Simple Gifts

Winston Churchill, ”Neville Chamberlain”

On November 9th, 1940, six months after resigning as prime minister, succeeded by his colleague in the Conservative Party, Churchill, Neville Chamberlain died of cancer.
In this eulogy to his colleague, whom Churchill certainly blamed for the war, he is both truthful and gracious.
"It fell to Neville Chamberlain in one of the supreme crises of the world to be contradicted by events, to be disappointed in his hopes, and to be deceived and cheated by a wicked man. But what were these hopes in which he was disappointed? What were these wishes in which he was frustrated? What was that faith that was abused? They were surely among the most noble and benevolent instincts of the human heart-the love of peace, the toil for peace, the strife for peace, the pursuit of peace, even at great peril, and certainly to the utter disdain of popularity or clamour. Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged. This alone will stand him in good stead as far as what is called the verdict of history is concerned."
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C. S. Lewis ”Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism,” Part 3

In conjunction with episode 52 of our Christian Atheist podcast, "Archaeology and Faith," in which we discuss the amazing discovery of a curse tablet on Mount Ebal in Israel. we present here an essay by C. S. Lewis that critiques the motivations behind much of the hostility toward biblical historicity. Here is a link to that episode:
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.podbean.com/e/52-christian-atheist/
Lewis here attacks the underlying assumptions that motivate the "higher criticism," and which they don't acknowledge as motivations. He also undermines the arrogance that fails to recognize its own weaknesses and limitations, and yet constructs what seems to them an iron-clad interpretation through textual criticism that, at best, should be approached with a certain degree of incredulity:
"These men ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read ... the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight."
This does not mean, of course, that biblical criticism is always wrong, or that its skeptical approach has no value:
"We are not fundamentalists. We think that different elements in this sort of theology have different degrees of strength. The nearer it sticks to mere textual criticism, of the old sort ... the more we are disposed to believe in it. It is as we glide away from this into reconstructions of a subtler and more ambitious kind that our faith in the method wavers.... I could not speak with similar confidence about the circle I have chiefly lived in myself. I could not describe even the history of my own thought as confidently as these men describe the history of the early Church's mind. And I am perfectly certain no one else could.... It encourages a due agnosticism. For agnosticism is, in a sense, what I am preaching. I do not wish to reduce the sceptical element in your minds. I am only suggesting that it need not be reserved exclusively to the biblical text. Try doubting something else."
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
 
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Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Part 2

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
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 2, 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
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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Rene Descartes’ MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 3, 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.
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. 
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Winston Churchill, ”Every Man to His Post,” September 11, 1940

"On 5 September the Luftwaffe switched tactics. Suddenly the weight of enemy attack was concentrated no longer against the bases of the Royal Air Force, but against the civilian population of London and other major cities. Churchill here gives full rein to his outrage and reavows his determination to secure victory."
https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/every-man-to-his-post.html
 
"we must regard the next week or so as a very important period in our history. It ranks with the days when the Spanish Armada was approaching the Channel.... Every man and woman will therefore prepare himself to do his duty, whatever it may be, with special pride and care.... Our shores are well fortified and strongly manned, and behind them, ready to attack the invaders, we have a far larger and better-equipped mobile Army than we have ever had before.... Besides this, we have more than a million and a half men of the Home Guard, who are ... determined to fight for every inch of the ground in every village and in every street. It is with devout but sure confidence that I say: Let God defend the Right."
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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C. S. Lewis, ”Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism,” Part 2

In conjunction with episode 52 of our Christian Atheist podcast, "Archaeology and Faith," in which we discuss the amazing discovery of a curse tablet on Mount Ebal in Israel. we present here an essay by C. S. Lewis that critiques the motivations behind much of the hostility toward biblical historicity. Here is a link to that episode:
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.podbean.com/e/52-christian-atheist/
Lewis here attacks the underlying assumptions that motivate the "higher criticism," and which they don't acknowledge as motivations. He also undermines the arrogance that fails to recognize its own weaknesses and limitations, and yet constructs what seems to them an iron-clad interpretation through textual criticism that, at best, should be approached with a certain degree of incredulity:
"These men ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read ... the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight."
This does not mean, of course, that biblical criticism is always wrong, or that its skeptical approach has no value:
"We are not fundamentalists. We think that different elements in this sort of theology have different degrees of strength. The nearer it sticks to mere textual criticism, of the old sort ... the more we are disposed to believe in it. It is as we glide away from this into reconstructions of a subtler and more ambitious kind that our faith in the method wavers.... I could not speak with similar confidence about the circle I have chiefly lived in myself. I could not describe even the history of my own thought as confidently as these men describe the history of the early Church's mind. And I am perfectly certain no one else could.... It encourages a due agnosticism. For agnosticism is, in a sense, what I am preaching. I do not wish to reduce the sceptical element in your minds. I am only suggesting that it need not be reserved exclusively" to the biblical text. "Try doubting something else."
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #religion #religious #evangelical #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #essay #cslewis #lewis #moderntheology #biblicalcriticism #criticism #moderntheologyandbiblicalcriticism #modern
 

Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Part 1

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
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com 
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part III, Chapter 2, Part1

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
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#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 3, Part1

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. 
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#rene #descartes #renedescartes #meditations #meditation #meditationsonfirstphilosophy #firstphilosophy #materialthings #existence #evidence #senses #will #judgment #socrates #plato #philosophy #philosopher #frenchphilosophy #frenchphilosopher #skeptical #skeptic #faith

Winston Churchill, ”The Few,” August 20, 1940, Part3

A year into the war, and a month into the Battle of Britain, on August 20th 1940, Churchill addresses a nation resolute and prepared for the worst: 1 1/2 million men serve part-time as the "Home Guard," armed, patrolling the streets and beeches, armed in many cases by weapons from the United States. Field defenses were hastily constructed - anti-tank lines and trenches, pillboxes, and many other means to resist a German invasion effort of the islands. Civilian evacuations from urban centers intensified. C S Lewis and his brother Warnie hosted many children in their Oxford home, the Kilns, for instance.
The invasion, of course, would never happen, but the bombing of Britain intensified and the air battle raged until May 1941. Churchill paints in realistic colors, and praises those upon whom the defense of Britain predominantly falls:
"The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#churchill #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #thefew #battleofbritain #homeguard

C. S. Lewis’ ”Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism,” Part 1

In conjunction with episode 52 of our Christian Atheist podcast, "Archaeology and Faith," in which we discuss the amazing discovery of a curse tablet on Mount Ebal in Israel. we present here an essay by C. S. Lewis that critiques the motivations behind much of the hostility toward biblical historicity. Here is a link to that episode:
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.podbean.com/e/52-christian-atheist/
Lewis here attacks the underlying assumptions that motivate the "higher criticism," and which they don't acknowledge as motivations. He also undermines the arrogance that fails to recognize its own weaknesses and limitations, and yet constructs what seems to them an iron-clad interpretation through textual criticism that, at best, should be approached with a certain degree of incredulity:
"These men ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read ... the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight."
This does not mean, of course, that biblical criticism is always wrong, or that its skeptical approach has no value:
"We are not fundamentalists. We think that different elements in this sort of theology have different degrees of strength. The nearer it sticks to mere textual criticism, of the old sort ... the more we are disposed to believe in it. It is as we glide away from this into reconstructions of a subtler and more ambitious kind that our faith in the method wavers.... I could not speak with similar confidence about the circle I have chiefly lived in myself. I could not describe even the history of my own thought as confidently as these men describe the history of the early Church's mind. And I am perfectly certain no one else could.... It encourages a due agnosticism. For agnosticism is, in a sense, what I am preaching. I do not wish to reduce the sceptical element in your minds. I am only suggesting that it need not be reserved exclusively" to the biblical text. "Try doubting something else."
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
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Spring Poems 4: ”After the Winter,” ”Spring,” and ”Feuerzauber”

We end this month of Spring poems with poetry tinged with love, beginning with:
1) "After the Winter," by Claude McKay
2) "Spring," by Gerard Manley Hopkins
3) "Feuerzauber," Louis Untermeyer. A fitting poem with which to end our Spring poetry, a poem I wish I had written for my wife:
Aye, you are touched; your singing lips grow dumb;
The fields absorb you, color you entire ...
And you become
A goddess standing in a world of fire!
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
If you enjoy our content, consider donating through PayPal to romanschapter5@comcast.net
 
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#poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #rhythmic #phonaesthetics #soundsymbolism #metre #prosaic #literarycomposition #poet #ambiguity #symbolism #irony #poeticdiction #muse #prosody #meter #metricalpatterns #rhymescheme #spring #springpoetry #springtime #odetospring #thomasgrey #billycollins #today #williamwordsworth #lineswritteninearlyspring #johndryden #songcalmwastheevenandclearwasthesky #marjoriepickthall #daisytime #robertherrick #todaffodils #claudemckay #afterthewinter #gerardmanleyhopkins #louisuntermeyer #feuerzauber

George Orwell’s 1984, Part III, Chapter 1, 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

Rene Descartes’ MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 2, 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.
Meditation 2, building on the foundation of systematic doubt practiced in Meditation 1, is subtitled, "Of the nature of the human mind; and that it is more easily known than the body." Although the phrase does not occur in the Meditations, it is here that we find the explanation of Descartes' famous idea, Cogito, ergo sum - I think, therefore I am. So long as I am doubting, experiencing, thinking, I cannot doubt that I exist. This Meditation also contains Descartes' famous musings on the piece of wax.
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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Winston Churchill, ”The Few,” August 20, 1940, Part 2

