Opinion 98: intro to Dante

Opinion 97

More from Wittgenstein:

In philosophy the winner of the race is the one who can run most slowly. Or: the one who gets there last.

The truth can be spoken only by someone who is already at home in it; not by someone who still lives in falsehood and reaches out from falsehood towards truth on just one occasion.

Often it is only very slightly more disagreeable to tell the truth than to lie; about as difficult as drinking bitter rather than sweet coffee; and yet I still have a strong inclination to lie.

Opinion 96

I was thinking as I rode home the other night about all the little treasures one has in his or her life, about the connections and events, and even the traditions that somehow or another mean the world to a person. They are usually not particularly significant, as far as any "historical significance" is concerned. They are quiet things. A special look, one's garden, strange and hazy memories from a childhood - these make one's whole life. But when these are analyzed outside of their context they don't seem to add up to much.

It seems that life is so fragile, so fraught with the potential for mis-communion, that we are given to cherish with such zealousness the little bit of harmony that we can find. Many unconscious hours go into a few minutes of peace.

It is important to realize that those around us are experiencing the same thing. It is very easy to get bored quickly with the stories and fascinations of others. They seem so blasé , trite even, or just irrelevant. We forget that for the other, these little trivialities might very well be the web that binds their entire life to some sense of meaning. We forget how fragile our significances, mocking others for such insignificance.

Some sense of meaning, some odd appropriation of truth - these things are hard to come by! I am here not talking about the truth of intellectual assent. Rather, it is the truth of quiet tradition, of unspoken action, the truth of instinct in its best and most holy incarnation, it is these that our lives are actually built around. Quite exhausted, however, by our own tenuous footing, we lack the energy and insight to see those little hovels of meaning (for surely they are hovels, though we meant to build towers) in which our neighbors live.

Opinion 95

Three interesting thoughts on religion from Wittgenstein:

In religion every level of devoutness must have its appropriate form of expression which has no sense at a lower level. This doctrine, which means something at a higher level, is null and void for someone who is still at the lower level; he can only understand it wrongly and so these words are not valid for such a person.

For instance, at my level the Pauline doctrine of predestination is ugly nonsense, irreligiousness. Hence it is not suitable for me, since the only use I could make of the picture I am offered would be a wrong one. If it is a good and godly picture, then it is so for someone at a quite different level, who must use it in his life in a way completely different from anything that would be possible for me.

A Lutheresque sentiment

People are religious to the extent that they believe themselves to be not so much imperfect, as ill.
Any man who is half-way decent will think himself extremely imperfect, but a religious man thinks himself wretched.

Finally,

God may say to me: 'I am judging you out of your own mouth. Your own actions have made you shudder with disgust when you have seen other people do them.'

Opinion 95

Look folks, you read the disclaimer.

Opinion 94

The man who conscientiously finds a trash receptacle for each of his properly extinguished cigarettes has never really smoked.

Opinion 93

"For Christ's sake!"

Hardly taking the Lord's name in vain, if you ask me.

Opinion 92

Never be surprised to find yourself addicted to what you hate.

Opinion 91

Lonely night. Crack, pour, pop pop. Terrible whiskey.

Opinion 90

Whose putting their what,where, and under what religious pretensions, is big news.

Opinion 89

Every age suffers from the tendency to conclude that it has reached a stage of final and decisive knowledge. Among our age's certitudes:
1) That the scientific method is the sole means for sure and conclusive knowledge.
2) That being "of age" and giving one's "consensus" are the only two categories for the legitimate or even "moral" use of one's genitalia.

Number two of course can not really be verified by number one. No age is without its absurdities.

Opinion 88

Is our modern age special? Well, it is certainly different in many ways than the ages that have come before. But is it more difficult? It is harder for a soul to be saved in our modern age? Only God knows this.

It is true that many of us have a harsh reaction to the sicknesses of the modern age. But we do not know and perhaps cannot know what it was like to have a reaction to the sicknesses of previous ages.

We often look to the past with longing and to the future with despair. The present is for us an itching. Whatever the justification for our longings and despairing, the itching of the present for us is a sign not necessarily of their sickness, but of our sickness.

It is impossible for us to get out of our own times. It is perhaps also not possible for us to remove ourselves from the sins of our time. There is a tremendous momentum in an age that sweeps us along, uncaring of our opinions of its course and manner.

All critics are absurd. We sit in foreign-made shorts and shirt, drinking Kentucky bourbon while listening to Indie music, reading Goethe and staring at nice religious icons. Our kin are at the computer and our littlest kin sleep in alien garb. We are all clowns.

