Simple Gifts

Winston Churchill, Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945

Germany surrendered unconditionally, ending the European theater of war in WWII, on May 7, 1945, effective 12:01 am on May 9. Prime Minister Churchill took to the airwaves from the House of Commons to announce Victory in Europe.
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C S Lewis’ ”The Language of Religion,” Part 3

This partial essay came at just the right time, and I find it one of his most fruitful. The topic is one of Lewis's favorites: language. We do seem to have differing ways of speaking, and they are not always working the same way. For our purposes in this essay, Lewis speaks of common language, scientific language and poetic language, asking how "the language of religion" fits in. Common language, of course, is the base from which the others spring. It is indexical. We use language to point beyond language, to convey information to others, whether in science or poetry. Now, this next is utterly central to the argument. Many dismiss poetry as merely the expression of emotion. Lewis rejects this as untenable, and for good reasons. Poetic language is about something, just like scientific and ordinary language. It expresses information in many cases by the only way that information can be expressed:
"This is the most remarkable of the powers of poetic language: to convey to us the quality of experiences which we have not had, or perhaps can never have, to use factors within our experience so that they become pointers to something outside our experience."
"My conclusion is that such language is by no means merely an expression, nor a stimulant, of emotion, but a real medium of information. Which information may, like any other, be true or false.... Because events, as real events 'really' are and feigned events would 'really' be if they occurred, cannot be conveyed without bringing in the observer's heart and the common emotional reaction of the species, it has been falsely concluded that poetry represented the heart for its own sake, and nothing but the heart."
That is, poetic language conveys concrete information from one subject to another, involving the whole subject, but it is no less ABOUT something (in philosophical language it is intentional) than scientific or ordinary language. Whereas scientific language is abstract, poetic language is concrete. An expression like, "it is -60 degrees centigrade" out there is impoverished, but precise language; it is not qualitative, but quantitative. "It's so cold out there your nose hairs freeze to your nostrils as you breathe, and your head feels likely to explode," is concrete, but also vague in expressing temperature, not quantifiable.
Religious language is usually conducted, like most of our language work, with ordinary language, but when we are pressed to explain what we mean by religious statements like "I believe in God," we will need to go one of two ways: toward the scientific, or toward the poetic, and while each attempt will be trying to convey the same information, they will suffer different strengths and weaknesses.
"Apologetics is controversy. You cannot conduct a controversy in those poetical expressions which alone convey the concrete: you must use terms as definable and univocal as possible, and these are always abstract. And this means that the thing we are really talking about can never appear in the discussion at all. We have to try to prove THAT God is in circumstances where we are denied every means of conveying WHO God is."
"Now it seems to me a mistake to think that our experience in general can be communicated by precise and literal [that is, scientific] language and that there is a special class of experiences (say emotions) which cannot. The truth seems to me the opposite: there is a special region of experiences which can be communicated without poetic language, namely, its 'common measurable features,' but most experience cannot. To be incommunicable by scientific language is, so far as I can judge, the normal state of experience."
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PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 2, Part 4

Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, is considered one of the classics of Western literature. Having now read the second book, I am beginning to understand why. It is not easy going, but it is rewarding. This month we track the journey of Satan from Hell to earth. Let's explore this classic of Western literature together!
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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George Orwell, ANIMAL FARM, Chapter 1, Part 2

C S Lewis said: "ANIMAL FARM is formally almost perfect; light, strong, balanced. There is not a sentence that does not contribute to the whole. The myth says all the author wants it to say and (equally important) it doesn't say anything else."
Lewis did not like 1984: "Tragedy demands a certain minimum stature in the victim; and the hero and heroine of 1984 do not reach that minimum.... In Animal Farm all this is changed. The greed and cunning of the pigs is tragic ... because we are made to care about all the honest, well-meaning, or even heroic beasts whom they exploit. The death of Boxer the horse moves us more than all the more elaborate cruelties of the other book. And not only moves, but convinces."
"One result is that the satire becomes more effective. Wit and humour (absent from the longer work) are employed with devastating effect. The great sentence 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others' bites deeper than the whole of 1984. Thus the shorter book does all that the longer does. But it also does more. Paradoxically, when Orwell turns all his characters into animals he makes them more fully human."
Wokist totalitarianism is blossoming and colonizing every segment of our culture. Boxer and Winston will again suffer and die, unless we "wake up" from the Wokist dystopian dream.
It Is Time, SLEEPERS, [to] AWAKE!
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John Locke, SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT, Part 2

