“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
Why feature so much material exhibiting grotesque, disquieting, depressing, dystopian phantasmagoria?
Anyone with a modicum of good common sense realizes what we have done to ourselves by accepting, then espousing a frankly depraved popular culture that is Satanic, anti-Christian, anti-Common Sense and anti-Basic Decency.
By worshipping Ugliness, Degeneracy and Despair we have transformed ourselves into a nihilistic Culture of Negation and Defeatism.
Presentations of this kind only serve to promote and enhance the idea that we are mired in Hopelessness.
This doubtless sounds naive to the many who worship Negativity, but I truly believe that we ARE what wee BELIEVE we are.
With that in mind I can't help but feel we are far better off focusing our attention, and our energies on The Golden Rule and all that logically stems from it than giving way to frankly Satanic fantasies that cannot elevate, do not heal, give no encouragement or cheer, but only underscore the EVIL notion that we have no power to alleviate our pains or rescue ourselves from our plight no matter what we do, so we might as well follow the paths of least resistance, let ourselves fall down in the offal, swim in the cesspools, and fornicate our way to Perdition in a drugged, mentally comatose condition.
Vice is a creature of such fearful mien Ass to be hated needs to be seen, Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, Frist we endure, then pity, then embrace.
~ Alexander Pope
Neatly sums up what I've tried to say above, doesn't it?
I love attempting to interpret symbols, FT. Perhaps you might interpret this phrase from the preface to "The Order of Things" by Michael Foucault:
This book first arose out of a passage in Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage, all the familiar landmarks of my thought - our thought, the thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography - breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are accustomed to tame the wild profusion of existing things, and continuing long afterwards to disturb and threaten with collapse our age-old distinction between the Same and the Other. This passage quotes a ‘certain Chinese encyclopedia’ in which it is written that ‘animals are divided into:
(a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (1) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off look like flies’.
In the wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap, the thing that, by means of the fable, is demonstrated as the exotic charm of another system of thought, is the limitation of our own, the stark impossibility of thinking that.
The nature of Establishment protects Itself from upstarts seeking sweeping change. A groundswell of rebellion projects A threat to those whose dully narrow range
Will seek to serve itself with instincts feral Concerned with naught but selfish interests bared Caring not that Principle’s in peril By selfish drones and not by those who’ve dared
To challenge each smug wasted senile oaf Who’s long outlived his usefulness yet clings To power as ‘twere a Divine Right to loaf Thwarting those who hope that Freedom rings
Again to rouse the blighted land ‘Gainst tyranny once more to raise its hand.
~ FreeThinke
Truth is never subject to trends and fashion, thus Truth could never be outmoded.
How fondly I remember ––– the days when mothers cared And tried till the last ember ___ died to teach that what we dared To say in gleeful wild defiance ___ was unworthy and insulting A bane to self-reliance ___ 'cause old Nick we were consulting.
Today, as though besotted ___ by an ancient witch's potion Our mothers mores rotted __ to Old Nick they've pledged devotion And children free to shout and curse ___ and freely masturbate Live lives immeasurably worse ___ for being profligate.
~ FreeThinke
Beware the iconoclasts who seek to make us disbelieve what we have striven long to understand. Deconstruction is nothing more than another word for Destruction.
The secret to combatting ADD Lies in taking one thing you think great Into splendid isolation where no sounds Or sights assault the senses with distractions Concentrate on learning to ignore Stray thoughts and wayward influences crude Self-discipline becomes its own reward Examine only one thing at a time Pop Culture we must come to recognize As the enemy of Reason and good work. Learn to cherish silence so you can Listen to your heart and see within. Monasticism may seem too austere, But retreating from the world pays dividends It deepens your perceptions as it hones Improvement in your character and views, And aids in helping you learn to eschew The tawdriness that saps your strength, and then Impoverishes every part of you.
I think that FT doesn't like the mixed symbolism Christian/Moslem/Egyptian, et al. It's like Plato's Euthyphro... on the nature of the sacred. Mixing the sacred and profane is definitely frowned upon... but the question remains... why is a partcular symbol sacred?
In some case that's quite easy to answer. Take 'soil' (as in 'country', 'homeland' etc) e.g. Seen as something hugely important (a provider of many bare essentials, something we cannot live without) it became sacralised, even in non-religious ideologies. And with it assorted symbols like the flag and the anthem.