A year into the war, and a month into the Battle of Britain, on August 20th 1940, Churchill addresses a nation resolute and prepared for the worst: 1 1/2 million men serve part-time as the "Home Guard," armed, patrolling the streets and beeches, armed in many cases by weapons from the United States. Field defenses were hastily constructed - anti-tank lines and trenches, pillboxes, and many other means to resist a German invasion effort of the islands. Civilian evacuations from urban centers intensified. C S Lewis and his brother Warnie hosted many children in their Oxford home, the Kilns, for instance.
The invasion, of course, would never happen, but the bombing of Britain intensified and the air battle raged until May 1941. Churchill paints in realistic colors, and praises those upon whom the defense of Britain predominantly falls:
"The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#churchill #winston #winstonchurchil #worldwarii #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #worldwar #england #america #europe #europeanwar #americanwar #englandwar #warineurope #primeminister #bristishprimeminister #parliament #historicchurchillspeeches #houseofcommons #bbc #britishhistory #thefew #battleofbritain #homeguard

C. S. Lewis, ”De Futilitate,” Part 3

Lewis begins his essay "On Futility" with the common misconception, derivable directly from Hegelian philosophy, that "Evolution simply means improvement.... There is thus lodged in popular thought the conception that improvement is, somehow, a cosmic law." This, he declares, is "a conception to which the sciences give no support at all. There is no general tendency even for organisms to improve. There is no evidence that the mental and moral capacities of the human race have been increased since man became man."
Next, Lewis properly collapses the distinction between scientific and non-scientific reasoning:
"The physical sciences, then, depend on the validity of logic just as much as metaphysics or mathematics. If popular thought feels 'science' to be different from all other kinds of knowledge because science is experimentally verifiable, popular thought is mistaken. Experimental verification is not a new kind of assurance coming in to supply the deficiencies of mere logic. We should therefore abandon the distinction between scientific and non-scientific thought. The proper distinction is between logical and non-logical thought..., if logic is discredited science must go down along with it."
Reason, then, can not be thought of as merely human:
"Where thought is strictly rational it must be ... not ours, but cosmic or super-cosmic. It must be something not shut up inside our heads but already 'out there' - in the universe or behind the universe.... Unless all that we take to be knowledge is an illusion, we must hold that in thinking we are not reading rationality into an irrational universe but responding to a rationality with which the universe has always been saturated."
And the objectivity of reason implies the objectivity of Value:
"The prima facie case for denying a sense of values to the cosmic or super-cosmic mind has really collapsed the moment we see that we have to attribute reason to it. When we are forced to admit that reason cannot be merely human, there is no longer any compulsive inducement  to say that virtue is purely human."
"In a word, unless we allow ultimate reality to be moral, we cannot morally condemn it. The more seriously we take our own charge of futility the more we are committed to the implication that reality in the last resort is not futile at all. The defiance of the good atheist hurled at an apparently ruthless and idiotic cosmos is really an unconscious homage to something in or behind that cosmos which he recognizes as infinitely valuable and authoritative.... The fact that he arraigns heaven itself for disregarding them means that at some level of his mind he knows they are enthroned in a higher heaven still."
The problem of futility, or Value, "is really the same sort of problem that meets us in science. The pell-mell of phenomena, as we first observe them, seems to be full of anomalies and irregularities; but being assured that reality is logical we go on framing and trying out hypotheses to show that the apparent irregularities are not irregular at all. The history of science is the history of that progress. The corresponding process whereby, having admitted that reality in the last resort  must be moral, we attempt to explain evil, is the history of theology."
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net

Spring Poems 3: ”Daisy Time,” Marjorie Pickthall, ”To Daffodils,” Robert Herrick

"Daisy Time," by Marjorie Pickthall is a sweet, airy poem for Spring time.
"To Daffodils," by Robert Herrick, as though to countermand the declarations from our first poet this week, Herrick reminds us, like Robert Frost in "Nothing Gold Can Stay," that beauty is transitory, and our lives, like the beautiful flowers, have but a short time to bloom.
If you’d like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #rhythmic #phonaesthetics #soundsymbolism #metre #prosaic #literarycomposition #poet #ambiguity #symbolism #irony #poeticdiction #muse #prosody #meter #metricalpatterns #rhymescheme #spring #springpoetry #springtime #odetospring #thomasgrey #billycollins #today #williamwordsworth #lineswritteninearlyspring #johndryden #songcalmwastheevenandclearwasthesky #marjoriepickthall #daisytime #robertherrick #todaffodils #claudemckay #afterthewinter #gerardmanleyhopkins #louisuntermeyer #feuerzauber

George Orwell’s 1984, Part III, Chapter 1, 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!
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Rene Descartes’ MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 2, 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.
Meditation 2, building on the foundation of systematic doubt practiced in Meditation 1, is subtitled, "Of the nature of the human mind; and that it is more easily known than the body." Although the phrase does not occur in the Meditations, it is here that we find the explanation of Descartes' famous idea, Cogito, ergo sum - I think, therefore I am. So long as I am doubting, experiencing, thinking, I cannot doubt that I exist. This Meditation also contains Descartes' famous musings on the piece of wax.
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Winston Churchill, ”The Few,” August 20, 1940, Part 1

