You are not helping people believe that your guy will fight for their right to speak freely or rescue the oppressed by stepping on other voices, and that’s just stupid.
But then again, we’ve been seeing for a while that the “chill wind” that tries to shut down speech it does not like has been blowing from the left.
In other news, Dr Helen has writtenan important and provocative piece on whether men can be raped by women and what it means under law. If you have sons, you should read it.
They’re not calling it a schism, but a “realignment” in the Church of England - very interesting stuff to watch:
“…the new body will have its own bishops, clergy and theological colleges, and eventually its own structures, within the legal constraints of existing Anglican institutions.”
Gafcon Churches will expressly be out of communion with the US and Canadian Anglicans, who allowed the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003 and have authorized same-sex blessings in the teeth of objections from the Anglican Primates.
Forty years later, making a second consideration - after taking a first read - of Paul VI’s prophetic (and actually very short) encyclical, Humanae Vitae.
Yesterday was the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Since we began this post talking about freedom, free speech and liberty, let us see what happens when you lose those gifts. Deacon Greg wrote a particularly good homily for the day, which I urge you to read, if only to familiarize yourself with the astonishing story of Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, the Archbishop of Saigon:
The Communists saw him as a threat. And on the feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1975, he was arrested and sent to prison. Without ever being tried, or sentenced, he was shipped off to a prison in North Vietnam. He stayed there for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement.
During his imprisonment, he couldn’t celebrate mass, or even receive the Eucharist. But he held fast to his faith.
He wrote to friends outside prison, saying he needed “his medicine.” They knew what he meant. They sent him small cough medicine bottles, filled with wine, and bits of bread. Sympathetic guards smuggled him some wood and wire, and he made a small cross, which he hid in a bar of soap.
[...]
He would place drops of wine in the palm of his hand, mingled with water, to celebrate mass. He did it every day at three pm, the hour of Christ’s death.
[...]
He was finally freed on November 21, 1988 – the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady. Nguyen Van Thaun went into exile, finally settling in Rome. During the Jubilee Year, in 2000, he was invited to preach at the Vatican, and Pope John Paul presented him with a chalice – an immeasurable gift for a man whose only chalice, for so many years, had been the palm of his hand. That same year, he was named a cardinal. Two years later, he died. Just last year, officials began a formal investigation to have him beatified.
[...]
“I am happy here, in this cell,” he wrote, “where white mushrooms are growing on my sleeping mat, because You are here with me, because You want me to live here with You. I have spoken much in my lifetime: now I speak no more. It’s Your turn to speak to me, Jesus; I am listening to You.”
You’ll want to read the whole thing. Then, perhaps, head over to wish Sr. Mary Martha well as she begins her novitiate, and begins her lifelong work of discovering another sort of freedom.
Of all the tribute written by journalists about their friend, Tim Russert, a few have been standouts; Jon Meacham’s piece in Newsweek was onesuch.
In her column, “On Faith” Sally Quinn writes another excellent, heartfelt tribute about the fullness of the man, Tim Russert, and how his faith, joyfully confessed throughout his being, completed that fullness. Russert was, by all accounts, a man who was not defined by his faith; rather he - by the way he lived his life - helped define the faith to others.
That is a peculiar and, I think, rare grace; too many of us Catholics - myself included - manage to identify as passionately Catholic (as in, “she’s a Catholic, and she’s alright when she’s not being a pain in the ass about it”) while rather too few of us can inspire folks to say, as Russert apparently did, “he was a Catholic, and what I saw in him made me more appreciative of Catholicsm.”
Writes Quinn:
…I’ve been trying to analyze it and what I think is this: Tim was a truly good person. He was authentic. He was kind and generous and thoughtful and caring. He was optimistic and funny. He was deeply religious. He was the most enthusiastic person I have ever known.
The word “enthusiastic” comes from the Greek words “en theos”, meaning “in God.”
[...]