And maybe this is it. Maybe, contrary to the whole tone of this writing, if we were to diagnose one of the specific maladies of the modern age, it would be this: that is has made clowns out of all of us. And then, with the door of diagnosis breached, we might say that this is the very purpose of the modern age: to teach us that we are all asses.

My friend's father, a California Republican, heavy drinker, husband in his life to three women, Evangelical/The Secret reader, loser of many jobs, aimless and aware of it, confessed recently to his son: "I think I am one of God's jokes." It was not meant to be cute. It was a confession that life really didn't go as it should have. It was a confession that human beings are stunted and immature - yet aged in the fact that they can see this and name it.

Then again, our misbehaviour in this age, our murder and destruction, should lead us to be cautious in chalking up this age to humour. It would be cruel of a god to use millions of death as an object lesson.

Opinion 87

Some women are low, low, low.

Opinion 86

It was also sweet to see that Mr. Cain was concerned that all religious folk make sure they are loyal to the Constitution first, their religion, second. Yes, I know I know. He was talking about Muslims. Christians don't have a loyalty problem.

Opinion 85: The Republican Debate

We've got to "keep America the hope of the Earth". Yes. The Lord Christ just doesn't really cut it, does he?

Opinion 84

One wonders if it would be better for the battle against homosexuality to be lost in society quickly and decidedly. Then orthodox church's could get back to the business of what they do best: preaching Christ crucified, and could stop wasting resources on fighting a losing battle (often fought in a way that alienates everyone, leads to sick self-righteousness, and creates a special "class" of sinners - Samaritans as it were - that get the shit kicked out of them from the pulpit). As a pastor told me, "the church has always had homosexuals in it and always will. Where else would they go? Every group finds something in Christ compelling, something worthy of worship." I mean, let's be honest: if its not the gays, its the muslims, if its not the muslims, its the socialists...it just keeps going. The Church does not have enemies of flesh and blood. When it tries to, it becomes its own enemy. The faithful will retain the teachings of eternal life. It might not be easy, but it will last. But how much time must we waste and how many must we scape-goat along the way?

Opinion 83

My daughter is set to be baptized come Sunday. I told her this morning that she has a mere four days left to live as a pagan and that she might do well focus on getting it out of her system. All she does now, of course, is eat, defecate and vomit. I expect most of that to end after her run-in with the laver of regeneration.

I've not yet gotten the heart to tell her that she cannot have milk on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Opinion 82

Have you ever contemplated the strange sin of fantasizing your own funeral? It feels so satisfying, even for a moment, to consider just how much you'll be missed, and just how remarkable folks will come to realize you were. Of course, you have to be dead to get the praise. What a queer combination of pride and despair.

Opinion 81

It was 1:30 in the morning. He sat on the porch, drinking Hamm's and reading The Scholastic Analysis of Usury, asking himself how it was that his life had come to this.

Opinion 80

We must as Christians learn to live in the new digital reality. Much human potential for good thought and all-around goodness is being traded for the new magic. I shouldn't even say "is being traded", rather it has been traded. It is too late to go back. The barbarians are at the gate. The Turks have sacked Constantinople. Digital goths and heathens are run amok. Dark ages are upon us, lit up by tiny flashing lights. And we Christians were among the throng that opened the gates from within, welcoming the hoards of Thought-Stoppers. We even thought these digital savages could be used by us to our own religious ends. We'd convert the heathen, employ them in our armies, pillage old villages with new warriors, etc. Indeed, they have been used by us to our religious ends with great gusto, though God knows our religious ends and his religious ends rarely meet.

So we must learn to live in an age where people are willingly and enthusiastically making themselves stupider. We are giving away patience. We are casting off thoughtfulness. We have tossed slowness of speech overboard, bored as we were by its voice. We Christians and those around us have become and will continue to be less able, less clear and less human. The City has crumbled. Move on.

Opinion 79

Me: Boss, you've got some things going for you and all, but you treat your employees like shit. I quit.
Boss: No, stay. I am sorry. And it's not my fault, really.
Me: Apology accepted but I am still going.

The destined conversation occurred this morning.

Opinion: there are better and worse options, but no good options.

Opinion 78

The last few pages of A Canticle for Leibowitz: yikes, don't read them on your ten minute work break. Or be ready to explain to your co-workers the sudden turn to weepiness.

Opinion 77

Sentimentality is no weapon against depravity.