Fezziwig's Party

A Question for Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, et al

2008-05-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

If there is no God, then why go to all the energy of writing books and producing movies to convince people of the fact? How could it possibly matter? Nothing would matter. Everything would be absurd. Valuing truth would be a random decision, as would valuing anything else. So why bother?

I actually have some idea of what they would say in response, but when it all gets down to brass tacks, they don't really have anything meaningful to say that doesn't depend on a God to make it coherent.

Do they really not see this?

There are Christians who hide from tough questions, and there are some tough questions for which clear and tidy answers are scarce. But to be anadvocate for atheism requires a blindness of sorts, and to be an atheist at all requires a blind leap of faith to believe that all that is apparently meaningful is in the end a temporary flash and noise in an empty room.

A Surprising Update From the Czechs

2008-05-28T08:44:00.001-07:00

After my latest entry, I was surprised to see that the Czech President Vaclav Klaus has recently echoed Will's and Thatchers thoughts:

Klaus, an economist, said he opposed the "climate alarmism" perpetuated by environmentalism trying to impose their ideals, comparing it to the decades of communist rule he experienced growing up in Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia.

"Like their (communist) predecessors, they will be certain that they have the right to sacrifice man and his freedom to make their idea reality," he said. "In the past, it was in the name of the Marxists or of the proletariat - this time, in the name of the planet," he added.
Klaus said a free market should be used to address environmental concerns and said he oppposed as unrealistic regulations or greenhouse gas capping systems designed to reduce the impact of climate change.

Full story at http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/208338,czech-president-klaus-ready-to-debate-gore-on-climate-change.html

Enviro-Tyrants

2008-05-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Shortly after Margaret Thatcher retired from office, I went to go hear her speak on the topic of what trends would take place over the next 10 or 20 years. Her prediction: an attempt by the left to undermine the legitimacy of the nation-state under the aegis of global regulation theoretically necessitated by environmental crisis.

Here is an excerpt from George Will's latest column, on the subject of government activism concerning polar bears and the larger global environmental political movement:

"What Friedrich Hayek called the "fatal conceit" -- the idea that government can know the future's possibilities and can and should control the future's unfolding -- is the left's agenda. The left exists to enlarge the state's supervision of life, narrowing individual choices in the name of collective goods. Hence the left's hostility to markets. And to automobiles -- people going wherever they want whenever they want.

Today's "green left" is the old "red left" revised. "

Baroness Maggie - right again. Let's clean up our air so we can breathe, let's get off our dependence on oil, but let's not live under enviro-tyranny.

A Dear John Letter

2008-05-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Jonathan,

I am fairly sure that at this point you are the only who bothers to check this blog, since I haven't updated it in more than a month. Thus the title. I just caught up on the last week or so of entries on your blog. Very interesting and well done.

Here is a quick recap of my latest thoughts:

Ava's question of why she needs to know that stuff is an important one. I'm glad you took advantage of the moment. It concerns and saddens me that for so many young people (college students I've met), when they know any of our history at all, it's been "taught" to them in such a way as to dismiss the founders of our country as elite hypocrites whose value choices ("moral failures" would imply an enduring standard to which many of their critics would not subscribe) disqualify them from having anything meaningful to say to us today. Thus a generation - or several, as is more likely the case - has much that is wise, humane, and colorful stolen from it before they are perceptive enough to mentally chew on it and digest it. Here is my thought for Ava: the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is possibly the central idea of what America is all about. To make this idea practical in the governing of a free people, the Constitution was written. To make sure that we stuck to and at last fully lived out this idea, the Civil War was fought. To continue in our mission of spreading this idea, we have fought several wars against tyrants, some of whom wanted to enslave the world to their vicious ideas through a tremendous slaughter. Sometimes we've made mistakes (especially lately) but this has been our mission as a country. Some people don't believe in the principles of the Declaration anymore, and like the Confederate politicians back in the old days, they attack these principles. Right now, we are probably more divided on this issue than at any time since the Civil War. Our mission as a nation - or the question of whether we have one - depends on people like Ava. This is my opinion of why it's important to know this stuff.

Now it's late and I'm too tired to write any more thoughts.

Quote for the Day

2008-04-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

- Groucho Marx

Electronic Sunshine

2008-03-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

Looney Tunes are good for the soul.