John Locke's Second Treatise on Government was thought by Thomas Jefferson one of the most important influences on his own political thinking, and while it is disputed, one of the most important philosophical voices in the formation of the United States and its founding documents.
As such, it is vital to Americans in these days to understand and know Locke's ideas. History is being rewritten at a level approaching the Doublethink of George Orwell, and we must know and proclaim the Truth, the ultimate safeguard of our liberties against the forces of tyranny.
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Winston Churchill’s D-Day Speech, June 6th 1944

We posted long ago President Roosevelt's D-day prayer. Here is Winston Churchill's speech to the House of Commons on that historic day.
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C S Lewis’ ”The Language of Religion,” Part 2

This partial essay came at just the right time, and I find it one of his most fruitful. The topic is one of Lewis's favorites: language. We do seem to have differing ways of speaking, and they are not always working the same way. For our purposes in this essay, Lewis speaks of common language, scientific language and poetic language, asking how "the language of religion" fits in. Common language, of course, is the base from which the others spring. It is indexical. We use language to point beyond language, to convey information to others, whether in science or poetry. Now, this next is utterly central to the argument. Many dismiss poetry as merely the expression of emotion. Lewis rejects this as untenable, and for good reasons. Poetic language is about something, just like scientific and ordinary language. It expresses information in many cases by the only way that information can be expressed:
"This is the most remarkable of the powers of poetic language: to convey to us the quality of experiences which we have not had, or perhaps can never have, to use factors within our experience so that they become pointers to something outside our experience."
"My conclusion is that such language is by no means merely an expression, nor a stimulant, of emotion, but a real medium of information. Which information may, like any other, be true or false.... Because events, as real events 'really' are and feigned events would 'really' be if they occurred, cannot be conveyed without bringing in the observer's heart and the common emotional reaction of the species, it has been falsely concluded that poetry represented the heart for its own sake, and nothing but the heart."
That is, poetic language conveys concrete information from one subject to another, involving the whole subject, but it is no less ABOUT something (in philosophical language it is intentional) than scientific or ordinary language. Whereas scientific language is abstract, poetic language is concrete. An expression like, "it is -60 degrees centigrade" out there is impoverished, but precise language; it is not qualitative, but quantitative. "It's so cold out there your nose hairs freeze to your nostrils as you breathe, and your head feels likely to explode," is concrete, but also vague in expressing temperature, not quantifiable.
Religious language is usually conducted, like most of our language work, with ordinary language, but when we are pressed to explain what we mean by religious statements like "I believe in God," we will need to go one of two ways: toward the scientific, or toward the poetic, and while each attempt will be trying to convey the same information, they will suffer different strengths and weaknesses.
"Apologetics is controversy. You cannot conduct a controversy in those poetical expressions which alone convey the concrete: you must use terms as definable and univocal as possible, and these are always abstract. And this means that the thing we are really talking about can never appear in the discussion at all. We have to try to prove THAT God is in circumstances where we are denied every means of conveying WHO God is."
"Now it seems to me a mistake to think that our experience in general can be communicated by precise and literal [that is, scientific] language and that there is a special class of experiences (say emotions) which cannot. The truth seems to me the opposite: there is a special region of experiences which can be communicated without poetic language, namely, its 'common measurable features,' but most experience cannot. To be incommunicable by scientific language is, so far as I can judge, the normal state of experience."
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
 

PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 2, part 3

Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, is considered one of the classics of Western literature. Having now read the second book, I am beginning to understand why. It is not easy going, but it is rewarding. This month we track the journey of Satan from Hell to earth. Let's explore this classic of Western literature together!
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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George Orwell, ANIMAL FARM, Chapter 1, Part 1

