Truly truly, one of the reasons we do not respond to trollbait is that Engaging in dialogue with those who do not share our assumptions is nothing more than a stupid way to kill time (NGD). To respond or even read them is to participate in the very stupidity one wishes to avoid.
The only exception to the rule would involve a genuine argument over principles, but this is what the leftist scrupulously avoids, because to clarify his principles is to reveal their absurdity.
Along these lines, a reader alerted me a helpful article called How Metaphysics Can Fix This American Mess, which is a somewhat unfortunate title, being that one of the most important metaphysical principles is the understanding that -- in the words of the Aphorist -- To be a conservative is to understand that man is a problem without a human solution. (https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2021/10/how-metaphysics-can-fix-this-american-mess-john-horvat.html?utm_source=The+Imaginative+Conservative+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5c9a2bb4e1-Weekly+Newsletter_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6c8d563f42-5c9a2bb4e1-132498265&mc_cid=5c9a2bb4e1&mc_eid=4e99f8940d)
In short, one's metaphysic must in some form or fashion acknowledge our primordial catastrophe and our inability to save ourselves, otherwise we fall into a destructive promethean pride no less baleful than its sickular cousin. Obviously, a big part of metaphysics is knowing what man is and where he fits into the total cosmic scheme.
Nor does anything in metaphysics -- i.e., on this side of heaven -- spare us the final leap of faith. To pretend man can live without faith leads to the implicit faith that man is a god, and we all know where that leads.
Moreover, metaphysics is abstract while life is concretely lived, such that one's metaphysical understanding must pass from vague to distinct to realized to lived to transmitted and back.
Consider the subject of this post: is it possible to adequately transmit what one hasn't realized and lived? You might counter that what Bob has realized is stupid or trivial, but you can't deny I've realized it and that I am thereby fully qualified to teach my brand of cosmic stupidity.
Now, while there is only one possible straight line between two points, an infinite number of lines can pass through a single point. At the moment I'm resting in the latter, meaning this post can take off in any number of directions and I have to pick one. Well, I don't literally have to, but if I don't limit myself, the post will never end.
So let's pick a line that's fresh in my mind, the last chapter of Garrigou-Lagrange's Thomistic Common Sense, called The Intellect's First Glance and Contemplation. It begins with the Padre noting the existence of a certain resemblance
between the child's first intellectual glance and the simple contemplation experienced by the old man who has discovered the true meaning and value of life after the trials and disillusions that time brings in order to prepare us for eternity.
What G-L means by that first intellectual glance is the spontaneous understanding that the object of the intellect is being. Not to say this is consciously and distinctly realized or explicated, only that we vaguely apprehend the intelligible being of sensible things; the rest is commentary, no matter how deeply we subsequently penetrate into being
For "without the intellect's first glance on intelligible reality, all human, scientific, and philosophical knowledge would be impossible." Or better, "profound scientific knowledge, accompanied with humility, leads us to return to our primitive view of the whole of things seen from on high..."
Conversely, "in place of the primitive simplicity of an already-elevated glance, one finds the supposedly-learned complexity of a knowledge that in fact slides downward into decay.... If our life is not elevated to the heights of our thought, then the latter does not delay in descending to the level of our life."
And yet, it can cost close to 100k a year for the privilege of immersing oneself in this decay.
We all know the cliche that religion is for the intelligent-but-humble and ordinary-but-lofty souls, whereas it is beyond the reach of typical midwits of the politico-academic-media complex. Similarly, "A little science thus takes away the virtual richness of the first glance," but "much science brings one back to it." Or "much psychology" in my case.
Once we are introduced as children to the intelligibility of being, we're off to the vertical races:
From this moment, the intellect seeks out something that surpasses the senses and imagination: the raisons d'être of things, their "why," their cause.... From this first contact with intelligible reality, our intellect grasps that the true is that which is and that a true judgment is is one that is conformed to reality.
Yes, common sense, but how uncommon -- and often illegal -- it has become in our day. As someone once said, political correctness is a war on noticing, especially commonsensical things such as boys = boys and girls = girls, or CRT = racist filth, or our president = demented crook. "Cancel culture" is just weaponized PC.
Which is understandable for reasons mentioned above: since these authoritarians cannot defend their principles without exposing their absurdity, they must harass, attack, cancel, and investigate those of us with common sense.
Back to our common sense metaphysical principles. If one follows that first glance at intelligible being all the way up, one arrives at something like a Universal and Necessary Object -- or just call it UNO for short.
If you're on the right track, the next thing you'll realize is that I am not that. Then again, I am not exactly not that either, depending upon how we look at it. For one thing, to realize it is to participate in it (or It in us, rather), and isn't that intriguing? This leads to a principle of Incarnation -- or a principle by which it is possible -- but we'll have to tackle that one in a subsequent post.
Penultimate bottomline for today:
A beautiful life is a youthful thought realized in mature age. More beautiful still is the life that, up to its last breath, is the realization of a divine inspiration.
Bottom line goes to Sr. D:
A fulfilled life is one that after long years delivers to the grave an adolescent whom life did not corrupt.
At risk of sounding boastful, I have the adolescent part down.
14 comments:
Aw look. Nobody else bothered to leave a comment except a troll. Too bad you can't read it.
Mustn't break your own rule.
