The Daily Eudemon

Touching During Mass. Enough already. Enough with shaking hands, too, at least during the cold and flu season. That custom has ran its course. 

Today’s Pride and Prejudice Parlor Scenes. Family members lounging around the living room, each with individual screens in their hands. The end of the family? Or a return of the family to 1800 leisurely norms?

Marshall McLuhan. This Catholic convert would probably take major issue with my conclusions in the previous segment. I introduce the thought of this man who used to be a household name and the meaning of his signature line, “The medium is the message.” 

Lighting Segments. Augustine didn’t say “He who sings prays twice,” plus it seems kind of self-laudatory. School of Rock, the musical . . . excellent. Andrew Lloyd Weber . . . rich and conservative. More.

Gnosticism. Introducing the thought of Eric Voegelin, one of the twentieth centuries greatest, yet unheralded, thinkers. 

The Mind and Art of Albert Jay Nock. Great book/introduction into the life and thought of the godfather of American libertarianism. The fact that Crunden wrote this as an undergrad? Blows me away. 

Deconstructionism and the Family. Why are leftists pro-environment and pro-gay marriage? There’s a connection, though it’s murky and a bit confusing. I try to flush it out here.

Lightning Segments. Dieting, Smear the Queer, More.

Mindfulness. Breaking the mind in two. Proof of the soul? One piece of handy practical advice (identify the emotion and it goes away). 

Punctuation. Basic punctuation shows regard for the other. 

Haters at Mass. Pope Francis’ suggestion that hateful Catholics stay away from Mass makes sense, but there are three potential problems with it: When is a person good enough to go to Mass? Hasn’t he been a bit, ahem, spiteful in his attacks on his political foes? Maybe Mass is keeping the hateful from becoming the murderous. 

Structuralism. The foundations of post-modernism. My first podcast segment on this topic. Structuralists: words form the society; the society tells you how to think; thoughts don’t come from inside of us. Deconstructionists: Okay, but you guys, the structuralists, aren’t thinking for yourselves either. There is no truth period, in any form or fashion whatsoever. Leads to sexual libertinism. 

Buddhist Emptiness. The Buddhist doctrine of Emptiness appears to reflect the basic insight of semiology, the science of signs, which was the foundation of the structuralists’ insights. Both led to sexual libertinism: Tantric Buddhism on the one hand, free love of the 1960s on the other (and today’s celebration of preference today). 

Lightning Segments. Hangovers, exploding real estate prices in Detroit, TWE’s improving Facebook page.

Nestorian Christians. Mongols respected Christians . . . of the Nestorian stripe. Who were they?  In sum, Christians who denied Christ’s full divinity. They were active in the far east and managed to convert an important Mongol tribe. 

 Next Week: I plan on producing a podcast next week, over the holidays, but it’ll probably be unusual fare. 

Sol Invictus. No, Christmas predates Sol Invictus, but the question of pagan practices’ influence on Christian practices is interesting. I don’t look at the history much, but rather, focus on the premonition of truth that I think was at work. 

The Jesus Prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Just twelve words. The path to praying without ceasing (Thessalonians 5)? 

Econtalk and Secular Groping. The more we advance, the more we go backwards: As we get away from modernism, we start to rediscover ancient truths. It’s a phenomenon that has long fascinated me. I delve into it here.