We are all liberals and individualists nowadays, even those who pretend otherwise (forget the Amish for a few minutes, please). Our views of self and society lead us lead us to act according to a cowardly form of prudence. Let me take a quote from the 1913 Webster as found in the Collaborative International Dictionary … [Read more…]
In “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, I noted that Melville thought Emerson and Thoreau to be morally insane — Hawthorne and Henry James, Sr. agreed. Melville noted in one place that the morality of those Cambridge sages was a spiritualized materialism that masked a total lack of charity, a total lack … [Read more…]
And so was Dante. Those of you who have read one of the good modern translations of “The Inferno” will know that the Pilgrim didn’t wander away from the road. The road curved away from him and he continued to go straight. We Christians have continued to walk on straight in our religious language, our … [Read more…]
I’ve made a tentative commitment to participate in the March for Life down in Washington in January of 2007. To be honest, I’m not going because I think it’s a worthwhile activity but only because it might be interesting. The Bible doesn’t tell us that we properly confront evil by putting on spectacles to amuse … [Read more…]
In an earlier entry, I advocated the view that relationships are primary and substance comes into existence as a result of one or more relationships. Now, I’ll try to produce a more balanced view by saying why we Christians, perhaps others as well, should consider substance (or `essence’ in the usual philosophical talk) to be … [Read more…]
In “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, I danced around an analogy that I can now see a little more clearly though I’m beginning to fear it’s more than just an analogy. Matter, particular being, results from a broken symmetry of metaphysical truths. In this claim, I’m basically exploring an expansion of … [Read more…]
In my first posting on the American Empire which is taking a somewhat more definite shape, I noted the relationship between liquid wealth and the growth of central powers. Those central powers, in the case of the United States an unholy alliance of politicians and corporate capitalists, will see liquid wealth as so much booty … [Read more…]
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI caused a bit of a stir in his address at the University of Regensburg (Sept. 12, 2006). I’ll address the true thrust of his speech and not those remarks which were taken out of context. Specifically, I intend to work in line with his stated intention: “The intention here is not … [Read more…]
As I noted in my book, “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, the term ‘original sin’ points to a fundamental truth about the human condition, but it seems to miss the target a bit. Our knowledge of human nature and of the physical world has expanded greatly in recent years and has … [Read more…]
I know just enough about history and economics to be dangerous and what I know leads me to the dangerous thought that a sufficiently large political entity with a centralized government will tend strongly to evolve into an empire, no matter its pretences to being a republic. It may have initial periods of freedom, but … [Read more…]