Cindy Wity

You Say You Want a Revolution

November 19, 2023 Leave a comment

Not your usual Thanksgiving fare . . . If you live in Disneyworld, then don’t bother reading further.

May 19, 1925. Saloth Sar, as the eighth of nine children, is born into a well-off and well-connected farming family, landowners in Kompong Thong province in central Cambodia. He arrives in a time when the kingdom of Cambodia is a French protectorate within French Indochina.

Sar’s childhood is strict and sheltered in the capital city of Phnom Penh. He spends a year at a Buddhist monastery prep-school before attending a French Catholic primary school. He involves himself with the violin, drama, soccer and carpentry. His Cambodian education continues until 1949.

Having won a scholarship to study abroad with a group of some 200 students, Sar journeys to Paris to study radio technology. During the one-month boat trip in 1949, Sar meets Mey Mann. Mann would later describe Sar at that time as being a pleasant man who showed little interest in politics. But in Paris during the early 1950s, Sar becomes a different man. He turns his conscious into consciousness.

What Happened? Marx and Mao happened.

“Though a Roman Catholic and a devout Jeffersonian [preferring agrarian life over city life] coming out of high school, Sar attended university in Paris, 1949-1953, where he came under the influence of several Marxists, especially the radical former nazi-collaborator Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980).”
Bradely J. Birzer in The Horrors of Communism: Roland Joffe’s “The Killing Fields” ~ The Imaginative Conservative

In Paris, Sar is in the company of fellow travelers – radicalized Cambodians. He joins their reading group and immerses himself in the writings of Marx, Lenin and Mao. Sar connects with the ruthless ways of Lenin and Mao. He joins France’s Stalinist Communist Party.

As a result of neglecting his studies, Sar loses his scholarship. He then returns to Cambodia in 1953 to bring revolution to Cambodia. Mey Mann, who also went off to Paris as a young college student, also came back a leftist revolutionary.

Back in Cambodia, Saloth Sar joins Vietnamese communists who were intent on ridding South East Asia of western influence. When he becomes the leader of the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) he takes on the nom de guerre Pol Pot, which means “the original Cambodian.” His family’s ancestry traced back to Cambodian royalty.

William Branigin, who spent 19 years overseas, reporting in Southeast Asia, Central America, the Middle East and Europe, provides background to Pol Pot’s growing revolutionary activism and his Maoist leanings in his article ARCHITECT OF GENOCIDE WAS UNREPENTANT TO THE END – The Washington Post:

After years of secret communist activity in Phnom Penh, Pol Pot rose to the leadership of the underground movement in 1962. The following year he fled to the countryside to escape a crackdown by the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who dubbed the revolutionaries “Khmers Rouges,” or Red Khmers. . ..

Ensconced in the Cambodian northeast in an isolated jungle base protected by Vietnamese communist guerrillas who were then his allies, Pol Pot and his followers concocted a strange ideological brew of Marxism and what one scholar described as “badly digested Maoism.” During this period Pol Pot was apparently influenced by a five-month trip he made to China at the beginning of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and his economic “Great Leap Forward.” It was marked by the partial evacuation of Chinese cities and purges of “class enemies.”

. . .

Pol Pot then launched his own version of the “Great Leap Forward,” but with an apparent determination to jump even farther. The Khmer Rouge promptly emptied the cities, viewed as breeding grounds of capitalism, and began slaughtering old-regime soldiers and officials. The aim was to establish an agrarian Utopia in a single giant bound over the various stages of Marxist development. It was “Year Zero,” and people were entirely expendable. . ..

Pol Pot combined Stalinist and Maoist models with a focus on an agrarian society. With support from rural Cambodians, North Vietnamese, and the Chinese, Pol Pot was able to take control of the country in 1975. The Khmer Rouge began inverting the entire structure of Cambodian society.

Children, indoctrinated into the new ideology, were given power. Taught to “harden their hearts” toward their countrymen and their own families, they decided who was ideologically pure and who must be purged. But that was not enough for Pol Pot. He remained obsessively paranoid, as Branigin writes:

But soon the revolution began devouring its own children, as Pol Pot launched repeated purges of those he believed were plotting against him or working for his Vietnamese or American enemies. Thousands were tortured into making “confessions” at Tuol Sleng, a Phnom Penh school-turned-jail whose director reported to Pol Pot.

In another article, POL POT: LOVER OF LIFE BECAME INSTRUMENT OF DEATH – The Washington Post William Branigin writes

In pursuit of their dreams of a communist Utopia, the Khmer Rouge abolished money, commerce, religion and traditional education. They suppressed family relationships, individualism, intellectuals and ethnic groups, slaughtered anyone who showed recalcitrance and enforced unquestioning obedience to “Angka,” the organization.

Thousands were beaten to death, then dumped in mass graves in the regime’s “killing fields.” Many more succumbed to starvation, disease and overwork. Out of a population of about 8 million, demographers and researchers estimate, at least 1 million, and possibly as many as 1.7 million, died.

