Awake and aware.

In George Orwell's dystopia, "1984" there are three basic social structures-inner party, outer party, and the proles. The inner and outer party are made up of intellectuals and desk jockeys, feeding the propaganda machine that is the party(Big Brother is watching after all!). Monitored 24/7 via double broadcasting telescreens, a party members doesn't have a life we would recognize-we would say that they don't have a "life of their own". Everything is party centered, you must have approval of the party to marry(and no matches are made for love!), members have no free sex lives, and must spend even free time at party functions, rallies, and the sort. There is literally no time for private reflection or thought. The protagonist of the story,Winston(a member of the outer party) had great difficulty even putting his thoughts to paper(there are no laws here as we know them, there are offenses punishable by death however, reading a book or writing a journal are such offenses!).

"For some time he gazed stupidly at the paper...It was curious that he seemed not merely to have lost the power of expressing himself, but even to have forgotten what it was that he had originally intended to say."

Numbed by this constant action members of the party many are completely grabbed by an eternal NOW, with no sense of history-except what the party tells them(this in fact is a HUGE part of the novel). This eternal now, and an utter lack of history due to constant revisions by the party(basically changing documents etc. to make it seem as if the party has never been wrong about anything), robs party members of original thought. In an underground cantina, Winston overhears a conversation and this is what he perceives,

"...his spectacles caught the light and presented to Winston two blank disks instead of eyes. What was slightly horrible was that from the stream of sound that poured out of his mouth, it was almost impossible to distinguish a single word...it was just a noise, a quack-quack-quacking...Winston had a curious feeling that this was not a real human being but some kind of dummy. It was not the man's brain that was speaking; it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words, but it was not speech in the true sense: it was a noise uttered in unconsciousness, like the quacking of a duck."

There was no meaning to what the "dummy" said, because there was no thought behind it. He was only parroting, vomiting words that he has been told, but with no comprehension as to what it means. This is the destruction of what C.s. Lewis called, "... the traditional moralities of East and West, the Christian, the Pagan, and the Jew..." The main difference is that Lewis envisioned 'men without chests' are still be "intellectual" in his vision of a future dystopia, but here we see a man without mind, and as mind contains what we call the "heart", we also see a man without a chest.

"In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function." -C.s. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Keeping a journal was one of the most difficult intellectual exercises I have undertaken, to find time first of all to describe your day is hard on its own, and then you either remember too much or too little. But when I go back over it and read it, I am always thankful that I wrote what I did. I would encourage everyone to keep a record of your thoughts of some sort, engage your mind. It's not enough to just read passively, the reader must use the thoughts presented to him.

The society we inhabit is no where near the stratification of that presented in 1984 , yet how often do we slip into that eternal now where everything melts away into a stream of consciousness(if indeed it may be called that), including independent thought? The best defense to prevent a real life 1984 is independent thought and feeling. Lets cultivate that.

And still, for my Christian readers, we must realize that we have an enemy worse than any totalitarian government. Indeed, he seeks to found such 'governments' in ourselves, with 'king me' in control. This is a disaster because if we are our own kings, there is one ruler and one slave, ourself. Therefore while we "rule" we are slaves. Let us be aware of this, and realize that we may only be free when we relinquish our sovereignty to the eternal one.

While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.

Acts 10:19

Remember that it was as Peter "thought" on the vision that the spirit spoke to him. Let us think and be awake and aware.

Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober.

I Thessalonians 5:6