Simple Gifts

Book 9 of REPUBLIC begins by addressing the psychological makeup of the tyrant. It is remarkable for it psychoanalytical depth and insight. Using the content of the previous 8 books, Socrates argues that the tyrant is the most miserable of men, and his opposite, the philosopher-king, the most blessed and just.

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On January 17th, 1961 President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address to the nation on TV. He had served two full terms, from 1953, and was at the time the oldest president in history, handing down the reins of government to the youngest man to serve, John F. Kennedy. It was prescient and timely, and is perhaps best known for coining the term of warning, "the military industrial complex."

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One of my favorite stand-alone essays by C S Lewis. His usual incisiveness is evident here, cutting through the noise and smoke and grounding the discussion in fundamentals.

In our pluralistic society we fancy that our "modern" understanding has revealed a variety of discrete ethical codes from which we might choose. This is a lie. There are no new ethics:

• "Let us very clearly understand that ... it is no more possible to invent a new ethics than to place a new sun in the sky. Some precept from traditional morality always has to be assumed.... New moralities can only be contractions or expansions of something already given. And all the specifically modern attempts at new moralities are contractions. They proceed by retaining some traditional precepts and rejecting others: but the only real authority behind those which they retain is the very same authority which they flout in rejecting others. Of course this inconsistency is concealed; usually ... by a refusal to recognize the precepts that are retained as moral precepts at all."

The impulse to limit, or pare down morality by exalting one injunction above the others leads to ideology, to identity politics as we see it so prevalently in today's world. This impulse, Lewis rightly tells us, is built on a lie concerning the nature of morality itself, which is universal, not particular. It is a built-in feature of the cosmos, and if it is not that, it is nothing at all:

• "You are deceived in thinking that the morality of your father was based on Christianity. On the contrary, Christianity presupposed it. That morality stands exactly where it did; its basis has not been withdrawn for, in a sense, it never had a basis. The ultimate ethical injunctions have always been premisses, never conclusions. Kant was perfectly right on that point at least: the imperative is categorical. Unless the ethical is assumed from the outset, no argument will bring you to it."

The ideological view of morality that makes it relative and consequentialist finds its modern foundation in the philosophy of Hegel. I invite all my listeners to my extended treatment of Hegel in the Christian Atheist podcast. Christians must become aware both of the origin and the nature of the threat to theism in our modern world.

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Qu'ils sont beaux les pieds, "How Beautiful are the Feet" (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15) is my love song to my Jenny this Valentine's Day! My love has only grown exponentially since we married. My one earthly goal is to spend every available second with her!

Yeats' poem "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" was my foundational poetic influence in writing this piece, but there were many, many more, some of which I trace out in this episode.

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life!

         Qu’ils Sont Beaux Les Pieds

I have spread my dreams under your feet

For they speak to me of Golden Mean

Of swirls and curly fractal stream

Scent, sight, tactile complete

Complement-whorl in all ways meet

You, transcendent cloth in immanent flesh-

I, being poor, naught can commend

But dreams of you I receive and send -

The clothes of heaven in poverty dress

Unless thus enrobed your feet shall press

              Upon my dreams

Tread softly, my Love, for what dreams may come

Through which our mortal coils may travel

Roads taken & not taken ravel & unravel

Though past is past, it is not the sum

For Time is not an unbroken arrow

Parallel treks we’ve trod in struggle

Converge in One a history double

Time-tethered we, within our marrow,

Revise what was through what will follow

From Pieds Beaux you spiraling rise

Tripped too often by syncopated schism

Now dance with me in measured rhythm

To theme-captured melody from your eyes

Woven with dreams in cloths of skies

© John Wise, February, 2022

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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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Book 9 of REPUBLIC begins by addressing the psychological makeup of the tyrant. It is remarkable for it psychoanalytical depth and insight. Using the content of the previous 8 books, Socrates argues that the tyrant is the most miserable of men, and his opposite, the philosopher-king, the most blessed and just.