The "Working Can Wait" song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuU65dMq1eg

The classic, hilarious Bugs Bunny hillbilly square dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieYzdiUM3N8

Gratitude

2008-03-19T23:11:00.001-07:00

I've been quite busy with work, and will be until April , so I may not be doing much posting. But I have recently received an answer to prayer and just wish to share my gratitude. God is good.

R.I.P. William F. Buckley, Jr.

2008-02-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

We mourn the passing of William F. Buckley, yesterday at age 82. I've long admired Mr. Buckley, and had hoped to meet him someday. (Alas! as he might have said.) As his friends have noted, he had a greater impact on the country (not to mention the world) than some presidents, as well as having inspired millions of individuals. Of the reflections I've read, the most moving said that great men are rare, great men who are also good rarer still, and even more rare are those like Buckley, who was also "sweet and kind". On my car radio last night, even his political adversaries paid tribute to these qualities. His was a life well lived, one that "redeemed the time". I hope to emulate that aspectof his life (among others) more effectively. I have a shelf full of his books that I'm working my way through, and now I want to go back and get his "Firing Line" videos. But meeting the man in person is off the books this side of Heaven. Thankfully, he lived much of his life so open to the public, that maybe I can pick up some of its flavor still. William Buckley, RIP.

Defining Conservatism

2008-02-13T23:57:00.001-08:00

There is some debate currently on what conservatism is. To my mind, it includes the following beliefs:

1. There is a God, and he is not us. He created the universe, but is not confined by it, or by time. He created us (whether this was done quickly or slowly is an in-house debate, but the key point is that we are created by a Creator, not as a result of random events).

2. As a result of #1, we humans have meaning and worth, and owe our allegiance to our Creator. Our rights are a by-product of these facts.

3. We are fallen creatures. We do not perfectly reflect our Creator. Man (or humankind) is not perfectible as a species.

4. However, we do reflect him, albeit imperfectly.

5. Because of #3, government is necessary.

6. Also because of #3, government (which is made up of fallen people) cannot be trusted but must itself be limited, constrained, and monitored.

7. The purpose of government must therefore be to best approximate the conditions for the expression of #4 and the rights inherent in #2, always keeping in mind the realities of #3.

8. In order to be financially stable, one must live within one's means. This applies to governments as well as individuals.

9. Free markets should not necessarily be absolutely free, but by and large, they are the best means of producing innovation, invention, and the goods and services that people want.

10. There will not, short of Kingdom Come, be a utopia on earth (see #3). We will maximize our happiness by realizing that we can only hope for a maximized approximation of human potential. This is usually referred to as "freedom" or "liberty".

11. In pursuit of #10, we can usually be guided by Winston Churchill's maxim that democracy is the worst of all systems, except for all the rest.

12. To moderate #11, however, we must remember James Madison's maxim that a system of government must fit the "genius of the people". In other words, not all peoples or cultures at a given time are equally suited to practicing democracy. (The Russians, for example, admire a strong hand by their government. "Nobody ever said Ivan was dumb" as the U.S. military was once fond of saying. Yet Ivan seems to lack the talent of practicing freedom.) Also moderating #11 is C.S. Lewis' leading question: what if monarchy is the means of irrigating the dust-bowl of modern politics? Thus the constitutional monarchy is not necessarily anathema to freedom or liberty.

13. The power to tax is the power to destroy. Taxes are necessary but should be kept to a minimum.

14. Bullies must be resisted, or they will go on bullying.

15. War is hellish, but the willingness and ability to wage war skillfully and decisively can usually preserve peace. Conversely, a people that refuses absolutely to wage war will be enslaved or martyred. Never the less, war is to be avoided unless prudence dictates otherwise.

2008-02-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

As was the case for the last several elections, this year's presidential contenders leave me... ...uninspired.

Roughing It

2008-02-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

My friend Jonathan recently bought a painting at a garage sale for $1.50. I don't particularly like it, but he does, and it's inspired him to create his own low-cost gallery on his walls. This made me think of what a good bargain can mean to me.

When I go to Yosemite on my own, or with my brother, part of the enjoyment I get is from the fact that I can live on almost nothing and have a fantastic time. The feeling of being able to stay in a campsite for 12 bucks, and have breakfast, lunch, and dinner for under 20 (or less), that I can have a hot shower for two dollars and feel like a million bucks, somehow makes me feel young and that the world is full of good possibilities. Whereas if I pay hundreds and stay in a lodge room, it's nice but...something is missing. It's not the money savings, but a feeling of being more in tune with the real essentials of living well. Everything seems to have more flavor and excitement. A gluttonous feeling of waste slides off. I appreciate each thing more fully.

