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Dreamlessly - A Fitting Non-Poem

8/31/2022

A fitting non-poem by one of my favorite "guilty pleasure" non-poets . . .

Dreamlessly
- Charles Bukowski - from Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame

Old, grey-haired waitresses
in cafes at night
have given it up,
and as I walk down sidewalks of
light and look into windows
of nursing homes
I can see that it is no longer
with them.
I see people sitting on park benches
and I can see by the way they
sit and look
that it is gone.
I see people driving cars
and I see by the way
they drive their cars
that they neither love nor are
loved -
nor do they consider
sex. It is all forgotten
like an old movie.

I see people in department stores and
supermarkets
walking down aisles
buying things
and I can see by the way their clothing
fits them and by the way they walk
and by their faces and their eyes
that they care for nothing
and that nothing cares
for them.

I see a hundred people a day
who have given up
entirely.

If I go to the racetrack
or a sporting event
I can see thousands
that feel for nothing or
no one
and get no feeling
back.

Everywhere I see those who
crave nothing but
food, shelter, and
clothing; they concentrate
on that,
dreamlessly

I do not understand why these people do not
vanish
I do not understand why these people do not
expire
why the clouds
do not murder them
or why the dogs
do not murder them
or why the flowers and the children
do not murder them,
I do not understand.

I suppose they are murdered
yet I can’t adjust to the
fact of them
because they are so many.

Each day,
each night,
there are more of them
in the subways and
in the buildings and
in the parks

they feel no terror
at not loving
or at not
being loved

so many many many
of my fellow

creatures

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Choosing Scylla Still Needs To Be Repented

8/29/2022

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Scylla and Charybdis -- Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl -- 1910

This post is more a note to self than anything, but I think it may be beneficial to expand this note to others.

One of the most suspenseful parts of Homer's Odyssey was the choice Odysseus had to make before sailing through the strait separating modern-day Sicily and Calabria. The strait was home to two potentially deadly maritime hazards -- the whirlpool known as Charybdis on one side and a six-headed monster known as Scylla on the other. Sailors who chose to circumvent Scylla risked passing too closely to Charybdis and vice versa.

In a nutshell, the chance of safe passage through the strait was close to null. Sailors who passed that way had to decide between two dangers and hope their choice was the right one. Odysseus was no exception. When facing this "devil or the deep blue sea" dilemma, Odysseus weighed the risks and decided to sail past Scylla instead of Charybdis. The decision cost him the lives of six sailors, but he figured that this terrible outcome was better than having a ravenous whirlpool consume all his men, his boat, and him.

Scylla and Charybdis presents a classical example of the lesser of two evils principle, also known as lesser evilism. From the perspective of morality, lesser evilism occurs whenever we must choose between two blatantly immoral options. The basic thrust of the principle is to discern and choose the lesser evil of the two options, in much the same fashion Odysseus chose Scylla over Charybdis.

Having said all that, I often have to remind myself that choosing the lesser of two evils when confronted with two immoral options is not the same as actively choosing good. Of course, if the choice for good were accessible, there would be no need to select the lesser of two evils.

Simply put, there are situations in life when good options become seemingly unavailable, and we are forced into a position of having to choose between two bad options. In circumstances like that, the only consolation we can hope for is a choice for lesser evil -- the consolation of knowing that the other option would have been far worse/more evil.

Yet this feeling of consolation must not translate into the belief that we chose good. We must be brutally honest with ourselves and acknowledge that our choice was still a choice for evil, albeit of an apparently lesser sort. This acknowledgement must then lead to repentance.

This whole business of being placed in situations in which the best choice we can make is to choose the lesser evil is situated deeply in "try men's souls" territory. It's treacherous terrain -- rugged and barren, haunted by ghosts of Abraham and Isaac. It's the sort of thing that can trigger a complete loss of faith.

After all, why would God -- our loving parent -- place us in circumstances in which we cannot make a positive and active choice for good?

The only answer I can offer is that God always considers what is best for us spiritually and works to arrange Creation in a way that provides opportunities for spiritual benefit and learning. God doesn't "place us" in situations on His own. Our innate freedom and agency play a part, as does the innate freedom and agency of all the other Beings in Creation.

With this in mind, it would appear that the greatest spiritual benefits lesser evilism can offer are discernment and repentance. Put another way, having to choose lesser evil presses upon us to acknowledge that the lesser evil is still evil, not good. Once we have made that acknowledgement, we can move on to repentance and take the step toward the Good.

On the flip side, the inherent dangers of lesser evilism lie in abandoning discernment and repentance or, worse, in redefining the lesser evil as "not really that evil at all" or, far worse, redefining lesser evil as actual Good.

