I’ve put together an introduction to Owen Barfield’s life and ideas, from the soul of words to the evolution of consciousness, running through these questions:
Who was the last Inkling, Owen Barfield?
Why did C.S. Lewis call Barfield his “anti-self”?
So Barfield began to think that words have soul?
What did he mean that words are “fossils of consciousness”?
Why is poetry so important in his thesis?
What did the other Inklings make of the idea?
But his ideas don’t end with poetry, do they?
Aren’t these just “metaphors we live by”?
What does this mean about the evolution of human consciousness?
What was the earlier consciousness like?
What happened next to the human experience of life?
How might consciousness shift again?
Does this have anything to do with the Axial Age?
What’s it got to do with the Hebrews, Greeks and Jesus?
A short history of our minds charted in words.
Please have a browse!