Pirate Adventure

2008-01-20T11:33:00.001-08:00

...because hey, why not? It's Sunday.

The Reason I Won't Tell My Kids That Santa Claus is Real

2008-01-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

(Click on the pictures for a larger view)

(Thanks to wetherobots.com)

Wistful

2008-01-11T22:24:00.001-08:00

I'm a bit wisful this evening - the proximate causes including my wife's temporary absence while she visits her parents and my semi-exhaustion from the project I'm working on. Fatigue, Vince Lombardi famously said, makes cowards of us all. But I also feel more heavily than usual the absence of my dad. It has been more than a year, and the pain is not generally so acute as it once was. But I notice that many of my former enthusiasms have been tempered by a sense of the evanescence of all things temporal. I understand more personally the expressions I noticed as a kid on the faces of older people as they consider today's pleasures in relation to times and people gone by.

The feeling of futility tells me I need to draw nearer to God. The wistfulness is partly an incorrect view of things (i.e., I'm not seeing things in light of what God tells us of what's ahead in eternity) but is also a reminder that this world is not my home. Sigh. How often I am reminded, and yet the lesson hurts still.

A Spoonful of Sugar...Please!

2008-01-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

I am struggling to force myself to do work that does not appeal to me in the least. I can think of a thousand things I'd rather be doing. I pity every child in school who has to force himself to sit in those chairs and do hour after hour of (what is to him) drudge work. I am both the child and the taskmaster right now. To see if I could find something encouraging on the internet to inspire me in this task, I found this admonition from William C. Gannett, author of Making the Most of Life (1886) admonishing us to “the very fundamentals of all fine manhood and fine womanhood, the fundamentals that underlie all fulness and without which no other culture worth the winning is even possible,” namely:

power of attention
power of industry
promptitude in beginning work
method and accuracy and despatch in doing it
perseverance
courage before difficulties
cheer
self-control and
self-denial "

The sermon in church this past Sunday was on giving thanks as you go through trials of all kinds. The pastor advised that if we cooperate with God and learn the lessons the first time, maybe God wouldn't have to keep bringing us round again and again through the same thing. Those who love me can pray I would not be mutton-headed, and would learn to exercise these qualities in the present state of self-imposed torture in which I find myself.

The Dirt Man!

2008-01-08T23:35:00.000-08:00

As I work this evening, I am listening to an interview with a professional investigator of the paranormal on the "Coast to Coast" show. He is skeptical of most of the things he has been called upon to investigate, from UFOs to haunted houses to sightings of the Moth Man. If only he could see what I've seen today! When I got up this morning, I heard a lot of grunting. Simultaneously, a man made of dirt - dirt! I kid you not! - gathered himself up and stood beside my bed. He has been with me ALL DAY and is WITH ME EVEN NOW! He's watching the screen as I type. Not only that, he's not just a mindless clod (clod, get it?) because even though I can't look into his eyes right now, I can tell he's thinking about what I'm writing.

It gets stranger. The dirt man was accompanied by a woman made of dirt, as well as a child, also made of dirt. Strange you may think it, but the dirt man seemed quite fond of them, caressing them with his hands of earth. He looked up at the sky earlier tonight and seemed to be moved by the beauty of the evening clouds.

He shows no sign of leaving, and evidently plans to be there when I go to bed. I won't be surprised if he stays with me all my days.

Amazing! A man made out of dirt, who not only functions physically, but also thinks, perceives, and feels. How did he come to be, this man of the unthinking, unconscious dust? Was he made in a moment, or did it take eons?

Either way, it would take a miracle. As any truly skeptical investigator could tell you, dirt just doesn't get up and do those sorts of things all by itself.