Choosing Scylla over Charybdis is still a choice for evil. It must be repented. We mustn't trick ourselves into thinking or believing otherwise.

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The Exile's Park

8/27/2022

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Gusztáv Keleti - The Exile's Park - 1870

My parents kept a print of this Gusztáv Keleti (1834-1902) painting in the living room, and I often paused to study it while I was growing up. I always admired the mood The Exile's Park evokes. The swineherd reclining, perhaps napping, against the trunk of an old tree in what was once a lavish garden, now forlorn and overgrown. His herd lazily grazing and rooting around a statue featuring two nymphs, which was once likely the centerpiece of a glorious water fountain.

An estate illuminated by a splash of cool light breaking through the overcast sky emerges from the background in the upper left-hand corner of the composition. That splash of cool, white light against the horizon contrasts well with the warm, yellow light falling upon the middle of the scene. The eye is drawn to the warm light first. Once it has taken in everything, it is drawn toward the cool, white light in the background. And only after that do the details in the darker areas shadowed by the clouds above -- like the steps in the mid-ground and the outlines of the distant trees -- begin to emerge.

I often wished I could step into this scene when I was a kid. That feeling remains today.

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"In Name Only" Is Not Freedom or Creativity

8/25/2022

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Earlier this week, JM Smith left a comment on my blog in which he raised the problem of “in name only.” The insightful comment started me thinking about the deeper meaning of words and language and the metaphysical implications of having no experience of the reality that words, labels, or terms are supposed to describe.

Words have tremendous power for the simple reason that they help us to make sense of the world and then communicate this sense to others. At the most basic level, the words we use are symbols and sounds that refer to and define the reality of our existence.

Words are not reality itself but reflections and descriptions of reality. The word “house” is not really a house but a symbol and sound used to signify the reality of “house”.

A word, name, term, or label does what it is meant to do when it describes the reality it symbolizes. If I were to say “house” to you, and your mind conjured up an image of a house, then the word “house” acted as a proper symbol for the reality of house.

“In name only” is an inversion (and perversion) of this symbolic connection to reality.

Suppose I say “house” while directing your attention to a cloud. You would be bound to look at me quizzically. My use of the symbolic no longer refers to what it should. You would likely shake your head and attempt to correct me, but what if I keep insisting that the cloud is a house?

You would probably take a deep breath and move to correct me again. But suppose everyone else is also calling the cloud a house. You would then face a choice. Stick to your guns and live by the reality of your own inner experience of “house”, or turn your back on that reality and surrender to the external trappings of “cloud as house”?

If you choose the latter, you will follow the path chosen by the vast masses of people – the path of passivity, inertia, and imitation. Most people accept the “reality” of words that have been worked out and defined by others because they are uninterested in living by the reality that words are truly meant to symbolize.

This passivity, inertia, and imitation point to a lack of freedom. Most people are essentially slaves to words, which helps to explain why they are not overly bothered by empty phraseology or words that are unsupported by any experience of reality. The masses are content to live in the “given world” of “in name only.”

However, I don’t think the vast masses of people view living in the given world of in name only as slavery.On the contrary, I sense they regard living in such a way as the height of freedom and creativity.

Thus, accepting “cloud” as “house” is an act of emancipation from reality. Accepting “cloud” as “house” makes “in name only” personally accessible.

If “cloud” can be “house”, then there is no reason why “personal irresponsibility” can’t be called “personal responsibility”. There’s also no reason why evil can’t be called good. The user can “creatively” cast “in name only” like a magic spell and make sins into virtues, thereby experiencing the sin without really experiencing it at all.

Those who live in the given world of “in name only” believe themselves to be the freest and most creative people alive!

And what does it matter that the birdemic was a pandemic in name only? That the peck that was meant to cure the disease was a vaccine in name only? That women and men are women and men in name only? That marriage is marriage in name only? That culture is culture in name only? That beauty is beauty in name only? That love is love in name only? That Christianity is Christianity in name only? Or that life is life in name only? The masses don’t care because they believe the given world of “in name only” is their ticket to freedom and creativity.

At the level of metaphysics, “in name only” is an act of intense dishonesty – the conjuring of a demonic fiction. It is the demarcation line separating “the given world” (unreality) from Creation (Reality). Instead of living freely and creatively, those who in the given world of in name only are slaves to unreality – slaves to passions and slaves to an objectified, deterministic, unreal world.

“In name only” can never qualify as a creative act because people cannot be creative when they deny Reality. They can only be creative when they are aligned with Creation.