Tim talked bout Kennedy’s inauguration speech….what struck Tim was when Kennedy said: “Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” It “was so consistent with what I had been taught: that there is a higher meaning, a deeper purpose to life than just getting a job and making money; that there is something much more to our core as a person and a son or daughter of God.”
All of Russert’s colleagues have mentioned his faith, and how it touched them, how quick he was to offer prayers (and to mean it) how comforted even the atheists felt when he said he was praying for them. Some have criticized the media for seeming - in their grief - to confer sainthood upon Russert. I am thinking that for the folks in his industry, who don’t know many believers and whose coverage of church and preacher scandals and scams has made them cynical about faith, Russert was, in fact, the closest thing they have ever come to meeting and knowing a “real” saint, for he was certainly a “saint” in the biblical sense (we’ll have to wait on the canonical.)
As Mother Angelica liked to say, before she lost her power of speech, “you might be the only Christ your neighbor ever sees.” I think Tim Russert had become for Quinn, and for many of his colleagues, the very face of Christ - the only Christ they had ever seen. And now all they knew of Christ has been taken from them.
As we know from scripture, losing access to Christ is no small thing.
I suspect that it was Quinn’s missing both Russert and his means of displaying Christ to her that inspired her - a non-Catholic - to partake of Holy Communion at his funeral.
Which, strictly speaking, no, she ought not to have done.
She mentions it only in passing in her column:
…at Tim’s funeral mass…communion was offered. I had only taken communion once in my life, at an evangelical church. It was soon after I had started “On Faith” and I wanted to see what it was like. Oddly I had a slightly nauseated sensation after I took it, knowing that in some way it represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Last Wednesday I was determined to take it for Tim, transubstantiation notwithstanding. I’m so glad I did. It made me feel closer to him. And it was worth it just to imagine how he would have loved it.
Hoo, boy. For someone who got so much of it right earlier in her column, she got an awful lot wrong in that paragraph, and Bill Donoghue of the Catholic League was quick to let her know it:
Just reading what Sally Quinn said is enough to give any Christian, especially Catholics, more than a ‘slightly nauseating sensation.’ In her privileged world, life is all about experiences and feelings. Moreover, Quinn’s statement not only reeks of narcissism, it shows a profound disrespect for Catholics and the beliefs they hold dear. If she really wanted to get close to Tim Russert, she should have found a way to do so without trampling on Catholic sensibilities.
Well…but perhaps there might have been a better way to teach her how to do that.
The New Republic called Quinn to get her reaction to Donoghue, and hers was not a conciliatory response:
“I’m baffled by the reaction, and completely blindsided,” Quinn said. “I’m very pluralistic about religion, and I feel that everyone should respect everyone else’s.” [...]
I was really close to [Russert], and I was grieving. And I thought me taking the Eucharist would be a thing that he would really enjoy. And all these things are what religion should be about. … There’s no sign out there that says you’re not allowed to take Communion. [The Catholic Church is] like, “Everyone is welcome. This is God’s house.” God doesn’t turn people away, supposedly.
I think it’s really an important issue. The Pope doesn’t want people who are pro-choice to take it. John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd, even the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, and others were not allowed. … Frankly, none of that was going through my mind. I was feeling absolutely destroyed. It felt right to do it as a tribute to him. I wasn’t thinking politically at all.
I’ve become a champion of pluralism and a spirit of inclusiveness. Any religious people who purport to be Christians, or whatever faith you might be, would do everything they could to welcome others–in the case of Catholics, to welcome others the way Christ would welcome others. This is a perfect example of WWJD. Would Jesus have said, “No you don’t, Sally Quinn. You’re not going to get away with this one!”