To a nationalist, like myself, I'm sure that you are correct. But to a Christian, like FT, I'm not as sure. My reference to the Euthyphro was to perhaps draw a more "theological" distinction...
Soc. We shall know better, my good friend, in a little while. The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods.
So if we were to discuss the Christian cross, is it sacred as a symbol because it is holy in itself (intrinsically), or because it is beloved by G_d? Somehow, I don't think that the cross was Beloved by G_d... more, it is beloved by us as a symbol of His Sacrifice... not because of any intrinsic holy content. In other words, I believe that the Word (in the Bible) may be Holy, but the" words" (symbols) are not.
...and so, when you combine all the symbols together again, in the "order" in which they, like words, are presented, are they Holy again, or not? or would they be "impious/hated" by G_d? It's a question that I can't exactly answer... but perhaps might form an "opinion".
I gaze now in perpetual wonderment, grief And sorrow at the jagged, rotting stump Of the once-vital, arcing grandeur Of the dear and familiar tree That gave me shade and comfort, While all around me weeds, thorns Strange, stunted saplings, and bitter fruit Litter the parched stony soil Beneath a pitiless, gray wintery sky.
Wonderful production.
ReplyDeleteHere's another inerpretational aid (endorsed by Heliophant).
Very neat... :)
ReplyDeleteWhy feature so much material exhibiting grotesque, disquieting, depressing, dystopian phantasmagoria?
ReplyDeleteAnyone with a modicum of good common sense realizes what we have done to ourselves by accepting, then espousing a frankly depraved popular culture that is Satanic, anti-Christian, anti-Common Sense and anti-Basic Decency.
By worshipping Ugliness, Degeneracy and Despair we have transformed ourselves into a nihilistic Culture of Negation and Defeatism.
Presentations of this kind only serve to promote and enhance the idea that we are mired in Hopelessness.
This doubtless sounds naive to the many who worship Negativity, but I truly believe that we ARE what wee BELIEVE we are.
With that in mind I can't help but feel we are far better off focusing our attention, and our energies on The Golden Rule and all that logically stems from it than giving way to frankly Satanic fantasies that cannot elevate, do not heal, give no encouragement or cheer, but only underscore the EVIL notion that we have no power to alleviate our pains or rescue ourselves from our plight no matter what we do, so we might as well follow the paths of least resistance, let ourselves fall down in the offal, swim in the cesspools, and fornicate our way to Perdition in a drugged, mentally comatose condition.
Vice is a creature of such fearful mien
ReplyDeleteAss to be hated needs to be seen,
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
Frist we endure, then pity, then embrace.
~ Alexander Pope
Neatly sums up what I've tried to say above, doesn't it?
I love attempting to interpret symbols, FT. Perhaps you might interpret this phrase from the preface to "The Order of Things" by Michael Foucault:
ReplyDeleteThis book first arose out of a passage in Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage, all the familiar landmarks of my thought - our thought, the thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography - breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are accustomed to tame the wild profusion of existing things, and continuing long afterwards to disturb and threaten with collapse our age-old distinction between the Same and the Other. This passage quotes a ‘certain Chinese encyclopedia’ in which it is written that ‘animals are divided into:
(a) belonging to the Emperor,
(b) embalmed,
(c) tame,
(d) sucking pigs,
(e) sirens,
(f) fabulous,
(g) stray dogs,
(h) included in the present classification,
(i) frenzied,
(j) innumerable,
(k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,
(1) et cetera,
(m) having just broken the water pitcher,
(n) that from a long way off look like flies’.
In the wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap, the thing that, by means of the fable, is demonstrated as the exotic charm of another system of thought, is the limitation of our own, the stark impossibility of thinking that.
"The author is the ideological figure by which one marks the manner in which we fear the proliferation of meaning"
ReplyDelete- Michael Foucault, "What is an Author?" (1979)
____ IT HAS BEEN EVER THUS ____
ReplyDeleteThe nature of Establishment protects
Itself from upstarts seeking sweeping change.
A groundswell of rebellion projects
A threat to those whose dully narrow range
Will seek to serve itself with instincts feral
Concerned with naught but selfish interests bared
Caring not that Principle’s in peril
By selfish drones and not by those who’ve dared
To challenge each smug wasted senile oaf
Who’s long outlived his usefulness yet clings
To power as ‘twere a Divine Right to loaf
Thwarting those who hope that Freedom rings
Again to rouse the blighted land
‘Gainst tyranny once more to raise its hand.