A year into the war, and a month into the Battle of Britain, on August 20th 1940, Churchill addresses a nation resolute and prepared for the worst: 1 1/2 million men serve part-time as the "Home Guard," armed, patrolling the streets and beeches, armed in many cases by weapons from the United States. Field defenses were hastily constructed - anti-tank lines and trenches, pillboxes, and many other means to resist a German invasion effort of the islands. Civilian evacuations from urban centers intensified. C S Lewis and his brother Warnie hosted many children in their Oxford home, the Kilns, for instance.
The invasion, of course, would never happen, but the bombing of Britain intensified and the air battle raged until May 1941. Churchill paints in realistic colors, and praises those upon whom the defense of Britain predominantly falls:
"The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
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C. S. Lewis ”De Futilitate,” Part 2

Lewis begins his essay "On Futility" with the common misconception, derivable directly from Hegelian philosophy, that "Evolution simply means improvement.... There is thus lodged in popular thought the conception that improvement is, somehow, a cosmic law." This, he declares, is "a conception to which the sciences give no support at all. There is no general tendency even for organisms to improve. There is no evidence that the mental and moral capacities of the human race have been increased since man became man."
Next, Lewis properly collapses the distinction between scientific and non-scientific reasoning:
"The physical sciences, then, depend on the validity of logic just as much as metaphysics or mathematics. If popular thought feels 'science' to be different from all other kinds of knowledge because science is experimentally verifiable, popular thought is mistaken. Experimental verification is not a new kind of assurance coming in to supply the deficiencies of mere logic. We should therefore abandon the distinction between scientific and non-scientific thought. The proper distinction is between logical and non-logical thought..., if logic is discredited science must go down along with it."
Reason, then, can not be thought of as merely human:
"Where thought is strictly rational it must be ... not ours, but cosmic or super-cosmic. It must be something not shut up inside our heads but already 'out there' - in the universe or behind the universe.... Unless all that we take to be knowledge is an illusion, we must hold that in thinking we are not reading rationality into an irrational universe but responding to a rationality with which the universe has always been saturated."
And the objectivity of reason implies the objectivity of Value:
"The prima facie case for denying a sense of values to the cosmic or super-cosmic mind has really collapsed the moment we see that we have to attribute reason to it. When we are forced to admit that reason cannot be merely human, there is no longer any compulsive inducement  to say that virtue is purely human."
"In a word, unless we allow ultimate reality to be moral, we cannot morally condemn it. The more seriously we take our own charge of futility the more we are committed to the implication that reality in the last resort is not futile at all. The defiance of the good atheist hurled at an apparently ruthless and idiotic cosmos is really an unconscious homage to something in or behind that cosmos which he recognizes as infinitely valuable and authoritative.... The fact that he arraigns heaven itself for disregarding them means that at some level of his mind he knows they are enthroned in a higher heaven still."
The problem of futility, or Value, "is really the same sort of problem that meets us in science. The pell-mell of phenomena, as we first observe them, seems to be full of anomalies and irregularities; but being assured that reality is logical we go on framing and trying out hypotheses to show that the apparent irregularities are not irregular at all. The history of science is the history of that progress. The corresponding process whereby, having admitted that reality in the last resort  must be moral, we attempt to explain evil, is the history of theology."
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Spring Poems 2: ”Lines Written in Early Spring,” Wordsworth, ”Song: Calm was the Even, and Clear was the Sky,” Dryden

1) William Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring"
 
Nature in Spring joyously celebrates life, putting the poet "reclined
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind."
Beside nature's beauty, we must place what man has done in this fallen world:
"Have I not reason to lament,
What man has made of man?"
 
2) John Dryden, "Song: Calm was the Even, and Clear was the Sky"
Lyric and whimsical. The lover self-consciously presses his case.
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part II, Chapter 9, Part 6

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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George Orwell’s 1984, Part II, Chapter 9, Part 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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Rene Descartes’ MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 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 1, Descartes begins to systematically doubt everything that can be doubted, revealing how very little, in fact, we know. He is searching, he says, for ONE thing that is certain, that he can build a systematic structure upon. Descartes' systematic skepticism can teach our own age about faith; that it is a universal in human experience.
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Winston Churchill, ”War of the Unknown Warriors,” July 14, 1940

Hitler had expected Britain to sue for peace after the continental victories, and had no plan for invading Britain. When Churchill made it clear there would be no surrender, Hitler was forced to scramble for a plan. Hermann Goring's Luftwaffe was tasked with the task of challenging the naval and air force of Britain in preparation for an invasion initially scheduled for August, but postponed until September, as the invasion force was simply unprepared. The offensive began with air attacks on shipping on July 10th. Churchill was steadfast.
"And now it has come to us to stand alone in the breach, and face the worst that the tyrant's might and enmity can do. Bearing ourselves humbly before God, but conscious that we serve an unfolding purpose, we are ready to defend our native land against the invasion by which it is threatened. We are fighting by ourselves alone; but we are not fighting for ourselves alone....
There are vast numbers, not only in this Island but in every land, who will render faithful service in this war, but whose names will never be known, whose deeds will never be recorded. This is a War of the Unknown Warriors; but let all strive without failing in faith or in duty, and the dark curse of Hitler will be lifted from our age."
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C. S. Lewis’ ”De Futilitate,” Part 1

Lewis begins his essay "On Futility" with the common misconception, derivable directly from Hegelian philosophy, that "Evolution simply means improvement.... There is thus lodged in popular thought the conception that improvement is, somehow, a cosmic law." This, he declares, is "a conception to which the sciences give no support at all. There is no general tendency even for organisms to improve. There is no evidence that the mental and moral capacities of the human race have been increased since man became man."
Next, Lewis properly collapses the distinction between scientific and non-scientific reasoning:
"The physical sciences, then, depend on the validity of logic just as much as metaphysics or mathematics. If popular thought feels 'science' to be different from all other kinds of knowledge because science is experimentally verifiable, popular thought is mistaken. Experimental verification is not a new kind of assurance coming in to supply the deficiencies of mere logic. We should therefore abandon the distinction between scientific and non-scientific thought. The proper distinction is between logical and non-logical thought..., if logic is discredited science must go down along with it."
Reason, then, can not be thought of as merely human:
"Where thought is strictly rational it must be ... not ours, but cosmic or super-cosmic. It must be something not shut up inside our heads but already 'out there' - in the universe or behind the universe.... Unless all that we take to be knowledge is an illusion, we must hold that in thinking we are not reading rationality into an irrational universe but responding to a rationality with which the universe has always been saturated."
And the objectivity of reason implies the objectivity of Value:
"The prima facie case for denying a sense of values to the cosmic or super-cosmic mind has really collapsed the moment we see that we have to attribute reason to it. When we are forced to admit that reason cannot be merely human, there is no longer any compulsive inducement  to say that virtue is purely human."
"In a word, unless we allow ultimate reality to be moral, we cannot morally condemn it. The more seriously we take our own charge of futility the more we are committed to the implication that reality in the last resort is not futile at all. The defiance of the good atheist hurled at an apparently ruthless and idiotic cosmos is really an unconscious homage to something in or behind that cosmos which he recognizes as infinitely valuable and authoritative.... The fact that he arraigns heaven itself for disregarding them means that at some level of his mind he knows they are enthroned in a higher heaven still."
The problem of futility, or Value, "is really the same sort of problem that meets us in science. The pell-mell of phenomena, as we first observe them, seems to be full of anomalies and irregularities; but being assured that reality is logical we go on framing and trying out hypotheses to show that the apparent irregularities are not irregular at all. The history of science is the history of that progress. The corresponding process whereby, having admitted that reality in the last resort  must be moral, we attempt to explain evil, is the history of theology."
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Spring Poems 1: ”Ode on the Spring,” by Thomas Grey, ”Today,” by Billy Collins

This month, we welcome Spring together with an eclectic mix of poetry, beginning with:
1) Thomas Grey's "Ode on the Spring"
and
2) Billy Collins' whimsical "Today"
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Winston Churchill, ”This was Their Finest Hour,” June 18,1940

Two weeks after "we shall fight on the beaches," Churchill again spoke before the House of Commons. The Battle of France was lost, the miracle of Dunkirk was in the rearview mirror, and France was seeking an armistice with Germany. Churchill sounded the clarion call:
"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us....
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"
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Winston Churchill, ”We shall fight on the beaches,” 6/4/1940, Part 2

June 4th, 1940 marked the final day of "Operation Dynamo," the evacuation of allied forces from Dunkirk, a MIRACLE in the face of a "colossal military disaster." The Battle of France, a 6-week blitzkrieg was ending as a rout, a near total defeat. The evacuation at Dunkirk presaged the surrender of France on June 22nd. It fell upon Churchill to temper the jubilation and relief with the stark reality of defeat and the bleak prospects of the Battle of Britain looming on the horizon.
This speech in its historical context is deservedly considered one of the greatest in world history. We must never forget that darkness looms, and our resolve to fight on despite its apparent victory is the greatest mark of a people's character.
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C. S. Lewis’ ”The Seeing Eye,” Part 2

"The Russians, I am told, report that they have not found God in outer space. On the other hand, a good many people in many different times and countries claim to have found God ... here on earth."
Thus begins this essay by C. S. Lewis. I quote it as an introduction because it reminds me of the constant saw I hear from atheists, "show me evidence of God. I won't believe anything without evidence." The real question then becomes, what will count as evidence of God? While we can find Shakespeare in his plays, it is not the sort of evidence that that atheists demand for God. The supernatural by definition cannot be contained within the natural in that way.
"Looking for God - or heaven - by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters."
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John Donne: ”The Ecstasy,” ”A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” and ”For Whom the Bell Tolls”

1) "The Ecstasy" is a poem of incarnation. It is one of my favorite Donne love poems. The souls of lovers, that which truly loves, are sheathed in flesh:
Because such fingers need to knit
         That subtle knot which makes us man,
So must pure lovers' souls descend
         T' affections, and to faculties,
Which sense may reach and apprehend
. . .
Love's mysteries in souls do grow,
         But yet the body is his book.
 