There are many, many inaccuracies (and yes, a lot of “I’s” and “me’s”) in that quote - none of the public and political Catholics she mentioned were denied communion, even at the recent papal masses (a fact that troubles many Catholics) - and it must be said that Quinn preens a bit too pink as owning the virtues of “inclusiveness,” “pluralism” “tolerance,” “welcome” etc, while managing to display how empty those words can be when they’re not backed up by respect, understanding and yes, “tolerance,” a word I have grown to loathe.
“Tolerance,” must be a two-way street or it is nothing.
Quinn would likely never think to walk into a mosque with high heels and an uncovered head, or go into those parts of a Hindu temple reserved only for the devout, but she sees no problem with availing herself of the Holy Eucharist in a Catholic Church without considering that, for Catholics receiving the Eucharist is a sacrament, just like Baptism.
Non-Catholics are very welcome to attend Mass, and they are even welcome to participate in the Communion Rite, up to a point, and it is a well-defined and simple point that even the “idiot George Bush” manages to comprehend, as we’ve noted here.
We Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, and as such it is to be received reverently and faithfully, by Catholics and those Orthodox Christians who are in communion with Rome, and not out of curiosity or as part of a spiritual “field trip”. One must - at the very least - believe that Christ is there, Present in the Eucharist.
Tim Russert was a devout Catholic; it is up for debate whether he would have, as Quinn seems to think, “loved” her taking Communion. He might have. Or he might have shrugged and thought, “well, let Jesus sort that out, since he’s there, now, inside her,” or he may have wished that she had not done so.
But, it’s a curious thing. See what Quinn has written here:
…I was determined to take it for Tim, transubstantiation notwithstanding. I’m so glad I did. It made me feel closer to him.
Sally Quinn was attempting to commune with Tim Russert - a man who, while on Earth, may have been to her “the only Christ” she had ever seen.
Her instinct, then, could be construed as “seeking Christ the only way she has known him, through the sacrament of Communion.”
She shouldn’t have done it. It would be lovely if non-Catholics would take the time, as President and Mrs. Bush did, to learn what we believe and to respect our ways as they might respect a million other multi-culti rituals. But on the other hand, Quinn may have brought a real innocence to her act, as well as some vincible ignorance. Christ is bigger than any slight that can be made against him, and the Holy Spirit has a way of using the most surprising people or circumstances for designs we cannot understand.
Ms. Quinn is quite correct in asking, “What would Jesus do?” It is an important question for all churches to ask themselves.
On the other hand [...] …[Quinn's] words “transubstantiation notwithstanding” are difficult to hear. If one knows enough about Catholicism to mention “transubstantiation” then one should also know that the word “notwithstanding” makes little sense in that context.
At the same time, the Catholic League need not attack Ms. Quinn ad hominem. Ms. Quinn, whatever her personal beliefs, seems to have approached the altar rail out of love for her Catholic friend, not hatred for the Catholic church. …
In short, may I offer some friendly advice to both parties?
To Ms. Quinn: Giving tribute to a friend may also mean respecting his religious traditions.
To the Catholic League: Giving people the benefit of the doubt is a good way to show respect, too.
Fr. Martin’s whole piece is worth reading, and I hope you will. And I hope Mr. Donoghue will consider that Ms. Quinn has had an encounter with Christ, fully Present, and that while neither her head nor her heart seemed to have been appropriately engaged to recognize him in that form, Christ may wish to work that encounter.
We Catholics certainly have a responsibility to Christ to insure that his Eucharistic Presence is correctly understood and reverenced, but when someone - Catholic or non-Catholic - gets it wrong, we have another responsibility: to correct the error in a way that is both firm but loving, so as not to get in the way of Christ and whatever he might have begun within that person.
Ms. Quinn might have looked back on her mistaken reception of the Eucharist and recalled the sense of peace she found there, and it might have spurred her on, perhaps, to look more deeply at what the Eucharist is. It might have brought future, more devout, encounters. Now, her memory of that moment will always be overshadowed by the finger-wagging, name-calling scolding she’s received.