- Chris Ross

The Highlights of History

2008-01-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anybody is reading my posts or not, but if they are, they (you) should pay particular attention to this one. Every year around new Year's day, Hugh Hewitt posts his six-hour conversation from 2002 with Dr. Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, free to download (website listed below). They discuss the highlights of Western history, and the conversation is intended to be a sampler for people to find things they would like to learn more about. Dr. Arnn is a neat guy, and so is Hugh Hewitt. By "neat" I mean in this case that they are good, smart, wise, and worth listening to. I listened to the whole thing last year when I was painting part of my house. It was so good I think I'll listen every year. It's a really worthwhile experience for anybody who likes history and would like to know what it means to be Western in terms of ideas and outlook. You can listen or get the podcast at :http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=5

My Theory on Dragons and Giant Movie Monsters

2008-01-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

People are fascinated by dragons. Tolkien knew: the worm fires interest, from Fafnir to Smaug to Ancalagon the Black. The more the Cloverfield monster is like a dragon - i.e., lizard like and (this is a must) breathes fire - the greater its chance of capturing the popular imagination. I'll grant that wings in this case are not a must, since a monster as big as a skyscraper that breathed fire and could also fly is just a bit much to take on.

You're all laughing at me, I know. But you just wait and see if my theory holds water. If movie studios asked my opinion more often before they dumped millions into their movies, I could help them make a lot more money. [Yes, I know that the coolest movie dragon ever, Vermithrax (pictured above right) was in a movie that only fared modestly at the box office. But it was Vermithrax that made it possible for that movie to attain the status of a cult classic rather than a forgettable flop.]

Reading and Mental Health, Or Not

2008-01-01T15:27:00.001-08:00

This will have to be an abbreviated post today. Maybe I can expand tomorrow. With regard to Cloverfield: the Wikipedia article on Cloverfield noted that there were erroneous rumors that the movie was based on H.P. Lovecraft's horror stories. I looked up the article on Lovecraft. Fair disclosure: I've never read Lovecraft. But it's amazing to me that, just as there are linkages between authors that enrich the soul (I'm thinking, for example, of the Inklings, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers) there are apparently linkages between authors whose works tend to impoverish the soul. I guess I thought of them as being birds that flew solo. Silly of me, I guess. Lovecraft, and some of the authors connected with him, seem to have one link after another to suicide, mental illness, depression, atheism, cosmicism (which is the belief that human life is not so much meaningless as it is inconsequential and doomed), and racism. Then I went into a comic book store today. I keep forgetting why I gave up comics in between my visits. This is why. Darkness has largely taken over. It's depressing. C.S. Lewis said of Boswell (which could have been said of Lewis as well) that "to read him is to grow in mental health". Without wishing to condemn any person (especially those I have not read first hand) or any genre, I think I can say that I'm reminded that there are those authors for whom the opposite is true.

Second Life and Cloverfield

2007-12-31T15:17:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of new-ish things that have caught my interest lately:
1) Second Life, a 3-D virtual world created by its users, which they "inhabit" via their avatars. I think there must be the opportunity for me to make a lot of money from this somehow, but I haven't figured it out yet.

2) The viral marketing campaign for Cloverfield, a soon-to-be-released movie about a giant monster attacking Manhattan, told from the perspective of recordings made on personal video devices (think 9/11 news coverage meets Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project). "Cloverfield", by the way, may or may not be the actual title, and there is some speculation that it may be a Godzilla remake, though I doubt it. The roar, which I admit is Godzilla-esque, sounds like a foghorn slowed way down. For this reason, I wonder if it is perhaps a remake of, or inspired by, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which was itself adapted from Ray Bradbury's short story, The Fog Horn (the story is about a huge dinosaur, the last of its species, mistaking the sound of a fog horn for one of its own kind). The movie has one of the most intriguing trailers ever, generating rampant speculation and a whole lot of buzz. Like many others, I hope the movie lives up to its trailer. More on this tomorrow. (Who knew my blog topics would include American kaiju?)

Smart People Talking

2007-12-19T16:12:00.000-08:00

There's a radio show on NPR that has a game segment called "Things You Should Have Learned in School But Probably Didn't". Hardly anybody receives a classical education these days, so we have to go out and get the education we should have had for ourselves (plus, we should always be learning. As my grandmother says, "As the years go on you have to fight against the shrinking of your world"). Listening to wise and learned people in conversation is a fun part of this endeavor. Two of the smartest people I've ever met, Bill Bennett and Chuck Colson, converse for our listening pleasure about culture, religion, education, and politics at this link: http://billbennett.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx It's worth listening to. Click on the link for November 13.