The act of describing something that has no basis in Creation works against, not with Creation. In this sense, “in name only” is an “uncreative” act. It severs the connection between the symbolic and Creation and un-creates the reality of Creation within human consciousness.

“In name only” is irresponsibility, not freedom. Words are meant to define and describe aspects of Divine Creation, but they can only do so in an atmosphere of true freedom – when motivations and goals are responsibly aligned with God and Creation.

Only in this atmosphere can words reveal what they are meant reveal. If this atmosphere is lacking, Reality remains, but the words people use no longer reveal Reality. On the contrary, in such circumstances, the words themselves obscure and hide Reality. Reality remains but becomes increasingly inaccessible due to the misuse and degeneration of words.

Living by reality – in Creation – is no easy task. It requires an independent working of the spirit, which is synonymous with independent effort and independent thought.

It requires overcoming the lure of the given world and its faux, demonic “freedom and creativity”. It requires the understanding that the external power of words needs to be transformed into inner power. The understanding that words have the potential to co-create Reality, to co-participate with God in Creation.

As such, words must be defined from within rather than from without.

They must be defined internally before they are used externally – not the other way around. The former exemplifies true freedom and creativity; the latter, slavery and un-creativity.

A big part of internally defining words involves extending beyond the words themselves. This requires intuition and the free and creative act of primary thinking, or direct knowing of Creation – the kind of knowing that is so within and internal that it no longer needs words or symbols of any sort.

When we know directly, we experience Creation directly. Instead of “in name only”, we experience “in Creation only”.

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There Is Still Beauty in the World

8/24/2022

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And if there is beauty, then there is also goodness and truth.

My friend David, who runs the New World Island site, shared this magnificent photo in a comment a few days ago. I found the image reminiscent of the sort of scenes David Caspar Friedrich painted. (Link to the original photo is here. Worth checking out.)

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What a Human Being Is

8/22/2022

2 Comments

A human being is a created creator possessing an uncreated element.*

The uncreated element is freedom.

Within this freedom lies the genuine yearning to continue and add to God's Creation, thereby cultivating and enhancing divine life in ways not even God can envisage.

And that genuine yearning leads to the highest freedom a human being can know -- overcoming the determinism and objectification of the given world through love.

*I stumbled upon this sentence a few days ago and jotted it down in a notebook, but I can't recall the exact author or source. I have to learn to keep tighter notes!

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Berdyaev on The Most Terrible Sin Against the Holy Spirit

8/22/2022

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Christianity in history has fallen into the most terrible sin, sin against the Holy Spirit. Christianity has blasphemed against the Spirit whenever it has recognized the Church as finished, Christianity as complete, creativeness as something forbidden and sinful. For life in the spirit can only be eternally creative, and every stop or stay in the creative dynamic of the Church is thus a sin against the Spirit.
- -- Nikolai Berdyaev, The Meaning of the Creative Act

Needless to say, many orthodox/traditional/conventional Christians are bound to regard Berdyaev's observation as blasphemy, but by doing so they actually confirm the root problem Berdyaev identifies in historical Christianity -- instead of regarding Christian tradition as the flow of eternal creativity that inspires creation, transformation, and the development of new things, orthodox/traditional/conventional Christians have turned tradition into something external and static.

According to Berdyaev, "The life of the Church has ossified, has cooled, almost to the point of death, and it can only be reborn in man's religious creativeness."

Unfortunately, the religious creativeness Berdyaev calls for is the same sort of religious creativeness orthodox/traditional Christians all conspire to deny.

Note added: The anti-God, anti-Creation "new things" that churches have introduced into Christianity over the past century or two, particularly in the past few decades, do not qualify as being part of the "flow of eternal creativity".

On the contrary, I would classify these "new things" as "demonic destructiveness", most of which have stemmed from the willing and active convergence of churches (and Christians).

At the same time, the development of this flow of demonic destruction might have a great deal to do with the churches' and tradition's failure to reveal Christianity as a religion of freedom and creativity -- a religion that is capable of overcoming the world and transforming being.

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With a Little Help From My Son

8/21/2022

1 Comment

Regular readers will recall the side building renovation project I embarked upon last summer. This is what the dilapidated building looked like after I removed the roof and began working on it.

Anyway, I picked away at the finishing touches over the summer and can now happily report that the project is 98% complete thanks to the help of my son who assisted in crucial areas like painting the doors.

My father worked on the project with me last summer, and my wife lent a helping hand with the exterior render this June, so all in all, the side building project turned out to be a real family effort.

As I mentioned above, it's not totally done yet, but should be soon. I am quite satisfied with the way the building is turning out. I'll post some "final product" photos when I have them.

