THE INKLINGS
For the ardent students of C.S
Lewis, they are aware of the code name “The Inklings”. The inkling was a pact
of friends, an informal literary circle in Oxford that began meeting in the
early 1930’s and continued until the late 1940’s. Inklings started with just
C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien, they met at leisure time to discuss, criticize and
appraise each other’s work.
Soon, they invited others like
them. Gradually, they formalized their time for meetings to be Tuesday evenings
and on Thursday evenings at C.S Lewis. They code named their venue (which was
“Eagle and Child”) to be “Bird and Baby”. Other members of The Inkling included
Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Warren Hamilton Lewis, Victor Hugo Dyson, Adam
Fox, Lord David Cecil, Neville Coghill, Robert Humphrey Havard, Gervase Mathew
and Commander James Dundas Grant. The qualification to join The Inklings was to
“dabble in ink”. Inkling was described by Tolkien as “a feast of reason and
flow of soul”.
Although C.S Lewis, J.R.R
Tolkien and Charles Williams were the most prominent of The Inkling, most of
them went on to become prominent names in their various professions. It is
quite unfortunate that there was never an official, organized and fully
governed body called “The Inklings”, they never had an elected leader, a
secretary or a representative in any way. They grounded each other in the mud
of criticism and lifted each other to the climax of their careers. Perhaps more
important than anything for me was that The Inkling defined their circle very
well. History also did justice to curious minds by telling us that people were
only invited to The Inklings by the established members, it was not just a
circle of University of Dons, it was a well-defined circled of writers.
Connecting The Inklings to
numerous stories in the archives of mankind, you begin to withdraw groups such
as The Five Majors, The Abolitionist, The Cabal, etc. It is not difficult to
see that peers affect our lives. This lesson of history has been repeated so
often that we no longer listen to it.
The highest influence anyone
can have on you is totally dependent on the kind of relationship you have with
them. Our friends are the people we spend the highest time together with, by
staying with them, we become like them.
The clearest example of what an
Inkling can result to is the gathering called “Nigerian Politicians”, these men
full of nothing have gathered themselves to be called “APC” and “PDP”, they
meet to discuss how to move this country into the 15th Century. What we see is
a product of a successful, but this time organized Inkling. What you see in
your states is a product of successful Iklinization of politifcians.
The chameleon skin is in every
one of us. We have the full tendency to become like those we share our moments
with. You are too chameleonic not to be influenced by others. C.S Lewis once
said that “We are all plagiarist…”, he was too wise to understand that we are
products of things and people around us. People change us, people affect us. So
choosing the people that change us is the best way to help ourselves become
what we truly want to be.
If there is any freedom we
really have in this world, it is the freedom of association. The freedom to
choose those we want to be with. Let us use that wisely.
In the same line, one question
millennials have refused to consider is the question of BRAINSTORMING. You
brainstorm best with your inklings. The kind of Inkling you maintain largely
determines the result of your brainstorming. It has never surprised me the poor
productivity in our world, wrong Inkling has contributed to that.
Stay with the wise and grow
wiser. Stay with fools and become …....
You need someone that you can
run to and say “Bro, I just thought of this. We can start this factory” “Hey.
Something just crossed my mind. What if we start a Microphone business?” “How
far? Can’t we build the best school in Nigeria?” …
You need such people, without
them, you may never move anywhere.
If you don’t have an Inkling,
create one. Let it begin with you. You don’t have to worry about forming an
organization, C.S Lewis and Co, never organized theirs however it was one of
the most accomplished groups in this world. Accomplished? Did they even have goals?
They were just like minds that dabbled in inks and dwelt in reason.
I have my Inklings.
50 years later, someone will be
writing about us.
We have decided that already
now.
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