The Resolve Note

2007-12-18T11:59:00.001-08:00

My friend Jonathan, who perhaps comprises one-third to one-half of my readership, has a blog worthy of consideration by those who have an interest in commentary on the culture and the journaling of life experiences and reflections by a thoughtful Christian man. It's called The Resolve Note (www.theresolvenote.blogspot.com ). (Jonathan, you need to tell me how to post a permanent link, because I've looked around and haven't found the way to do it.)

"Closing of the American Mind" 20 Years Later

2007-12-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

I've heard again and again about Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind" and sort of got the impression that it was a classic not to be missed (I confess that though it is on my reading list, it has never made it to the top). However, Thomas West's review of said book in the Claremont Review of Books takes Professor Bloom to task for several profound errors. Those who have any idea what I'm talking about at all will be interested in the article. Here is the link: http://claremont.org/publications/pubid.664/pub_detail.asp

And speaking of C.S. Lewis and postmodernism...

2007-11-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

Here's the classic "Men Without Chests" excerpt from Lewis' Abolition of Man:

"We were told it all long ago by Plato. As the king governs by his executive, so Reason in man must rule the mere appetites by means of the 'spirited element'. The head rules the belly through the chest—the seat, as Alanus tells us, of Magnanimity, of emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments. The Chest-Magnanimity-Sentiment—these are the indispensable liaison officers between cerebral man and visceral man. It may even be said that it is by this middle element that man is man: for by his intellect he is mere spirit and by his appetite mere animal.The operation of The Green Book and its kind is to produce what may be called Men without Chests. It is an outrage that they should be commonly spoken of as Intellectuals. This gives them the chance to say that he who attacks them attacks Intelligence. It is not so. They are not distinguished from other men by any unusual skill in finding truth nor any virginal ardour to pursue her. Indeed it would be strange if they were: a persevering devotion to truth, a nice sense of intellectual honour, cannot be long maintained without the aid of a sentiment which Gaius and Titius could debunk as easily as any other. It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so.

And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful."

C. S. Lewis Among the Postmodernists

2007-11-23T11:12:00.001-08:00

Here's a nice article on the above from David C. Downing. http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/lewis-postmodernists.html

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

2007-11-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Abraham Lincoln

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

Once again, Linus gives us the straight scoop on what a holiday is all about. Plus, Snoopy fights a lawn chair. See the video at http://youtube.com/watch?v=770znuTOKlM

The "Real" Weston

2007-11-15T13:24:00.001-08:00

For dyed-in-the-wool C.S. Lewis fans, here's a link to an article on Cambridge science professor J.B.S. Haldane, whose views on interplanetary colonization as a means of ensuring the survival of the human race (though apparently at the expense of much of what makes us human, according to Lewis) served as an inspiration for the character of Dr. Weston in Lewis' space trilogy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane Haldane wrote a review of the space trilogy titled "Auld Hornie, FRS". (Auld Hornie is an old Scottish name for the devil, and F.R.S. stands for "Fellow of the Royal Society".) Haldane's review can be read at http://www.solcon.nl/arendsmilde/cslewis/reflections/e-haldane.htm . Lewis' fascinating and enlightening "Reply to Professor Haldane", published after his death, can be read in Of This and Other Worlds, a collection of Lewis' shorter essays and literary criticism.

Wodehouse and the Use of Language

2007-11-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

There's no substitute for reading a P.G. Wodehouse story, but I hope my readers (all two of you) will enjoy these snippets of his wording. I was pleased to see recently that C.S. Lewis shared my opinion that "Right-Ho Jeeves" was "the funniest thing I've ever read".

The Aberdeen terrier gave me an unpleasant look and said something under his breath in Gaelic.

Sir Roderick Glossop ... is always called a nerve specialist, because it sounds better, but everybody knows that he's really a sort of janitor to the looney-bin.

I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.

...he uttered a stricken woofle, like a bulldog who had been refused cake.

``Man and boy, Jeeves, I have been in some tough spots in my time, but this one takes the mottled oyster.'' ``Certainly a somewhat sharp crisis in your affair would appear to have precipitated, sir.''

The Mind and the Maker

2007-11-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

We hear many muddle-headed statements from all sides these days concerning matters of faith and their relation to matters of science and "up-to-date" philosophies. The English philosopher L.T. Hobhouse has the prescription to cure this muddledness:

"All that religion requires of philosophy is a clear field, and no quarter given."

(Thanks to Dallas Willard for the quote.)