My son is also a great help with the hens. He has assumed the post of "chicken egg transfer engineer", a critical position that includes the hefty responsibility of collecting the eggs from the hen house and bringing them into the house every morning.

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There's a Limit to How Much Chaos Can Be Controlled

8/20/2022

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See, when it starts to fall apart,
Man, it really falls apart . . .
The Tragically Hip, Boots or Hearts

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, people have a way of revealing themselves during a “crisis” – they really do. They may not reveal themselves immediately, but given enough time, they will.

What I find most revealing lately is the near lack of concern for the actual crisis – or crises – unfolding in real-time all around us compared to the hysterical, obsessive levels of concern displayed during the manufactured crisis of the birdemic.

In all fairness, the birdemic was in the news for over two years, while the intentional destruction and self-sabotage of what used to be known as Western Civilization have barely received any airtime. I mean, you simply cannot expect common people to be aware of the deliberate collapse of the “world as they know it” unless it makes the news.

After all, if the System isn’t talking about it, then there isn’t anything to talk about, is there?

Yet I find it impossible to believe that common people are unaware of the destruction they are living through. Most probably understand that the world is “going through difficult times”, but very few understand just how difficult things will get let alone consider that these difficult times have been purposefully engineered to inflict hardship and suffering on the masses. To think such thoughts flies in the face of all “cui bono” logic. It also draws one toward considering the reality of evil, which, let’s face it, is a real downer.

In 2020, things came to a point. Since 2021 things have been falling apart. The rickety and ridiculous financial foundation Western Civilization had constructed to empower itself – particularly after August 1971 -- was destined to fall apart eventually, but most knowledgeable people assumed such a collapse would arise from complacency, not from willing, active self-sabotage.

And that’s the thing barely anyone appears to comprehend – what is happening now is all intentional. Moreover, it is unprecedented.

The ruling class believes the destruction is part of a premeditated control and scam operation through which they will enslave the world and secure even more power and wealth for themselves. They believe they control the chaos. They strive to bring "order from chaos". Unfortunately for them, the demons have other ideas. While the elites work on control and scam order, the demons will ensure things slides toward “aw, snap” and “damn” chaos.

Put simply, the “control” part of the controlled demolition is slipping away – chaos is taking over.

The saddest bunch of morons caught in this cascade of evil are the people who support the destruction as a means through which to save the planet or build “something better”. People like my colleague who in 2020 lamented the implementation of birdemic restrictions as “the right thing for the wrong reason”:

"This isn't a dangerous situation at all, yet they've shut down the world. It infuriates me to no end. If they can shut down the world for this stupidity, it means they could have shut down the world much sooner to fight the only real danger we're facing - climate change! But they haven't. Not for climate change anyway. Their excuse? It would have hurt the economy. But they're more than willing to shut down the economy now! And for what? To save a few thousand people? Climate change is still there! That affects everyone. I hope they remember that once this virus disappears. What they're doing now is right, but it's for all the wrong reasons."

Well, my esteemed colleague can rest assured that Western governments are finally doing the right thing for the right reason. Saving the economy – or anything for that matter – is no longer an obstacle. On the contrary, destroying the economy – and everything else for that matter – has become official government policy in the West.

I’m sure my colleague will feel contended and fulfilled when he pays twice as much to heat his home this winter (assuming he’ll be able to purchase any fuel at all). I sense the bare shelves at the grocery stores will assure him of the climate’s mitigation and the planet’s salvation. I’m positive that he’ll find infinite satisfaction in knowing that his children will never experience the quality of life he enjoyed for most of his life.

I’m certain he’ll feel it’s all worth it – at least until he realizes that his "right thing for the right reason" is a vehicle for chaos, not control.

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Christian Statues in My Village

8/18/2022

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I live in a small village of 650 people situated in northwestern Hungary, approximately 10 kilometers south of the Austrian border. I have often described this settlement as "nondescript", and in many ways it is. Nevertheless, the village and its immediate surroundings are home to a number of humble yet moving Christian statues from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

Holy Trinity Column - 1780 - This statue -- which is easily my favorite -- stands at the end of the road leading into the village.

Close-up: An interesting visual depiction of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Patrona Hungariae (featuring Saint Stephen of Hungary and Saint James of Hungary) - 1884 - This column is situated in the center of the village just off the main road.

Votive Cross - circa 1840s - At the end of the old dirt road that leading into the village.

Cemetery Crucifix - 1908 - This was erected next to the small chapel in the cemetery.

Close-up of the Cemetery Crucifix.

Pieta - 1919 - Erected shortly after the end of the First World War, this statue is located next to the main entrance of the village's only church. Definitely not Michelangelo, but for a small village, it's more than enough.

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