~ FreeThinke
Truth is never subject to trends and fashion, thus Truth could never be outmoded.
How fondly I remember
ReplyDelete––– the days when mothers cared
And tried till the last ember
___ died to teach that what we dared
To say in gleeful wild defiance
___ was unworthy and insulting
A bane to self-reliance
___ 'cause old Nick we were consulting.
Today, as though besotted
___ by an ancient witch's potion
Our mothers mores rotted
__ to Old Nick they've pledged devotion
And children free to shout and curse
___ and freely masturbate
Live lives immeasurably worse
___ for being profligate.
~ FreeThinke
Beware the iconoclasts who seek to make us disbelieve what we have striven long to understand. Deconstruction is nothing more than another word for Destruction.
The secret to combatting ADD
ReplyDeleteLies in taking one thing you think great
Into splendid isolation where no sounds
Or sights assault the senses with distractions
Concentrate on learning to ignore
Stray thoughts and wayward influences crude
Self-discipline becomes its own reward
Examine only one thing at a time
Pop Culture we must come to recognize
As the enemy of Reason and good work.
Learn to cherish silence so you can
Listen to your heart and see within.
Monasticism may seem too austere,
But retreating from the world pays dividends
It deepens your perceptions as it hones
Improvement in your character and views,
And aids in helping you learn to eschew
The tawdriness that saps your strength, and then
Impoverishes every part of you.
~! FreeThinke
I love attempting to interpret symbols, FT.
ReplyDeleteThe clip is like a beautiful, fuzzy rebus. Hard to see how anyone cannot be moved by it, at some level...
FT fails to see it actually has a really positive message ('Man's Summer following a dreadful Winter').
Unfortunately while the existence of 'Sorcerers' (Drako) can't be denied, Man's internal division won't allow us to destroy them one and for all. :(
I think that FT doesn't like the mixed symbolism Christian/Moslem/Egyptian, et al. It's like Plato's Euthyphro... on the nature of the sacred. Mixing the sacred and profane is definitely frowned upon... but the question remains... why is a partcular symbol sacred?
ReplyDeletewhy is a partcular symbol sacred?
ReplyDeleteIn some case that's quite easy to answer. Take 'soil' (as in 'country', 'homeland' etc) e.g. Seen as something hugely important (a provider of many bare essentials, something we cannot live without) it became sacralised, even in non-religious ideologies. And with it assorted symbols like the flag and the anthem.
To a nationalist, like myself, I'm sure that you are correct. But to a Christian, like FT, I'm not as sure. My reference to the Euthyphro was to perhaps draw a more "theological" distinction...
ReplyDeleteSoc. We shall know better, my good friend, in a little while. The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods.
So if we were to discuss the Christian cross, is it sacred as a symbol because it is holy in itself (intrinsically), or because it is beloved by G_d? Somehow, I don't think that the cross was Beloved by G_d... more, it is beloved by us as a symbol of His Sacrifice... not because of any intrinsic holy content. In other words, I believe that the Word (in the Bible) may be Holy, but the" words" (symbols) are not.
Anyways, that's the gist of where I was headed.
...and so, when you combine all the symbols together again, in the "order" in which they, like words, are presented, are they Holy again, or not? or would they be "impious/hated" by G_d? It's a question that I can't exactly answer... but perhaps might form an "opinion".
ReplyDeleteI best get out my Chinese encyclopedia. ;)
ReplyDelete... and perhaps have a discussion with my parapsychology friend, Steve. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe Bhaghavad Gita didn't make sense to me until it was "framed" into psychoanalysis by Aldous Huxley ;)
ReplyDeletehere? Or in a novel (like "Island")?
ReplyDeleteThere. But Brave New World also.
ReplyDelete________ A Backward Glance ________
ReplyDeleteI gaze now in perpetual wonderment, grief
And sorrow at the jagged, rotting stump
Of the once-vital, arcing grandeur
Of the dear and familiar tree
That gave me shade and comfort,
While all around me weeds, thorns
Strange, stunted saplings, and bitter fruit
Litter the parched stony soil
Beneath a pitiless, gray wintery sky.
~ FreeThinke