Taking Pills

An Update

1. A Must-Read Essay: Today in the

   Cluny Journal
   , we published an important essay this morning by Dr. Joshua Mitchell called “Red Pill, Blue Pill”, about the ongoing crisis in political theory—political theory being characterized by "evermore production in the academic world, ever less purchase on the world." You can read the full essay, with no paywall, here. I found it so compelling that I cite one of its key ideas in a chapter on the formation of the “Political Self” in my upcoming book. It’s interesting and perhaps telling that our culture has widely adopted (thanks to The Matrix and a flurry of excellent memes since) the metaphor of “taking pills”—which effect us upon ingestion, sometimes against our will, outside of our control; this process involves little agency or cooperation, sometimes even during the taking process itself. Anyway, read the essay.

2. An Event: This week, I’m co-hosting with Jordan Castro (whose next novel, Muscle Man, comes out in September—

   Brandon
   said: “Finished this and need a support group.” ), Cluny’s Metanoia Conference in Washington, D.C. Featuring:
   L. M. Sacasas
   , David Bentley Hart, Ariana Reines,
   August Lamm
   , Michael Clune,
   Andrew McLuhan
   , Hollis Robbins,
   Hollis Robbins (@Anecdotal)
   , Jennifer Paxton, Ben Hunt, and over a hundred others. We’ll be exploring the fundamental nature of change, covering everything from “Progress Studies” to what the Yale philosopher L.A. Paul calls transformative experience, the power of art and literature to effect substantial change, and the role of technology in shaping our senses.

3. A Book: I’m in the process of wrapping up the manuscript for my forthcoming book, The One and the Ninety-Nine, about becoming a solid self in a fragmented world with an increasing amount of coercion and conformity: technological, political, economic, educational, institutional, and more. I’ve been working on it for the past 18 months, which is why my writing here has slowed down. Once I submit the final draft to St. Martin’s Press this summer, I plan to turn more of my attention Substack. The book will be out next year. I’ll be writing about my writing process, and teasing out some of the core themes of the book, for premium subscribers right here—so if you’re interested in coming along for that ride, please subscribe:

Thank you, as always, for reading. I’ll be back next week with plenty to share about Metanoia and more.