Addison's Talk

2007-11-08T23:00:00.000-08:00

After a good bit of work, I accidentally erased my latest post. But in its place I offer this admirable reflection on literary criticism by the British poet, Joseph Addison:

A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.

There's a good deal of good sense in that.

"Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us...?"

2007-11-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

[Theoden:] ‘Now, Gandalf, you said that you had counsel to give, if I would hear it. What is your counsel?’‘You have yourself already taken it,’ answered Gandalf. ‘To put your trust in Eomer, rather than in a man of crooked mind. To cast aside regret and fear. To do the deed at hand.’ (from “The King of the Golden Hall,” The Two Towers.)

A Christmas Party

2007-11-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door, and asked Scrooge if he knew it.
“Know it.” said Scrooge. “Was I apprenticed here.”
They went in. At sight of an old gentleman, Scrooge cried in great excitement: “Why, it's old Fezziwig. Bless his heart; it's Fezziwig alive again.”
Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and looked up at the clock, which pointed to the hour of seven. He rubbed his hands; adjusted his capacious waistcoat; laughed all over himself, from his shows to his organ of benevolence; and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice: “Yo ho, there. Ebenezer. Dick.”
Scrooge's former self, now grown a young man, came briskly in, accompanied by his fellow-prentice.
“Dick Wilkins, to be sure.” said Scrooge to the Ghost. “Bless me, yes. There he is. He was very much attached to me, was Dick. Poor Dick. Dear, dear.”
“Yo ho, my boys.” said Fezziwig. “No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer. Let's have the shutters up,” cried old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, “before a man can say Jack Robinson.”
You wouldn't believe how those two fellows went at it. They charged into the street with the shutters -- one, two, three -- had them up in their places -- four, five, six -- barred them and pinned then -- seven, eight, nine -- and came back before you could have got to twelve, panting like race-horses.
“Hilli-ho!” cried old Fezziwig, skipping down from the high desk, with wonderful agility. “Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here. Hilli-ho, Dick. Chirrup, Ebenezer.”
Clear away. There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life for evermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was as snug, and warm, and dry, and bright a ball-room, as you would desire to see upon a winter's night.
In came a fiddler with a music-book, and went up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra of it, and tuned like fifty stomach-aches. In came Mrs Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable. In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke. In came all the young men and women employed in the business. In came the housemaid, with her cousin, the baker. In came the cook, with her brother's particular friend, the milkman. In came the boy from over the way, who was suspected of not having board enough from his master; trying to hide himself behind the girl from next door but one, who was proved to have had her ears pulled by her mistress. In they all came, one after another; some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling; in they all came, anyhow and everyhow.
Away they all went, twenty couple at once; hands half round and back again the other way; down the middle and up again; round and round in various stages of affectionate grouping; old top couple always turning up in the wrong place; new top couple starting off again, as soon as they got there; all top couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them. When this result was brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop the dance, cried out, "Well done.” and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of porter, especially provided for that purpose. But scorning rest, upon his reappearance, he instantly began again, though there were no dancers yet, as if the other fiddler had been carried home, exhausted, on a shutter, and he were a bran-new man resolved to beat him out of sight, or perish.
There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler (an artful dog, mind. The sort of man who knew his business better than you or I could have told it him.) struck up Sir Roger de Coverley. Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs Fezziwig. Top couple, too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of partners; people who were not to be trifled with; people who would dance, and had no notion of walking.
But if they had been twice as many -- ah, four times -- old Fezziwig would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs Fezziwig. As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term. If that's not high praise, tell me higher, and I'll use it. A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves. They shone in every part of the dance like moons. You couldn't have predicted, at any given time, what would have become of them next. And when old Fezziwig and Mrs Fezziwig had gone all through the dance; advance and retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsey, corkscrew, thread-the-needle, and back again to your place; Fezziwig cut -- cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger.
When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr and Mrs Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the two prentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left to their beds; which were under a counter in the back-shop.
During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation. It was not until now, when the bright faces of his former self and Dick were turned from them, that he remembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear.
“A small matter,” said the Ghost,” to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.”
“Small.” echoed Scrooge.
The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so, said,
“Why. Is it not. He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise.”
“It isn't that,” said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self. “It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up: what then. The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” He felt the Spirit's glance, and stopped.
“What is the matter.” asked the Ghost.
“Nothing in particular,” said Scrooge.
“Something, I think.” the Ghost insisted.
“No,” said Scrooge,” No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That's all.”