C S Lewis said: "ANIMAL FARM is formally almost perfect; light, strong, balanced. There is not a sentence that does not contribute to the whole. The myth says all the author wants it to say and (equally important) it doesn't say anything else."
Lewis did not like 1984: "Tragedy demands a certain minimum stature in the victim; and the hero and heroine of 1984 do not reach that minimum.... In Animal Farm all this is changed. The greed and cunning of the pigs is tragic ... because we are made to care about all the honest, well-meaning, or even heroic beasts whom they exploit. The death of Boxer the horse moves us more than all the more elaborate cruelties of the other book. And not only moves, but convinces."
"One result is that the satire becomes more effective. Wit and humour (absent from the longer work) are employed with devastating effect. The great sentence 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others' bites deeper than the whole of 1984. Thus the shorter book does all that the longer does. But it also does more. Paradoxically, when Orwell turns all his characters into animals he makes them more fully human."
Wokist totalitarianism is blossoming and colonizing every segment of our culture. Boxer and Winston will again suffer and die, unless we "wake up" from the Wokist dystopian dream.
It Is Time, SLEEPERS, [to] AWAKE!
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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#georgeorwell #1984 #nineteeneightyfour #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell
 

John Locke, SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT, Part 1

John Locke's Second Treatise on Government was thought by Thomas Jefferson one of the most important influences on his own political thinking, and while it is disputed, one of the most important philosophical voices in the formation of the United States and its founding documents.
As such, it is vital to Americans in these days to understand and know Locke's ideas. History is being rewritten at a level approaching the Doublethink of George Orwell, and we must know and proclaim the Truth, the ultimate safeguard of our liberties against the forces of tyranny.
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Winston Churchill, Address to US Congress, December 26th, 1941, Part 2

December 7th, 1941, the day "which will live in infamy," ended the neutrality of the United States in WWII, to Winston Churchill's delight.
"On December 8, 1941, even as Franklin D. Roosevelt was delivering his “day of infamy” speech to Congress, the British prime minister resolved to sail across the Atlantic to fortify his nation’s most important alliance. “We could review the whole war plan in light of reality and new facts,” an eager Winston Churchill wrote to Roosevelt. After expressing concern about Churchill’s safety in the U-boat-filled ocean—a concern the prime minister waved off—FDR assented. “Delighted to have you here at the White House,” the president replied." (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/darkest-days-world-war-ii-winston-churchills-visit-white-house-brought-hope-washington-180961798/)
Churchill arrived at the White House on December 22nd after a ten-day crossing of the Atlantic. He would remain for three weeks. After spending Christmas with the Roosevelts, he delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress. This is that speech.
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Winston Churchill, Address to US Congress, December 26th, 1941, Part 1

December 7th, 1941, the day "which will live in infamy," ended the neutrality of the United States in WWII, to Winston Churchill's delight.
"On December 8, 1941, even as Franklin D. Roosevelt was delivering his “day of infamy” speech to Congress, the British prime minister resolved to sail across the Atlantic to fortify his nation’s most important alliance. “We could review the whole war plan in light of reality and new facts,” an eager Winston Churchill wrote to Roosevelt. After expressing concern about Churchill’s safety in the U-boat-filled ocean—a concern the prime minister waved off—FDR assented. “Delighted to have you here at the White House,” the president replied." (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/darkest-days-world-war-ii-winston-churchills-visit-white-house-brought-hope-washington-180961798/)
Churchill arrived at the White House on December 22nd after a ten-day crossing of the Atlantic. He would remain for three weeks. After spending Christmas with the Roosevelts, he delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress. This is that speech.
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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#churchil #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #pearlharbor #dayininfamy #uscongress
 
 