At what point, in protecting and shielding Christ from insult, do we actually get in his way, and prevent him from doing what he wants? We can know the rules and rubrics back and forth, but we cannot know the mind of God, and sometimes we perhaps need to, in all humility, remember Mother Angelica’s words about being “the only Christ your neighbor ever sees” and simply pray “thy will be done.”
A lively discussion is going on about this over at Inside Catholic.
UPDATED: More bloggers writing on “Quinn-gate” over the weekend - see links below. Also either I am a very bad writer, or some folks are making a willful mental leap, for fun, and deciding that I have written here that Tim Russert is Jesus, which is not what I said. I said that for SOME of his colleagues, he is the only Jesus they’ve ever seen, as per Mother Angelica’s teaser. Really, I think it explains itself.
There is something ominous about people telling other people what they are permitted to say and what they must not say. And it is the height of stupidity to tell a comedian how he may or may not pursue his laughs. I hope Stewart has the stones to say “bite me, buddy, it’s still a free country, ain’t it?” I suspect he might, although I’m sure he’d be less coarse than that! Thankfully, some Stewart fans are defending his right to mock!.
And Stewart seems to becarrying forth very well. Funny clip.
I don’t know what has happened to the word “liberal” but the liberals I grew up with were not interested in shutting down other people or controlling their words. And they weren’t doing this, either. Must be some a new sorts of liberals, or something.
National Review Online has posted an excerpt from Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism all about the eugenics philosophies of Margaret Sanger, the foundress of the American Birth Control League, which became Planned Parenthood. A good and profoundly disturbing read.
Julie at Happy Catholic directed her readers to listen to this three minute op-ed by Scott Simon of NPR. Simon takes straight dope about Obama and his campaign finance flip-flip (and the moral questions it raises) and on his playing the race card. Go listen. Seriously. It will surprise you. I bet it surprised the Obama Camp.
Speaking of whom…Bob Owens has created the Obama Bus list to keep track of everything and everyone being thrown under during this presidential campaign.
This sounds like a victory for Bush, doesn’t it?. Probably why no one is talking about it.
The California-based group on Thursday is hosting “From the Front Lines,” an eight-hour Internet telethon fashioned after Jerry Lewis’s famous telethons, but with a high-tech twist. The June 26 event (which runs from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific time) will feature U.S. troops on the front lines, families of those who gave their lives in the War on Terror, top radio talkers, high-ranking military officials, celebrities, journalists, and musical talent.
The event will air on the Web through the cutting-edge technology donated and operated by UStream.tv and will be co-hosted by MAF Chairman Melanie Morgan and columnist/blogger Michelle Malkin.
“I have been in war zones. I have spoken with our troops. And I know that this overwhelming show of support and love from Americans means the world to them as they fight for our country’s security and freedom,” Morgan said.
The sometimes-competitive world of talk radio will become a unified front, as the kings and queens of talk radio unite for this effort. The roster of radio hosts signed up for shifts on the telethon include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Mike Gallagher, Monica Crowley, Melanie Morgan, Roger Hedgecock, Michael Graham, Mark Williams, Brian Sussman, Martha Zoller, and Andrea Shea-King. They’ll be joined by NBC’s designated “America’s Favorite Mom” Patti Patton-Bader, mother of two sons in the military including one stationed in Iraq right now.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan has endorsed the effort and will participate. Lt. Col. Oliver North, comedian Jackie Mason, Miss Florida 2007, and Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik are among the many other stars, dignitaries, and heroes joining the historic push.
Color me impressed as all get-out. I don’t know how I’d missed all the announcements, but do check it out. Since I’m sure there will be no MSM coverage, it will be interesting to see how the thing fares on the strength of the alternative media, alone.
Jeanette has installed the widget and you can keep track of how the fundraiser is going at her site. I just checked and so far, they’re at a quarter million dollars!
