Simple Gifts

George Orwell's 1984 is classic dystopian literature, but it is also psychologically astute and prescient concerning the totalitarian tendencies of the 20th century's ideologies. With the rise of 21st century Wokism currently in vogue, its message is a clarion call for the present, too. Let us beware of embracing rather than opposing the lies that are being forced upon us, lest we find ourselves, too, living in a world in which we must guard our very thoughts, lest they betray us. Hold fast to the truth, no matter the consequences!

Enjoy ... and be vigilant!

If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

"The remaining task is to consider whether material things exist." Spoiler alert: they do, and we can know them when we properly utilize the evidence of our senses, restraining our will and judgment to what is "clearly and distinctly perceived." Even so, we are bound to make errors, as we are finite creatures. Socrates would be proud, though he would probably be even more skeptical than Descartes.

I would encourage my listeners, if interested, to listen to our series called "The Evident, Evidence, and Faith" on our Christian Atheist Podcast, as we deal with some of these same issues there.

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#rene #descartes #renedescartes #meditations #meditation #meditationsonfirstphilosophy #firstphilosophy #materialthings #existence #evidence #senses #will #judgment #socrates #plato #philosophy #philosopher #frenchphilosophy #frenchphilosopher #skeptical #skeptic #faith

On Christmas Eve, 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill is ensconced in the White House with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He addressed the American people and the world from the South Portico following President Roosevelt at the tree lighting ceremony.

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#churchil #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #christmas #whitehouse #southportico #treelighting #christmaseve

"The dominant impression I get from reading the Psalms is one of great antiquity. I seem to be looking into a deep pit of time, but looking through a lens which brings the figures who inhabit that depth up to my eye."

This is typical Lewis, but what may shock readers/listeners is what follows:

"In that momentary proximity they are almost shockingly alien; creatures of unrestrained emotion, wallowing in self-pity, sobbing, cursing, screaming in exultation, clashing uncouth weapons or dancing to the din of strange musical instruments."

There is much of great value here to reap from Lewis's fertile mind, but this essay will be off-putting to many who love the Psalms.

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #religion #religious #evangelical #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #cslewis #lewis #psalms #essay #poetryofthebible #antiquity

Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, was written when the poet was blind. Having never read it, I thought it high time, and to share it with my listeners as I do so. Judging by the first book, it will not be easy going. Let's explore this classic of Western literature together!

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#paradiselost #paradise #johnmilton #milton #poetry #poem #epic #epicpoem #classicpoetry #classicpoem #classics #westernliterature #satan #hell #earth #christianity #religion #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry

George Orwell's 1984 is classic dystopian literature, but it is also psychologically astute and prescient concerning the totalitarian tendencies of the 20th century's ideologies. With the rise of 21st century Wokism currently in vogue, its message is a clarion call for the present, too. Let us beware of embracing rather than opposing the lies that are being forced upon us, lest we find ourselves, too, living in a world in which we must guard our very thoughts, lest they betray us. Hold fast to the truth, no matter the consequences!

Enjoy ... and be vigilant!

If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

"The remaining task is to consider whether material things exist." Spoiler alert: they do, and we can know them when we properly utilize the evidence of our senses, restraining our will and judgment to what is "clearly and distinctly perceived." Even so, we are bound to make errors, as we are finite creatures. Socrates would be proud, though he would probably be even more skeptical than Descartes.

I would encourage my listeners, if interested, to listen to our series called "The Evident, Evidence, and Faith" on our Christian Atheist Podcast, as we deal with some of these same issues there.

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#rene #descartes #renedescartes #meditations #meditation #meditationsonfirstphilosophy #firstphilosophy #materialthings #existence #evidence #senses #will #judgment #socrates #plato #philosophy #philosopher #frenchphilosophy #frenchphilosopher #skeptical #skeptic #faith

On October 29, 1941 the Prime Minister returned to his alma mater, Harrow School in London, founded under Queen Elizabeth I.

"

When Churchill visited Harrow on October 29 to hear the traditional songs again, he discovered that an additional verse had been added to one of them. It ran:

"Not less we praise in darker days

America’s National Churchill Museum | Never Give In, Never, Never, Never

Here he delivered one of the most memorable lines of his career.

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#churchill #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #nevergivein

The "great myth" whose funeral Lewis here announces never in fact died. It is alive and well, indeed flourishing and dominant among us, as our podcast, The Christian Atheist, has repeatedly argued.

"The central idea of the Myth is what its believers would call 'Evolution' or 'Development' or 'Emergence' ... I do not mean that the doctrine of Evolution as held by practising biologists is a Myth.... we must sharply distinguish between Evolution as a biological theorem and popular Evolutionism or Developmentalism which is certainly a Myth."

Lewis argues that the Myth originates not logically but imaginatively and emotionally well in advance of the scientific doctrine of biological evolution. I certainly agree with him on the timetable - the myth preceded the science, it did not result from science.

"In making" the Myth, Lewis says, "Imagination runs ahead of scientific evidence. 'The prophetic soul of the big world' was already pregnant with the Myth: if science has not met the imaginative need, science would not have been so popular. But probably every age gets, within certain limits, the science it desires."

"In the science, Evolution is a theory about changes: in the Myth it is a fact about improvements.... In the popular mind the word 'Evolution' conjures up a picture of things moving 'onwards and upwards,' and of nothing else whatsoever.... Already, before science had spoken, the mythical imagination knew the kind of 'Evolution' it wanted. It wanted ... the young, joyous, careless, amorous Siegfried superseding the care-worn, anxious, treaty-entangled Wotan. If science offers any instances to satisfy that demand, they will be eagerly accepted. If it offers any instances that frustrate it, they will simply be ignored."

"For the scientist Evolution is a purely biological theorem. It takes over organic life on this planet as a going concern and tries to explain certain changes within that field. It makes no cosmic statements, no metaphysical statements, no eschatological statements.... But the Myth .., having first turned what was a theory of change into a theory of improvement, it then makes this a cosmic theory. Not merely terrestrial organisms but everything is moving 'upwards and onwards.' Reason has 'evolved' out of instinct, virtue out of complexes, poetry out of erotic howls and grunts, civilization out of savagery, the organic out of the inorganic, the solar system out of some sidereal soup or traffic block. And conversely, reason, virtue, art and civilization as we now know them are only the crude or embryonic beginnings of far better things - perhaps Deity itself - in the remote future. For in the Myth, 'Evolution' (as the Myth understands it) is the formula of all existence.... To those brought up on the Myth nothing seems more normal, more natural, more plausible, than that chaos should turn into order, death into life, ignorance into knowledge. And with this we reach the full-blown Myth. It is one of the most moving and satisfying world dramas which have ever been imagined."

Truly understanding the depth of Lewis's thought here requires serious study, as there is far more than meets the eye. I find this essay one of Lewis's most suggestive, but least satisfying. I would love to hear what you think!

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #religion #religious #evangelical #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #funeral #funeralofagreatmyth #essay ##cslewis #myth

Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, was written when the poet was blind. Having never read it, I thought it high time, and to share it with my listeners as I do so. Judging by the first book, it will not be easy going. Let's explore this classic of Western literature together!

If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#paradiselost #paradise #johnmilton #milton #poetry #poem #epic #epicpoem #classicpoetry #classicpoem #classics #westernliterature #satan #hell #earth #christianity #religion #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelism #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry