Food for the Spirit and the Soul

Heeding the Call

Born 12 January 1876 – Jack London, American author, journalist, and social activist. I concede that there is some merit in the criticism that London was not especially adept at handling long narratives, such as the novel, but in his masterpiece, “The Call of the Wild,” he achieves a poetic grandeur that transcends the strictures of aesthetic form. There is something unabashedly primordial in the book’s stark appeal, something shadowy but also strangely familiar in its story, something that whispers to us from outside the sheltering walls of our increasingly virtual lives, reminding us of important matters that we have almost but not quite forgotten. I urge you to attend to that gently insistent call, as it addresses the reader in the Epigraph at the beginning of the novel:

“Old longings nomadic leap,
Chafing at custom’s chain;
Again from its brumal sleep
Wakens the ferine strain.”

And then read on, heading out with Buck into the vast uncharted heart of the world, which is the landscape of all true adventures.

What is a “Conservative”?

Born 12 January 1729 – Edmund Burke, Irish statesman, orator, political theorist, and philosopher. Though the noun “conservative” in American political usage has generally become synonymous with “religious zealot,” “ideological extremist,” and “corporate shill,” Edmund Burke was the genuine article. Throughout his career, he consistently defended traditional social norms but also recognized that creative change is necessary to preserve the political, intellectual, spiritual, ethical, and economic health of both individuals and nations. For example, though steadfastly loyal to British cultural values, Burke supported the cause of American Revolutionaries. I wonder how many self-styled conservatives among the current crop of Republican Presidential candidates have even heard of Edmund Burke, let alone read his work (presuming that all of them can and do read).

As readers ponder the quotations from Edmund Burke posted below, I ask them to consider which ones would delight Tea Party partisans and which ones would appall them – and why. What, then, do these candidates and their respective supporters mean by their frequently stated claim that they, and they alone, are the “true” conservatives?


“All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” 

“A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.”

“But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.”

“Custom reconciles us to everything.”
“
If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.” 

“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.”

“Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy.”

“Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement.”

“The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.” 
“Religious persecution may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and over-zealous piety.”

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
“To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.”

”It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.”

“When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.”

Edmund Burke - Conservative

Stating The Obvious

I don’t know why so many political pundits keep puzzling over the question of what’s wrong with Mitt Romney, when answer is obvious: Like most American men who have devoted themselves to becoming rich at the expense of their humanity, Mitt Romney has no soul.

(For my definition of what constitutes “soul,” click on the “About” tab, above.)

January 8: A Good Day For Religious Musings

Died 8 January 1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist and astronomer: “It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.”
If theocratic Creationists get their vile political way in America, scientifically-determined facts will once again be “heresy.” Interestingly, “heresy” comes from a Greek root meaning “to choose” or “choice,” and choice is exactly what most religious authorities deny their cowed underlings. As a wise man said, “Philosophy gives us questions we cannot answer; religion gives us answers we cannot question.”

Born 8 January 1981 – Graham Chapman, English comedian and actor, best known for his performances with Monty Python’s Flying Circus: “We don’t deliberately set out to offend. Unless we feel it’s justified. And in the case of certain well-known religions, it was justified.”
Offense to the offensive, I say.

Born 8 January 1979 – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress, who, commenting on the most important difference between “The Passion of the Christ” and “Dawn of the Dead” (in which she starred), said: “They’ve got only one guy who comes back from the dead. We’ve got millions.”
This seems to me to be a conclusive argument for the religious superiority of Zombie-ism. Below – High Priestess Sarah:

Of Error and Illusion

Something for Americans to think about during an important election year:

“But if the young are never tired of erring in conduct, neither are the older in erring of judgment.” – Fanny Burney, English writer who died on 6 January 1840

“Half the work that is done in this world is to make things appear what they are not.” – Elias Root Beadle, American minister who died on 6 January 1879

Something For The American Electorate To Think About

“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” John Steinbeck

The Bridge

When I was a young man living in New Jersey, I would often take the bus across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, in order to ride the subway downtown to the bookstores, art galleries, and coffee shops of Greenwich Village. One evening the Port Authority Police stopped the bus on which I was traveling, because a blizzard had temporarily closed the bridge. Rather than return home, I decided to walk across the bridge, and it was a memorable experience: I was quickly enveloped in the deep quiet that attends a serious snow fall, and the lights of the great city were barely visible in the spindrift. I could not even see the wide Hudson coursing seaward just below me, and places long familiar had become strange. The storm suddenly increased in intensity, and for a brief moment I feared losing my way, and so I kept my hand steady on the rail as I walked steadily forward into what seemed the very heart of winter. 


The photograph below reminds me of that occasion, and I hope that it both delights everyone with its haunting beauty and perhaps causes a few people to recollect some equally memorable time and place in a now-distant winter of their own.

A NOTE TO THE CITIZENS OF IOWA

I know that the tawdry morality play masquerading as political campaigning in your state is an embarrassment to many thoughtful Iowans, regardless of their party affiliation. The candidates for whom Republicans will vote in caucuses tomorrow run the gamut from mediocre to deplorable, and the support they garner from large numbers of ignorant, superstitious, and hate-filled people must sometimes make intelligent and informed Iowans feel very lonely. If there is a crumb of comfort I can offer you it is this: If you lived in Texas, you would feel even lonelier.

Some Advice That Is More Than Cosmetic

Elizabeth Arden

Born 31 December 1884 – Florence Nightingale Graham, Canadian-American businesswoman who, under the name Elizabeth Arden, built a cosmetics empire in the United States and became one of the wealthiest women on the planet. Here is a quote from Elizabeth Arden that every male should ponder in the new year: “Treat a horse like a woman and a woman like a horse. And they’ll both win for you.”


Gentlemen: Given Elizabeth Arden’s impeccable credentials (she was a woman; she was rich), if your girlfriend/spouse/concubine (lucky you!) objects to this sound relationship advice, she is almost certainly either a man-hating feminist or, worse, a liberty-loathing socialist, and so you should dump her immediately.


Below: An appropriate gift for your special lady (oats not included).

Custom Leather Feed Bag

Taking Refuge – Again

Not to belabor the obvious, but with the Iowa caucuses just days away, this seems a timely reminder: “Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” – Boies Penrose, Republican politician and United States Senator from Pennsylvania, who died on 31 December 1921.
We can smile at this statement, but the joke is on us, because only a nation that is intellectually incompetent, ethically benighted, and politically corrupt would continue to elect so many scoundrels to public office.

Boies Penrose