The good thing about insomnia: in the wee small hours, you get caught up on your blogging and finally have time to link to all those things you’ve been meaning to. Got some email answered, too. Please forgive me if I have not responded; I try, but lately there is so much of it, that some does slip through the cracks.
There have only been 43 American Presidents in 230 years. There have only been 267 popes in 2000 years. There have been billions of other people. Greatness is not an illusion. And it is not fomented with easy praise. I worry sometimes that our over-indulged, over-applauded youngsters may not have the requisite strength within themselves to find “greatness” when we will need it.
Walking for Fiscal Health: I love this story, via Deacon Greg, of a 70 year old pastor walking for pledge money as a means to retire his parish debt. I love the idea and am going to send a small donation to this fellow and then approach my own pastor with the notion. Maybe we can make it parish-wide; get the whole crew up and walking!
Bookstuff: Inside Catholic is forming a book-reading group (nothing to join, you just get a copy of the book they’re reading - the terrific-sounding Exiles; a Novel by Ron Hansen - and join in the discussion) and I think it’s a great idea!
Over the course of the week, Amy Welborn, Matthew Lickona, Joseph O’Brien, and Bishop Daniel Flores will be sharing their thoughts on Exiles, the latest novel from Ron Hansen, author of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Mariette in Ecstasy…we’re encouraging any and all interested readers to pick up their own copy of the book and join in the discussion. Where else will you be able to join a book club with distinguished panelists and fellow Catholics from around the globe?
Also, there is this book called The Shack, that is making some waves in Christian circles; sounds intriguing - has anyone read it?
“Cruelly Complex Rubrics!”: My post at Inside Catholic on the looming “civil war” between Novus Ordo and Tridentine Mass Lovin’ Catholics in the UK.
UFO’s in Cardiff, Wales: I’ve read that in Ben Stein’s documentary, “Expelled” Richard Dawkins, suggests that alien beings from outer space may have settled planet Earth. He might like this piece. Hey, I believe in angels and that the Mother of God has visited us on earth. There are more things than are dreamt, Horatio!
I don’t know which of these cakes is more impressive: the party dress or the dresser, but this is remarkable work. I wouldn’t want to eat them, though. It would be like taking a knife to a painting.
Thank heavens for the gatekeepers! As of this writing - 3:45 AM, it’s still uncorrected. As I asked all that time ago, quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Finally, from Deacon Greg, again - a video of a guy giving free hugs. At first I thought, “no…not my cuppa…” but then I thought…in a way, isn’t that what God offers us? He’s like the guy standing there with a sign saying “Free Hugs” and we’re the wary folk walking by and cutting a wide berth.
If the Free Hugs guy can be analogous to God, maybe Matt’s beautiful dancing trek can be analogous to the Holy Spirit.
As ever, if you purchase stuff at Amazon via this site, a portion of the kickback gets donated to this hospice or to various retreat house “scholarship” funds, which help provide retreat opportunities for folks who otherwise could not afford one. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve been on one, myself.
Rick at Brutally Honest took a look at some hand-wringing in the press (they’re so helpful these days, aren’t they?) and found the perfect response to it:
So many have either emailed or commented on how happy they are with the Mystic Monk coffee they’ve ordered (see sidebar or banner above) that I thought I’d throw a few of their yummy iced coffee recipes up. Nothing is more refreshing on a hot day than cold, cold coffee with a bit of ice cream in it!
Frosty Mocha Cappuccino Recipe The monks recommend the Rum Pecan coffee for this
In a blender combine:
1 cup Mystic Monk coffee, very strong, cold
2 cups vanilla fat-free ice cream
2 tablespoons chocolate-flavored syrup
Cover and blend on high speed until smooth.
Irish Creme Iced Coffee My husband’s invented favorite
In a blender combine:
1 cup Mystic Monk Irish Creme Coffee
2-3 scoops vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup cold milk
1/4 cup Irish Creme liquor (optional)
Lots of Ice
Frappe until frothy. Whipped creme optional.
