Advice on Writing from your Chest
C.S. Lewis for the modern era
*Quick note: I made a reading list! Writing from your chest requires reading from your chest first and foremost.
“If we are to conquer nature doesn’t that mean we have to conquer ourselves?”
My TikTok LIVE audience had great questions while I was reading and discussing The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis aloud on the platform. The discussion was so engaging that a few listeners asked me to upload the video so they could listen from the beginning so, the TikTok recordings are available below for my paid subscribers - thanks ya’ll. The rest of the article is accessible for free.
Lewis argues that our quest to conquer nature has reduced it to logical facts and impulses, thereby producing ”men without chests”. He believed this would lead to the end of what makes us human: the Aristotelian ability of our rationality (logos) to rule our appetites (epithymetikon) through our chests (thymoeides), which I’ve discussed before.
But the question I couldn’t shake was that if this is as inevitable as Lewis believes, then who’s to say I’m not already a woman at least partially abolished? A less human (although paradoxically chestier) version of Lewis. I can’t determine what this means if it’s true, but what does it matter if I’m more or less human if I continue his line of questioning?
Biologically he’s right about the dynamic nature of species and its ability to bend the world to our will, but the world is always bending us, too. Sure, we’ve “defied gravity” with air travel, and reduced the volume of opportunity for mutations through contraception, but every step of the way, we’ve been bending and being bent by nature. It took millions of years to get here from Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy), and since we’re on the subject of chests, Lucy’s is a hot topic. Her rib cage was more conical, with smaller lung capacity than Lewis’ or mine, but formed perfectly to live a dynamic life between the ground and the trees. Evolutionary pressure forced Lucy out of trees and Lucy, being more energy-efficent on two legs, was able to free up some energy to get into some fuck shit. Today, we use our chests differently: CS Lewis used his to smoke. I use mine for bench pressing and deep breathing meditations, but we certainly all have them, and the way we use them will certainlyn influence our environments. Our descendants won’t be stripped of our courage, emotion, or moral character. We’ll just carry them differently in our chests.
I think Lewis had some great insights, and although he’s perhaps guilty of the Marx Fallacy, his ideas warrant exploration. Scrolling through Substack Notes just now brought me one such treasured insight (thanks to
):
Perhaps contemporary writers could use an updated version of this that works with whatever evolved chests we’ve come to have. So I’ve written one:
30 October 2024
I can’t give general advice on writing. I can only tell you what I do.
(1) Don't listen to podcasts.
(2) Read all the good books (classic lit, if you can) and don't watch too much of the appetitive short form videos. (What always snares me are videos about bold fashion, nails, Jeffrey Starr makeup drama, ratchet Zeus network catfights, ballroom hair tutorials, and Nara Smith making shit from scratch, being a badass.)
(3) Always write (and read) with the heart not the head. If it doesn't feel right, try again.
(4) Write about what really interests you. The hard part today is deciphering ads from interests. Bernard Stiegler thought we couldn’t possibly have our own desires anymore since they’re partially harvested via our “likes” and attention on social media. We are dispossessed by the social media companies, but not entirely. The pause matters. If I stop and think about what draws my appetites to Scaparelli, Jeffrey Starr, Joseline Hernandez, and Nara smith I can detect a theme: varying degress of rebellion and a fight for freedom of expression. Don't feel guilty about your true interests. Your appetite offers clues, but as we must rule them through our chests. When we allow the dopamine rush to wash away our questions, our pattern recognition, or sense of morality, we lose a rib, and arguably a neuron or two. Interrogate your interests - don't feel guilty about them. Write the good stuff that makes you want to live even if you can't quite figure out why. Just start asking yourself what it is about your desires that the algorithm is trying to dispossess from you.
(5) Take great pains to GET clear. No one starts by knowing what they want to say, but it's your job, dear reader/writer, to get there and carve an easy to follow path for your reader.
(6) Don't lose heart about your drawered pieces. No one saw Vivian Maier’s photographs until shortly after her death. She kept a huge collection of beautiful photos in storage for her entire life until they were auctioned off shortly before her death. You have no idea where your pieces will land or what significance they may carry. Your job is to create them.
(7) Find your own rhythm. For me, writing from scratch is hard when I sit down at the keyboard and my nails are long. I love my long colorful nails, but they throw my writing off. So, I’ve gotten in the habit of using Google’s speech-to-text in Google Docs on my phone. I get in a better rhythm on my phone sometimes. Right now, it’s 12:55 am, and I'm lying in bed - having banged out this entire draft. Do what gets you on the beat and then ride it, ‘till its gone.
(8) You can't possibly know all the meanings of your words. It's skibibidi advice in a pluralistic landscape.
Now go make something from your chest.
Also if you missed it in the text above, I’ve finally done it. I’ve created a reading list. Do yours and share it with me!