2) "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" was written by Donne to his pregnant wife, Ann More, on the occasion of his departure from England to continental Europe. This beautiful love poem is filled with Donne's wit and passion. Playing on an extended metaphor of twin compasses, the poem ends with these lines:
 
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
   Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
   And makes me end where I begun.
 
3) "For Whom the Bell Tolls," also called "No Man is an Island," is not technically a poem, but a paragraph taken from a "Meditation" on life's trials. It is, nevertheless, one of the Donne's most well-known and quoted works.
 
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part II, Chapter 9, 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!
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Plato’s REPUBLIC, Book 10, Part 4

In the final book of his masterwork, having answered the central question of the dialogue, Plato turns Socrates back to the question of literature in the Kallipolis. Based on the theory of the Forms developed earlier in REPUBLIC Plato levels a devastating critique of poetry as an imitation three times removed from Truth, or the ideal reality. However, in true intellectual humility he ends this argument against poetry with this passage:
"... if poetry directed to pleasure and imitation have any argument to give showing that they should be in a city with good laws, we should be delighted to receive them back from exile.... Isn't it just for them to come back in this way -- when it has made an apology?... And surely we would also give its protectors ... occasion to speak an argument ... on its behalf, showing that it's not only pleasant but also beneficial to regimes and human life. And we shall listen benevolently. For surely we shall gain if it should turn out to be not only pleasant but also beneficial."
Next, Socrates addresses the immortality of the soul with both argument and the famous myth of Er and its tale of the afterlife. There can be no doubt that Robert Frost had this legend in mind when he wrote his poem, "The Trial by Existence," which I read in its entirety on our Simple Gifts podcast, published January 24th, entitled "Poems by Robert Frost, Part 4." The poem ends with this stanza, a fitting conclusion to our reading of what has been perhaps the most important text in philosophy in the Western world:
’Tis of the essence of life here,
Though we choose greatly, still to lack
The lasting memory at all clear,
That life has for us on the wrack
Nothing but what we somehow chose;
Thus are we wholly stripped of pride
In the pain that has but one close,
Bearing it crushed and mystified.
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C. S. Lewis’ ”The Seeing Eye,” Part 1

"The Russians, I am told, report that they have not found God in outer space. On the other hand, a good many people in many different times and countries claim to have found God ... here on earth."
Thus begins this essay by C. S. Lewis. I quote it as an introduction because it reminds me of the constant saw I hear from atheists, "show me evidence of God. I won't believe anything without evidence." The real question then becomes, what will count as evidence of God? While we can find Shakespeare in his plays, it is not the sort of evidence that that atheists demand for God. The supernatural by definition cannot be contained within the natural in that way.
"Looking for God - or heaven - by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters."
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John Donne: ”Hymn to Christ,” and ”This is my Play’s Last Scene”

In "Hymn to Christ" the poet is leaving his beloved England for the darkness and winter of Germany. His voyage is both literal and figurative, as he is leaving behind his temporal loves to discover the foundation of love itself. His wife, Ann More, having died two years before has united with Christ's love. As on his own name in "Hymn to God the Father," Donne plays on his wife's name, Ann More, here. The whole poem turns on the third stanza:
Nor Thou nor Thy religion dost controlThe amorousness of an harmonious soul ;But Thou wouldst have that love Thyself ; as ThouArt jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now ;Thou lovest not, till from loving more Thou freeMy soul ; Who ever gives, takes liberty ;    Oh, if Thou carest not whom I love,        Alas ! Thou lovest not me.
God does not censure but incites the passions of His children when they are properly directed. Donne's love for his wife, now taken from him into Christ's love, was always the reflection of true freedom and love in Christ. Both Donne and Christ, "loving More," want her for their own, and Donne finds his own love for his wife properly centered now on the Savior, who loves her "more." The final stanza sees the poet soldiering forward into the love that binds all his earthly passions into the Mystery of eternal Love, into that  "winter ... Where none but Thee, the eternal root        Of true love, I may know."
 