I haven’t tried this one, yet - our espresso maker broke a long time ago and we never felt the need to replace it, and I’ve never been one for flavored syrups in my coffee, but it sounds intriguing!
Iced Mystic Mint Mocha Recipe You will need a blender and (ideally) an espresso maker for this.
Ingredients:
* Plenty of ice
* 1 teaspoon of mint chocolate coffee syrup
* 2 scoops of mint choc chip ice cream
* 1 or 2 MMC Espresso Blend shots (using coffee beans always gives a better flavour) or MMC Chocolate Mint Flavor Coffee
* Cold milk
* Whipped cream
* Chocolate dust/sprinkles
Directions:
1. Put handful of ice into blender
2. Add 2 scoops of mint choc chip ice cream
3. Add 1 teaspoon of chocolate mint flavoured coffee syrup
4. Pour in preferred amount of cold milk (depending on how thick you want it) and 1-2 shots of espresso (depending on how strong you like it)
5. Blend for one minute
Q: So, are we in a recession or aren’t we? A: Greenspan says we’re almost there! Just a few more pushes…just a few more nudges with the oil prices, and a little more talking down by the press and the economy will finally be in the recession he and the rest of the experts have been telling us we were in for the past 3 years. They want the “Bush left us in the worst economy since the depression” narrative (hell, they’ve been constructing it - brick by brick - for years) and they’re damn sure going to get it. They believe we’ve forgotten the Carter economy of double-digit inflation, 7.4% unemployment and 15% mortgage rates - and they may be right.
If only Congress worked half as hard at actually serving the nation as they do trying to “get” Bush. What great shape we’d be in.
Q: Speaking of Congress and mortgages… A: I know, I know 23 of our senators won’t discuss details of their mortgages. Some of them, of course don’t have mortgages, and some of them, like Harry Reid don’t need mortgages, because they pay for their houses, with cash. Imagine being a Senator for 20-odd years -a public servant - and being able to do that! I don’t know that we need super-efficient details of anyone’s mortgages, but in light of the sweet deals Countrywide cut with Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D- ND) it seems prudent to at least check out the Countrywide angle.
Q: Wow, so this might be a big story, eh? Senators getting mortgage breaks from a disgraced lender?
A: Unless numerous Republicans become embroiled in the scandal, you’ll see less coverage of this story than you do on any of the good news in Iraq. Btw, bet you didn’t know that the US Military turned over control of the Anbar province to the Iraqi’s today, did you? Of course you didn’t. Now that Iraq has turned around, coverage is down 90%. No use reporting what does not fit the “quagmire” narrative. Jon Stewart wonders if it is not a citizen’s responsibility to keep informed and abreast of what is going on over there, even if the press is incurious and disinterested in dispensing that info.
Q: Maybe there isn’t any good news?
A: There’s lots of good news and Gateway Pundit notes that even the NY Times is finally admitting it, but you can tell it’s killing them.
Q: Does the press only like bad news? A: Well, yes, during a GOP administration, they do. They like it so much the AP this week featured a handwringer of a piece meant to do nothing more than thoroughly depress Americans and (ahem) oh yeah, make sure they vote a Democrat into the White House this year (I’m not kidding, check out the last ‘graph!).
Fisking the piece of journalistic sludge, James Liliks writes:
It is amusing, really – after sticking people’s heads in the muck every day for years, promoting every faddish scare, fluffing the pillow beneath every yuppie worry, swapping the straight-forward adult approach to news with presenters who emote the copy with the sad face of a day-care worker telling the children that Barney is dead – in short, after decades of presenting the world through the peculiar prism that finds in every day more evidence of our rot and our failures, they wonder why people are depressed. Hang the banner, guys: Mission Accomplished.
Q: Geez, Anchoress, say something positive!
