I am a recently registered Wardrobian, and I have been perusing the study and comments on OotSP. One of the comments included in the discussion section attracted my attention. It reads as follows:
"Secondly - The overwhelming Presence felt by Ransom.
My question is...why does Weston not feel this? Or if he does, why doesnt he react to it? If it is an overwhelming Presence, Weston should at least react to it - be that by a heightened sense of fear, an anxiety, or some other reaction towards this intrusion into his self-creation. Weston is so absolutely sure of his 'mission', that he requires no one else to contribute intellectually that mission, that an intrusion should, at least cause him to incorporate that Presence into his overall creation. Yet, we see no evidence of that incorporation, or even an acknowledgement that there is a Presence felt by anyone other than Ransom.
In Hope,
J_S "
Parts of some of the responses that followed discussed the question, and gave various suggestions. One bit of information was not mentioned, though, which seems important in considering the question, namely that the trip with Ransom was Weston's second trip. Perhaps, in the first trip, Weston had become inured to the Presence, and so reckoned it as just another item in the unexplained phenomena of space. Or, perhaps, being a devout humanist, he was far enough down the pathway followed by Wither in THS to be oblivious to any spiritual influences, and didn't even feel it. I'm not sure about Devine, but he also had been to Malacandra previously, and being a devout materialist, was incapable of admitting that there was anything beyond nature (the nature he knew).
Have any other Wardrobians thoughts on the question?
Hanraoi