In "This is my Play's Last Scene," the poet awaits his death, that sublime moment of paradox - of terror and joy, 'shuffling off our mortal coil,' seeing at last "that [eternal] face."
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George Orwell’s 1984, Part II, Chapter 9, 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
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
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https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Plato’s REPUBLIC, Book 10, Part 3

In the final book of his masterwork, having answered the central question of the dialogue, Plato turns Socrates back to the question of literature in the Kallipolis. Based on the theory of the Forms developed earlier in REPUBLIC Plato levels a devastating critique of poetry as an imitation three times removed from Truth, or the ideal reality. However, in true intellectual humility he ends this argument against poetry with this passage:
"... if poetry directed to pleasure and imitation have any argument to give showing that they should be in a city with good laws, we should be delighted to receive them back from exile.... Isn't it just for them to come back in this way -- when it has made an apology?... And surely we would also give its protectors ... occasion to speak an argument ... on its behalf, showing that it's not only pleasant but also beneficial to regimes and human life. And we shall listen benevolently. For surely we shall gain if it should turn out to be not only pleasant but also beneficial."
Next, Socrates addresses the immortality of the soul with both argument and the famous myth of Er and its tale of the afterlife. There can be no doubt that Robert Frost had this legend in mind when he wrote his poem, "The Trial by Existence," which I read in its entirety on our Simple Gifts podcast, published January 24th, entitled "Poems by Robert Frost, Part 4." The poem ends with this stanza, a fitting conclusion to our reading of what has been perhaps the most important text in philosophy in the Western world:
’Tis of the essence of life here,
Though we choose greatly, still to lack
The lasting memory at all clear,
That life has for us on the wrack
Nothing but what we somehow chose;
Thus are we wholly stripped of pride
In the pain that has but one close,
Bearing it crushed and mystified.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net

Winston Churchill, ”We shall fight on the beaches” - 6/4/1940, Part 1

June 4th, 1940 marked the final day of "Operation Dynamo," the evacuation of allied forces from Dunkirk, a MIRACLE in the face of a "colossal military disaster." The Battle of France, a 6-week blitzkrieg was ending as a rout, a near total defeat. The evacuation at Dunkirk presaged the surrender of France on June 22nd. It fell upon Churchill to temper the jubilation and relief with the stark reality of defeat and the bleak prospects of the Battle of Britain looming on the horizon.
This speech in its historical context is deservedly considered one of the greatest in world history. We must never forget that darkness looms, and our resolve to fight on despite its apparent victory is the greatest mark of a people's character.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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C. S. Lewis’ ”Historicism,” Part 3

The movement of historicism as a dangerous attitude pervading the modern and contemporary world is here analyzed. For those familiar with the Christian Atheist podcasts on Hegel, you will find a great deal of value in Lewis's explication of this intellectual movement, and probably greater clarity of expression than I manage!
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net

John Donne Love Poems: ”A Fever” and ”Break of Day”

In "A Fever" Donne fears the loss of his "world's soul" to illness. The poet's passion recognizes the eternal, which can never perish, in his love:
Thy beauty, and all parts, which are thee,    Are unchangeable firmament.
But while his lover may be eternal, eternity's VALUE is constrained in love's present:
For I had rather owner be    Of thee one hour, than all else ever.
 I can only say, Amen. Take my wife, and you've taken my life.
"Break of Day" contrasts love with material concerns.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #rhythmic #phonaesthetics #soundsymbolism #metre #prosaic #literarycomposition #poet #ambiguity #symbolism #irony #poeticdiction #muse #prosody #meter #metricalpatterns #rhymescheme #johndonne #donne #hymntochrist #thisismyplayslastscene #ahymntogodthefather #battermyheartthreepersondgod #breakofday #afever #forwhomthebelltolls #avaledictionforbiddingmourning #theecstasy

George Orwell’s 1984, Part II, Chapter 9, 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
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Plato’s REPUBLIC, Book 10, Part 2

In the final book of his masterwork, having answered the central question of the dialogue, Plato turns Socrates back to the question of literature in the Kallipolis. Based on the theory of the Forms developed earlier in REPUBLIC Plato levels a devastating critique of poetry as an imitation three times removed from Truth, or the ideal reality. However, in true intellectual humility he ends this argument against poetry with this passage:
"... if poetry directed to pleasure and imitation have any argument to give showing that they should be in a city with good laws, we should be delighted to receive them back from exile.... Isn't it just for them to come back in this way -- when it has made an apology?... And surely we would also give its protectors ... occasion to speak an argument ... on its behalf, showing that it's not only pleasant but also beneficial to regimes and human life. And we shall listen benevolently. For surely we shall gain if it should turn out to be not only pleasant but also beneficial."
Next, Socrates addresses the immortality of the soul with both argument and the famous myth of Er and its tale of the afterlife. There can be no doubt that Robert Frost had this legend in mind when he wrote his poem, "The Trial by Existence," which I read in its entirety on our Simple Gifts podcast, published January 24th, entitled "Poems by Robert Frost, Part 4." The poem ends with this stanza, a fitting conclusion to our reading of what has been perhaps the most important text in philosophy in the Western world:
’Tis of the essence of life here,
Though we choose greatly, still to lack
The lasting memory at all clear,
That life has for us on the wrack
Nothing but what we somehow chose;
Thus are we wholly stripped of pride
In the pain that has but one close,
Bearing it crushed and mystified.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net