The only exception to the rule would involve a genuine argument over principles, but this is what the leftist scrupulously avoids, because to clarify his principles is to reveal their absurdity.
What makes you think the troll is a leftist? You don't suppose a *gasp* centrist might be on the loose? What are the chances, they are so rare?
At least this post gets down to some insultainment. The prior post didn't garner much attention because it was just too nice.
Best not to let that happen again. Well now we know what your readers think you are good for. And it isn't principles.
One who does not share our repugnance does not understand our ideas.
Which is understandable for reasons mentioned above: since these authoritarians cannot defend their principles without exposing their absurdity, they must harass, attack, cancel, and investigate those of us with common sense.
That wouldn't be so terrible if, in the investigation portion, they were capable of learning something of benefit to themselves in the course of investigation. But of course, like our troll, they aren't there to understand what we see or what we seek.
So about all those celebs with tranny kids, apparently there's some good news: Brad/ Angelina's biological daughter who has for years been paraded about dressed as a boy now feels comfortable in public in a dress. Age-appropriate, too. Color me shocked, in a good way.
"Centrist" ... the unicorn of politics. Hilarious.
Centrism is the virtue of the man without principles.
I've always been a conservative. Born and raised and lifelong. Yet because I've never figured out how to work these dangblasted blog buttons and so always have to post as "anonymous", I've been tagged as a leftist and everything I say gets completely ignored or taken way out of context. This must end now!
Oh dear, I'm getting misty.
Actually, “centrism” can mean many things. It can mean political apathy, or it can be “the most impartial place from which to start the debate”, or it can be some Clintonian third way centrism corporate crony asskissing bullshit, or it can be what many humans used to be before they started mutating into two different species. Let me explain.
I’d like to talk about human plasticity and divergent genetics.
Now, as some of you may know, human plasticity is a thing. If a human eats more than the norm they’ll become wider than the norm. If a human drinks more than the norm they’ll become drunker than the norm. The body can also adapt itself to the type of exercise it does with regularity. And just as one is what one eats, drinks, or exercises, one can also become whatever it is that one consumes informationally.
For example, if one’s only source of information is the Bible, then one will begin to mutate into a monk, nun, or priest prone to praying incessantly. If one’s only source of information is science, one will eventually mutate into a bespectacled geek prone to intellectual condescension. Unfortunately for either species, procreation is virtually impossible and no genes shall be passed on to create new human subspecies. But there are others.
I’d like to propose that two large groups of American humans are mutating into two distinct species. Most of the remaining third will of course remain the typical unprincipled centrist American typified by most weekly television sitcoms.
The first new human species which consumes only Fox, Newsmax, and Kenneth Copeland is becoming whiter, doughier, more faith-based with the cause-effect reasoning, and prone to angry group outbursts at PTAs using a quickened higher-pitched speaking voice similar to Ben Shapiros.
The second new human species which consumes only NPR and public university academic material is becoming browner, more bearded hipster regardless of sex, more into health food and scientific reasoning, with an increasing ability to change their sex at will.
I believe there will soon be three human species all trying to live on the same planet. Do we have Elon Musk take one species to Mars while the other species gets sent to Texas? Discuss.
The philosophical opinions of a youth can only be interesting to his mother.
And sometimes, not even then.
Good discussion, folks.
Speaking of Trump, anti-authoritarians following authoritarians does sound kinda South American. Columbia had Pablo Excobar celebrating his freedoms. The good news is that 90% of Columbians are Christians.
While finding this out, I learned that 88% of Venezuelans also consider themselves Christians. That's much higher than the 70% of Americans. An odd figure, considering that Venezuela is far more leftist than American is. Could America actually be "deep state leftist? Discuss.
No answer can be more intelligent than the question that gave rise to it.
Indeed Nicolás.
I once advocated that there could be common ground to be found between irrelevant slack and powerless self-reliance. Perhaps in the shared misanthropy? In a desire to be one’s own spiritual guru, as a wise young guru once advised my own then-young self? In a mutual distrust of disco?
But the irony of the self-reliant leftist and the slacker conservative just seems too much to overcome.
I’ve recently learned that one becomes whatever their chosen community is, no matter how much they try to isolate themselves into library utopian-prisons. They’ll just wind up rationalizing anything which conflicts with their perceptions, in the effort to maintain their standing in their chosen community.
I worry about the diverging extremism. For example, back in ‘04 while reading a blog full of characters angsty about Dubya’s re-election, so angsty that they were declaring fascism had taken hold in our democracy, somebody showed up and linked to an angry conservative’s essay which after reading, earned my respect. That guy called Dubya out for exactly what he was, far too compassionate to ever be a fascist demagogue. And maybe a bit too dumb. And he proclaimed that if fascism ever looked to be on our horizon, for real that time, that he’d be loading up leftist rifles for these leftists to fight it.
So I monitored that guy from time to time. I observed his tone changing.
Fast forward to the present time. Today he seems a full blown proto-fascist of the Pinochet variety. Americans aren’t so much supposed to solve their own problems in slackish ways, but to support authoritarian demagogues who’ll do all that for them. No matter how often I tell the guy that the CRT crisis was faked, that the BLMs are a minority issue, that the danger of dangerous trannies has been overblown, he seems to need a Dear Leader who’ll wipe all that away.
Maybe now I know what happened to this once thoughtful soul.
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