A: I’ve seen two really great movies in the past couple weeks. The first, everyone else has already seen: Ironman! The first superhero movie I have absolutely loved. Great shots, perfectly cast (I even liked Paltrow) and Robert Downey Jr seemed like he was born to play Tony Stark. The other great movie: Lars and the Real Girl, with Ryan Gosling, who is terrific playing a young man who finds a unique way to overcome his crippling shyness. I was going to write a longer review, but Julie at Happy Catholic has already done it, and I concur with her take on things:
You wouldn’t think that a movie about a man and a life-size, anatomically correct sex doll would be described as charming, heart-warming, and delightful but Lars and the Real Girl pulls it off.
It’s one of those surprising little sleepers you don’t expect much from and then fall in love with. Charming is exactly the word. Don’t let the doll scare you. She’s quite harmless and you’ll love her.
Impressively, within hours - literally hours - of my piece being posted, the erudite Roger Kimball jumped off of it with a huge, and hugely entertaining and enlightening piece which of course is much smarter than anything I had to say, and much more elegantly said.
Nietzsche clung to honesty after abandoning the other virtues because it allowed him to fashion the most ruthless instrument of interrogation imaginable. Difficulty, not truth, became his criterion of value. Thus he embraced the horrifying idea of the Eternal Recurrence primarily because he considered it “the hardest possible thought”—whether it was also true didn’t really matter.
Nietzsche opposed honesty to truth. He looked to art as a “countermovement to nihilism” not because he thought that art could furnish us with the truth but because it accustomed us to living openly with untruth. Ultimately, Nietzsche’s ideal asks us to transform our life into a work of art. Accepting Schopenhauer’s inversion of the traditional image of man, Nietzsche no longer finds human life dignified in itself: if man is essentially an expression of irrational will, then in himself he is morally worthless.
[...]
It is an axiom of criticism that the extent of our disillusionment is a reliable index of our wisdom: the idea that somehow the less we believe the more enlightened we are. There is, however, an curious irony here. For there is an important sense in which philosophy must contribute to the reduction of human experience. At least, it must begin by contributing to it, and this for the same reason that philosophy cannot proceed without a large element of doubt. There is something essentially corrosive about the probing glance of philosophy: something essentially dis-illusioning. If our goal is a human understanding of the world, then the activity of philosophy must itself be part of what philosophy investigates and criticizes.
Yeah - there’s 6800 words of that, written with lightening speed and yet somehow fully coherent, cohesive and convincing. You’ll want to print it out and take your time with it, or at least I had to, but then, as you know, I’m not that smart.
The only time I ever lost weight on vacation was on a trip to Ireland, where we stayed at different B&B’s almost every night. The “big Irish breakfast” was wonderful, every day, and we ate it all - cereal or porridge, black bread with butter, yogurt with berries, eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes and fried tomatoes and lots of coffee with cream. It would keep us quite filled and energetic until supper (I don’t believe we ever ate lunch, although we took a break each day for a Guinness and some days for gelato), and supper was fairly light - a bit of fresh fish and veggies or the like.
Researchers have found a possible way to overcome the common problem of dieters eventually abandoning their diet and regaining the weight they lost. Eat a big breakfast packed with carbohydrates (”carbs”) and protein, then follow a low-carb, low-calorie diet the rest of the day, the authors of a new study recommend.
Yes, that’s pretty much how it went in Ireland, and we noticed that it was rare to find chubby people over there.
Here in America it’s all so fast-paced. Hard to take the time to put together a big breakfast, so we snatch a bun or a roll with butter and a cup of coffee, or a nutri-bar and we run - and all day we’re trying to catch up with what we need. I have noticed that on days where I take the time to add an egg and a piece of rye toast to my usual yogurt/granola breakfast, the whole day feels better, and - on the rare occasion that I have all that plus oatmeal - I’m even more energetic.
It’s just the rousing oneself out of bed even earlier, “just for breakfast” that makes it difficult.
by TheAnchoress @ 11:15 am. Filed under America, Medical