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

#plato, #socrates, #platoandsocrates, #socratesandplato, #republik, #republic, #westerntradition, #philosophy, #rationality, #drjohndwise, #philosopher, #philosophical, #philosophicalauthor #westerntraditionphilosophy, #traditionalphilosophy, #foundations, #foundationalphilosopher, #foundationaltext, #platosrepublic, #philosophy, #dialogue, #dialogues, #greekphilosophy, #ancientgreekphilosophy, #athens, #platonicdialogue, #platonic, #ancientgreeks, #ancientgreece,#hellen, #hellenistic, #athenian, #atheniantradition, #greekcivilization, #greeksociety, #greekhistory

On April 10th, 1951 President Harry Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur from his command in the Pacific. MacArthur's vision of an escalated conflict in Korea in which the increased Chinese involvement be effectively countered in its communist military expansion, stood in contrast to the Truman administration's policy of Europe-first, and, some might say, appeasement of the Communist threat. In a letter to the Republican House minority leader (March 20th, 1951), MacArthur had said:

• My views and recommendations with respect to the situation created by Red China’s entry into war against us in Korea have been submitted to Washington in most complete detail. Generally, these views are well known and clearly understood, as they follow the conventional pattern of meeting force with maximum counterforce.... It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe’s war with arms while the diplomatic there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. There is no substitute for victory.

Relieved of his command, his military service over, MacArthur gave this farewell to service speech to the Congress on the 18th of April, 1951.

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One of my favorite stand-alone essays by C S Lewis. His usual incisiveness is evident here, cutting through the noise and smoke and grounding the discussion in fundamentals.

In our pluralistic society we fancy that our "modern" understanding has revealed a variety of discrete ethical codes from which we might choose. This is a lie. There are no new ethics:

• "Let us very clearly understand that ... it is no more possible to invent a new ethics than to place a new sun in the sky. Some precept from traditional morality always has to be assumed.... New moralities can only be contractions or expansions of something already given. And all the specifically modern attempts at new moralities are contractions. They proceed by retaining some traditional precepts and rejecting others: but the only real authority behind those which they retain is the very same authority which they flout in rejecting others. Of course this inconsistency is concealed; usually ... by a refusal to recognize the precepts that are retained as moral precepts at all."

The impulse to limit, or pare down morality by exalting one injunction above the others leads to ideology, to identity politics as we see it so prevalently in today's world. This impulse, Lewis rightly tells us, is built on a lie concerning the nature of morality itself, which is universal, not particular. It is a built-in feature of the cosmos, and if it is not that, it is nothing at all:

• "You are deceived in thinking that the morality of your father was based on Christianity. On the contrary, Christianity presupposed it. That morality stands exactly where it did; its basis has not been withdrawn for, in a sense, it never had a basis. The ultimate ethical injunctions have always been premisses, never conclusions. Kant was perfectly right on that point at least: the imperative is categorical. Unless the ethical is assumed from the outset, no argument will bring you to it."

The ideological view of morality that makes it relative and consequentialist finds its modern foundation in the philosophy of Hegel. I invite all my listeners to my extended treatment of Hegel in the Christian Atheist podcast. Christians must become aware both of the origin and the nature of the threat to theism in our modern world.

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

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was Irish, and is one of the great English poets. We center his poetry this month, beginning, appropriately, with love poetry.

In this month of Valentine's Day, with each love poem I read I am suffused with my love for my own 'pearl of great price,' my Jenny. Stay tuned, as next week I will present an original love poem that I wrote for her this Valentine's day, inspired by Yeats' poetry. See if you can find resonances from these three poems in Jenny's poem next week!

To my Jenny: each and every day is magic with you in it! You ARE my heart!

In "The White Birds," an early poem, Yeats wistfully contemplates the eternality of love in a time-bound and limited framework. He wrote it a day after being rejected in his first marriage proposal to his lifelong "unrequited love," Maud Gonne. I love this poem, as it displays how for the poet the particular becomes the universal (Maud loved seagulls).

In "The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart," Yeats contrasts the perfection of love with the imperfection and pain in the world, wishing he could remake it to match the beauty and perfection he finds in the Ideal.

"The Cap and Bells" will speak for itself.

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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!

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

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