Winston Churchill, ”Be Ye Men of Valor” - 5/19/1940

We continue our series on the speeches of Great Britain's prime minister during World War II, Winston Churchill.
His very first address to the nation (on the BBC) as prime minister was on May 19, 1940. The Nazis were sweeping Western Europe, seeming unstoppable. Holland had fallen only 4 days before, and the French forces, assisted by the British, were overwhelmed  by superior forces. The withdrawal to Dunkirk was already proposed, and potential disaster and defeat looming. The picture was not rosy, and Churchill didn't paint it with pretty colors. His words, though bleak, inspired the confidence of desperation and resolve that would be needed in the battles to come:
"... side by side, the British and French peoples have advanced to rescue not only Europe but mankind from the foulest and most soul-destroying tyranny which has ever darkened and stained the pages of history. Behind them – behind us – behind the Armies and Fleets of Britain and France – gather a group of shattered States and bludgeoned races: the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians – upon all of whom the long night of barbarism will descend, unbroken even by a star of hope, unless we conquer, as conquer we must, as conquer we shall."
He ends with these words of commitment and resolve:
"Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: 'Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.'"
Listen again with us to the inspiring words of one of the great statesmen of the 20th century as the war unfolds.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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C. S. Lewis’ ”Historicism,” Part 2

The movement of historicism as a dangerous attitude pervading the modern and contemporary world is here analyzed. For those familiar with the Christian Atheist podcasts on Hegel, you will find a great deal of value in Lewis's explication of this intellectual movement, and probably greater clarity of expression than I manage!
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net

John Donne: ”A Hymn to God the Father,” and ”Batter my Heart”

John Donne's (1572-1631) poetry has haunted my life from the time I was first introduced to it in high school. He is the preeminent of the metaphysical poets. His poetry is a mix of intense intellectual engagement and profound passion, and his religious works are filled with the same erotic energy as his love poetry.
In "A Hymn to God the Father" Donne plays on his name. Confessing his sin he asks for forgiveness, but acknowledges what when He has forgiven it, God "has not done [Donne], for I have more."
In "Batter my Heart, Three-Person'd God" Donne brings the violence of erotic love to bear on his relationship with God.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net
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#poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #rhythmic #phonaesthetics #soundsymbolism #metre #prosaic #literarycomposition #poet #ambiguity #symbolism #irony #poeticdiction #muse #prosody #meter #metricalpatterns #rhymescheme #johndonne #donne #hymntochrist #thisismyplayslastscene #ahymntogodthefather #battermyheartthreepersondgod #breakofday #afever #forwhomthebelltolls #avaledictionforbiddingmourning #theecstasy

George Orwell’s 1984, Part II, Chapter 9, 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
https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords
https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com
 
#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

Plato’s REPUBLIC, Book 10, Part 1

In the final book of his masterwork, having answered the central question of the dialogue, Plato turns Socrates back to the question of literature in the Kallipolis. Based on the theory of the Forms developed earlier in REPUBLIC Plato levels a devastating critique of poetry as an imitation three times removed from Truth, or the ideal reality. However, in true intellectual humility he ends this argument against poetry with this passage:
"... if poetry directed to pleasure and imitation have any argument to give showing that they should be in a city with good laws, we should be delighted to receive them back from exile.... Isn't it just for them to come back in this way -- when it has made an apology?... And surely we would also give its protectors ... occasion to speak an argument ... on its behalf, showing that it's not only pleasant but also beneficial to regimes and human life. And we shall listen benevolently. For surely we shall gain if it should turn out to be not only pleasant but also beneficial."
Next, Socrates addresses the immortality of the soul with both argument and the famous myth of Er and its tale of the afterlife. There can be no doubt that Robert Frost had this legend in mind when he wrote his poem, "The Trial by Existence," which I read in its entirety on our Simple Gifts podcast, published January 24th, entitled "Poems by Robert Frost, Part 4." The poem ends with this stanza, a fitting conclusion to our reading of what has been perhaps the most important text in philosophy in the Western world:
’Tis of the essence of life here,
Though we choose greatly, still to lack
The lasting memory at all clear,
That life has for us on the wrack
Nothing but what we somehow chose;
Thus are we wholly stripped of pride
In the pain that has but one close,
Bearing it crushed and mystified.
If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at Romanschapter5@comcast.net

Winston Churchill, ”Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat”- 5/13/1940

We begin a series on the speeches of Great Britain's prime minister during World War II, Winston Churchill.
His very first speech as prime minister was on May 13, 1940 to the House of Commons. It begins with these words:
"I beg to move, that this House welcomes the formation of a Government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion."
Peace with Hitler was out of the question. The war was already upon them. All he could offer his nation was "blood, toil, tears and sweat."
Churchill had one policy:
" You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Listen again with us to the inspiring words of one of the great statesmen of the 20th century as the war progresses.
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 #bloodtoiltearssweat #victory