C S Lewis’ ”The Language of Religion,” Part 1

This partial essay came at just the right time, and I find it one of his most fruitful. The topic is one of Lewis's favorites: language. We do seem to have differing ways of speaking, and they are not always working the same way. For our purposes in this essay, Lewis speaks of common language, scientific language and poetic language, asking how "the language of religion" fits in. Common language, of course, is the base from which the others spring. It is indexical. We use language to point beyond language, to convey information to others, whether in science or poetry. Now, this next is utterly central to the argument. Many dismiss poetry as merely the expression of emotion. Lewis rejects this as untenable, and for good reasons. Poetic language is about something, just like scientific and ordinary language. It expresses information in many cases by the only way that information can be expressed:
"This is the most remarkable of the powers of poetic language: to convey to us the quality of experiences which we have not had, or perhaps can never have, to use factors within our experience so that they become pointers to something outside our experience."
"My conclusion is that such language is by no means merely an expression, nor a stimulant, of emotion, but a real medium of information. Which information may, like any other, be true or false.... Because events, as real events 'really' are and feigned events would 'really' be if they occurred, cannot be conveyed without bringing in the observer's heart and the common emotional reaction of the species, it has been falsely concluded that poetry represented the heart for its own sake, and nothing but the heart."
That is, poetic language conveys concrete information from one subject to another, involving the whole subject, but it is no less ABOUT something (in philosophical language it is intentional) than scientific or ordinary language. Whereas scientific language is abstract, poetic language is concrete. An expression like, "it is -60 degrees centigrade" out there is impoverished, but precise language; it is not qualitative, but quantitative. "It's so cold out there your nose hairs freeze to your nostrils as you breathe, and your head feels likely to explode," is concrete, but also vague in expressing temperature, not quantifiable.
Religious language is usually conducted, like most of our language work, with ordinary language, but when we are pressed to explain what we mean by religious statements like "I believe in God," we will need to go one of two ways: toward the scientific, or toward the poetic, and while each attempt will be trying to convey the same information, they will suffer different strengths and weaknesses.
"Apologetics is controversy. You cannot conduct a controversy in those poetical expressions which alone convey the concrete: you must use terms as definable and univocal as possible, and these are always abstract. And this means that the thing we are really talking about can never appear in the discussion at all. We have to try to prove THAT God is in circumstances where we are denied every means of conveying WHO God is."
"Now it seems to me a mistake to think that our experience in general can be communicated by precise and literal [that is, scientific] language and that there is a special class of experiences (say emotions) which cannot. The truth seems to me the opposite: there is a special region of experiences which can be communicated without poetic language, namely, its 'common measurable features,' but most experience cannot. To be incommunicable by scientific language is, so far as I can judge, the normal state of experience."

PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 2, Part 2

Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, is considered one of the classics of Western literature. Having now read the second book, I am beginning to understand why. It is not easy going, but it is rewarding. This month we track the journey of Satan from Hell to earth. Let's explore this classic of Western literature together!
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part III, Chapter 6, CONCLUSION OF 1984

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 6, Part 3

"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.
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C S Lewis, ”The Psalms,” Part 3

"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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PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 2, part 1

Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, is considered one of the classics of Western literature. Having now read the second book, I am beginning to understand why. It is not easy going, but it is rewarding. This month we track the journey of Satan from Hell to earth. Let's explore this classic of Western literature together!
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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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, Part III, Chapter 6, Part 1

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 6, Part 2

"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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Winston Churchill, White House Christmas Eve, Dec 24, 1941

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.
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C S Lewis, ”The Psalms,” Part 2

"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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 1, part 4

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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#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, Part III, Chapter 5

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 6, Part 1

"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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#rene #descartes #renedescartes #meditations #meditation #meditationsonfirstphilosophy #firstphilosophy #materialthings #existence #evidence #senses #will #judgment #socrates #plato #philosophy #philosopher #frenchphilosophy #frenchphilosopher #skeptical #skeptic #faith
 

Winston Churchill, ”Never Give In,” October 29, 1941

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 daysThe leader of our nation,And Churchill's name shall win acclaimFrom each new generation.For you have power in danger's hourOur freedom to defend, Sir!Though long the fight we know that rightWill triumph in the end, Sir!""
America’s National Churchill Museum | Never Give In, Never, Never, Never
Here he delivered one of the most memorable lines of his career.
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C. S. Lewis, ”The Funeral of a Great Myth,” Part 2

