also symbolises for me Mohammed , Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries. That’s who Aslan stands for as well as a mentor figure for kids – that’s what he means for me. Poor Liam Neeson. He can't win. He probably feels like he has to distance himself from the narrow, Christian message of The Chronicles of Narnia by recreating Aslan for himself in a more palatable, relativistic form to avoid upsetting the culture at large. And why not, if all that matters is what a text means  to us , rather than what the author intended that text to mean? But now he has upset Narnia fans, and with good reason. Neeson's image of Aslan as the god (or leader) of many different religions is quite explicitly argued against in The Last Battle when the Calor...