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!

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In Meditation 5, Descartes grounds the truth of his clear and distinct impressions about material reality in the certain existence of God, proven through his famous ontological argument for God's existence.

"because I cannot conceive God unless as existing, it follows that existence is inseparable from him, and therefore that he really exists: not that this is brought about by my thought, or that it imposes any necessity on things, but, on the contrary, the necessity which lies in the thing itself, that is, the necessity of the existence of God, determines me to think in this way: for it is not in my power to conceive a God without existence, that is, a being supremely perfect, and yet devoid of an absolute perfection."

And, if God exists, He is the guarantor of the truth of that which we doubted so carefully in these meditations:

"after I have discovered that God exists, seeing I also at the same time observed

Thus Descartes grounds all our knowledge in God's existence.

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Churchill seeks to prepare his people for another season of domestic bombing by the Luftwaffe, displaying again that rhetorical mastery to crystallize problems and meet them with fortitude.

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"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.

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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!

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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!

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Rene Descartes' classic philosophical work, Meditations on First Philosophy, is a participative exercise in thinking. Join one of history's great philosophical minds in considering the nature of the world and how we think about it.

In Meditation IV, titled "Of Truth and Error," Descartes begins by recalling what we can know with certainty, our own existence and the existence of God. And it is the latter, God's existence, that suggests a path out of subjectivity into objective knowledge:

"And now I seem to discover a path that will conduct us from the contemplation of the true God, in whom are contained all the treasures of science and wisdom, to the knowledge of the other things in the universe."

If God exists, and God is no deceiver, then we have good reason to rely on our God-given capacities, when rightly used, to discover Truth. It is the notion of being "rightly used" that takes up most of Descartes' attention in this Meditation.

We are, by nature, finite, and yet our freedom of judgment is for all practical purposes infinite, so we must restrain that freedom in proportion to our grasp of reality.

"Whence, then, spring my errors? They arise from this cause alone, that I do not restrain the will, which is of much wider range than the understanding, within the same limits, but extend it even to things I do not understand, and as the will is of itself indifferent to such, it readily falls into error and sin by choosing the false in room of the true, and evil instead of good."

When we fail to so restrain our judgment, we fall into error. Descartes, then, takes his position alongside Socrates in the plea to always keep our own ignorance in view.

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"On June 22, 1941, over 3 million German troops invade Russia in three parallel offensives, in what is the most powerful invasion force in history. Nineteen panzer divisions, 3,000 tanks, 2,500 aircraft, and 7,000 artillery pieces pour across a thousand-mile front as Hitler goes to war on a second front."

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-launches-operation-barbarossathe-invasion-of-russia

The invasion was dubbed "Operation Barbarossa." Churchill proclaims the invasion the "fourth climacteric" of the war.

As a vocal opponent of Russian communism, the Prime Minister nevertheless promises all possible support to the USSR in its fight against Hitler's war machine.

"We have but one aim and one single irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime. From this nothing will turn us. Nothing. We will never parley; we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land; we shall fight him by sea; we shall fight him in the air, until, with God's help, we have rid the earth of his shadow and liberated its people from his yoke....

It follows, therefore, that we shall give whatever help we can to Russia and to the Russian people. We shall appeal to all our friends and Allies in every part of the world to take the same course and pursue it as we shall, faithfully and steadfastly to the end....

The Russian danger is therefore our danger and the danger of the United States just as the cause of any Russian fighting for his hearth and home is the cause of free men and free peoples in every quarter of the globe."

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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!

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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]

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