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 1, part 3

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#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, Part III, Chapter 4

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 5

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 observedthat all things depend on him, and that he is no deceiver, and hence inferred that allwhich I clearly and distinctly perceive is of necessity true: although I no longer attend tothe grounds of a judgment, no opposite reason can be alleged sufficient to lead me todoubt of its truth, provided only I remember that I once possessed a clear and distinctcomprehension of it. My knowledge of it thus becomes true and certain."
Thus Descartes grounds all our knowledge in God's existence.
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Winston Churchill, ”Do Your Worst, And We Will Do Our Best,” July 14, 1941

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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C S Lewis, ”The Psalms,” Part 1

"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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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PARADISE LOST, by John Milton, Book 1, Part 2

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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#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, Part III Chapter 3, Part 2

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 4, Part 2

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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Winston Churchill, ”The Fourth Climacteric,” June 22, 1941

"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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C S Lewis ”The Funeral of a Great Myth,” Part 1

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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PARADISE LOST by John Milton, Book I, part 1

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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George Orwell’s 1984. Part III, Chapter 3, Part 1

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net

Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 4, Part 1

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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Winston Churchill, ”The Old Lion,” June 16, 1941

On June 16, 1941 Winston Churchill took to the airwaves to thank America's University of Rochester granting him an honorary doctoral degree. He took the occasion to remind the US of its own stake in the war, using that soaring rhetoric for which he is so justly famous:
"... what is the explanation of the enslavement of Europe by the German Nazi regime? How did they do it? It is but a few years ago since one united gesture by the peoples, great and small, who are now broken in the dust, would have warded off from mankind the fearful ordeal it has had to undergo. But there was no unity. There was no vision.... And now the old lion with her lion cubs at her side stands alone against hunters who are armed with deadly weapons and impelled by desperate and destructive rage. Is the tragedy to repeat itself once more? All no! This is not the end of the tale. The stars in their courses proclaim the deliverance of mankind. Not so easily shall the onward progress of the peoples be barred. Not so easily shall the lights of freedom die. But time is short. Every month that passes adds to the length and to the perils of the journey that will have to be made. United we stand. Divided we fall. Divided, the dark age returns. United, we can save and guide the world!"
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C. S. Lewis ”The Poison of Subjectivism,” Part2

What Lewis means by subjectivism is "... the fatal superstition that men can create values, that a community can choose its 'ideology' as men choose their clothes."
"Until modern times no thinker of the first rank ever doubted that our judgments of value were rational judgments or that they discovered what was objective."
What is under attack here is the social constructivism that has since Lewis's time become even more pervasive and pernicious, beginning in our educational system but radiating like a cancer throughout our body politic. This doctrine of subjectivism lies at the heart of Wokism, of postmodernism, of post-Hegelian thinking, and its influence reaches into the heart of every institution in our contemporary world, including all sectors of the Church.
The entire program of the broad socialist tradition which is inundating us can be summarized as the "attempt to jettison traditional values as something subjective and to substitute a new scheme of values for them." To this Lewis declares:
"Let us get two propositions written into our minds with indelible ink.
1) The human mind has no more power of inventing a new value than of planting a new sun in the sky or a new primary colour in the spectrum.
2) Every attempt to do so  consists in arbitrarily selecting some one maxim of traditional morality, isolating it from the rest, and erecting it into an unum necessarium."
Lewis concludes, "Unless we return to the crude and nursery-like belief in objective values, we perish. If we do, we may live."
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”Kubla Khan,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
     Down to a sunless sea
These were some of the first lines of poetry I ever memorized, and they so captivated me that I think it required no effort on my part. The poem is subtitled "a vision in a dream. A fragment." This subtitle is perfectly apropos, as the poem is almost pure poetry, painting with words a picture in vivid colors. Any message or meaning seems almost an after-thought. Enjoy this vision, this fragment which 'we have shored against our ruin,' one of the truly great purposes of poetry.
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part III, Chapter 2, Part 4

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 3, Part 4

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.
Meditation 3, "Of God: That He Exists," is an extended argument that God necessarily exists. His argument, a version of Anselm's ontological argument, was later powerfully critiqued by Immanuel Kant. The ontological argument rises and falls in popularity. Whether or not the argument "works" for you, it is worthwhile to enter into Descartes' participative reasoning process, to "feel" the power of the logic as it unfolds. I encourage all my listeners to participate with one of history's great minds as he seeks to "prove" God's existence. 
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Winston Churchill, ”Give Us the Tools,” February 9, 1941

In February 1941, the Prime Minister took to the airwaves to address the nation, updating them on the war effort:
"We stood our ground and faced the two dictators... and we have shown ourselves capable, so far, of standing up against them alone.... Herr Hitler did not dare attempt the invasion of this Island.... he sought to break the spirit of the British nation by the bombing, first of London, and afterwards of our great cities. It has now been proved ... that this form of blackmail by murder and terrorism, so far from weakening the spirit of the British nation, has only roused it to a more intense and universal flame."
"In order to win the war Hitler must destroy Great Britain. He may carry havoc into the Balkan States; he may tear great provinces out of Russia, he may march to the Caspian; he may march to the gates of India. All this will avail him nothing.... And all the time, masters of the sea and air, the British Empire—nay, in a certain sense, the whole English-speaking world—will be on his track, bearing with them the swords of justice.
The other day, President Roosevelt gave his opponent in the late Presidential Election a letter of introduction to me, and in it he wrote out a verse, in his own handwriting, from Longfellow, which he said, "applies to you people as it does to us." Here is the verse:
...Sail on, O Ship of State!Sail on, O Union, strong and great!Humanity with all its fears,With all the hopes of future years,Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
What is the answer that I shall give, in your name, to this great man, the thrice-chosen head of a nation of a hundred and thirty millions? Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt: Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and, under Providence, all will be well.
We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."
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C. S. Lewis ”The Poison of Subjectivism,” Part 1

What Lewis means by subjectivism is "... the fatal superstition that men can create values, that a community can choose its 'ideology' as men choose their clothes."
"Until modern times no thinker of the first rank ever doubted that our judgments of value were rational judgments or that they discovered what was objective."
What is under attack here is the social constructivism that has since Lewis's time become even more pervasive and pernicious, beginning in our educational system but radiating like a cancer throughout our body politic. This doctrine of subjectivism lies at the heart of Wokism, of postmodernism, of post-Hegelian thinking, and its influence reaches into the heart of every institution in our contemporary world, including all sectors of the Church.
The entire program of the broad socialist tradition which is inundating us can be summarized as the "attempt to jettison traditional values as something subjective and to substitute a new scheme of values for them." To this Lewis declares:
"Let us get two propositions written into our minds with indelible ink.
1) The human mind has no more power of inventing a new value than of planting a new sun in the sky or a new primary colour in the spectrum.
2) Every attempt to do so  consists in arbitrarily selecting some one maxim of traditional morality, isolating it from the rest, and erecting it into an unum necessarium."
Lewis concludes, "Unless we return to the crude and nursery-like belief in objective values, we perish. If we do, we may live."
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Part 3

One of the English language's great poems. It captured me as a high school student, helping to make me a lifelong devotee of poetry.
Water, water, everywhere,
and all the boards did shrink
Water, water, everywhere,
nor any drop to drink
Enjoy!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part III, Chapter 2, Part 3

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 Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 3, Part 3

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.
Meditation 3, "Of God: That He Exists," is an extended argument that God necessarily exists. His argument, a version of Anselm's ontological argument, was later powerfully critiqued by Immanuel Kant. The ontological argument rises and falls in popularity. Whether or not the argument "works" for you, it is worthwhile to enter into Descartes' participative reasoning process, to "feel" the power of the logic as it unfolds. I encourage all my listeners to participate with one of history's great minds as he seeks to "prove" God's existence. 
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