But as the killing intensified, the revolution increasingly turned on itself, targeting “enemies” whom Pol Pot perceived to be multiplying like germs, creating what he called a “sickness in the party.”

There is much to the Pol Pot murderous legacy that is not written here. This brief intro describing Saloth Sar’s fundamental transformation into genocidal dictator Pol Pot is meant to open eyes to the fundamental transformation -subtle and not so subtle – that is taking place in our country right now.

I want my readers to recognize the signs of the coming onslaught on humanity. The Biden regime, the Merrick Garland DOJ, Leftist judges and the media, are showing signs of demanding ideological conformity to their form of totalitarian “Democracy!” The Left’s constant lawfare against Trump is just one indicator of this.

And though implemented in more efficient ways today, e.g., digital technology, the same Lennin Think and Maoism is being used by the intelligentsia to control every aspect of our lives – from thought to word to deed, from sunup to sundown and throughout the night.

To understand Pol Pot’s way of thinking and that of today’s intelligentsia, listen to the podcast below – Thinking Like Lenin with Gary Saul Morson.

The three videos below reveal the man Pol Pot and the political horrors of his regime. Learn about the brutalities of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and the genocide, one of the worst in recorded history, of about half the Cambodian nation. Learn from the firsthand accounts of Dith Pran and Haing S. Ngor.

Dith Pran, a Cambodia-born journalist, helped bring to light the brutalities of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. His three brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge.

Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian physician and actor, is best known for his Dith Pran role in the movie The Killing Fields (1984), which depicted the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia that Ngor himself had also lived through.

Watch Roland Joffé’s The Killing Fields to see what is coming our way under the growing despotism.

The Killing Fields – Trailer #1 – YouTube

Also, you may want to watch the third in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Tribology, The Dark Knight Rises, to get a sense of the anarchy and destruction just beginning to be released upon the world to bring about change. Gotham’s (Western Civilization’s) infrastructure is set apart for destruction by Bane and his “social justice” henchmen.

And learn about dehumanizing Marxism:

“Marx’s mechanical theory of society reduces real individuals, with their hopes and fears, beliefs and desires, to mere abstract “classes”. He subordinates reality—messy, limited, and all too human—to a perfect model in which utopia is the only possible outcome. As [Theodore] Dalrymple puts it: “Marx’s eschatology, lacking all common sense, all knowledge of human nature, rested on abstractions that were to him more real than the actual people around him.””
Laurie Wastell, Orwell and Dalrymple on English Class (quillette.com)

You say you want a revolution . . . so, with bloodlust, you can rid the world of monarchy and colonialism, of Christians and Jews, of the West, and of “oppressors” and replace it with an oppressive murderous regime and a descent into hell; to create a colony of insect peasants, war slaves, and execution squads, of senseless brutality, mind-numbing torture and purges; to create a society where indoctrinated children decide ideological purity among its members and where families cease to exist . . . well, you can count me out.

~~~~~

The Stomach-Churning Events Of The Killing Fields Of Cambodia – YouTube

POL POT – The Killing Fields – Forgotten History – YouTube

Last Word: Dith Pran – YouTube

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Thinking Like Lenin with Gary Saul Morson

Gary Saul Morson Ph.D. — The Moral Imagination Michael Matheson Miller

Gary Saul Morson & James Panero discuss “Leninthink” | The New Criterion

Stream Gary Saul Morson & James Panero discuss “Leninthink” by The New Criterion | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

~~~~~

Mey Mann on the origin of Pol Pot’s murderous ways:

“On many occasions, Mey Mann said he tried to understand why the Khmer Rouge had turned to the killing fields. He asked Ieng Sary and Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea many times when Pol Pot had changed, when Saloth Sar turned into the leader of a murderous regime, but he never got a clear answer.

““Nobody knows. I don’t know why it happened like that, why they tried the extreme way,” Mey Mann said. “When we were students, we thought in a good way and did everything step by step. I don’t know which year Pol Pot changed his attitude.

““Maybe Pol Pot wanted to follow China and be strict like that. He was too biased to China and needed support from them because he hated Vietnam,” he said. “But Pol Pot forgot that Cambodia has only 10 million people. If China goes the tough way and kills 100 people, they have many more people so it doesn’t have a big effect. But here, that’s a big killing.””

Former KR Intellectual Expresses Contrition – The Cambodia Daily

Saloth Sar/Pol Pot explains his motives:

“What influenced me most was the actual situation in Cambodia,” Pol Pot told American journalist Nate Thayer. When he came home from Paris, he found that his family had fallen on hard times. A once prosperous uncle had become a rickshaw puller, and other relatives had lost their land and livestock.

”I came to carry out the struggle, not to kill people,” the infirm, 72-year-old Pol Pot argued to Thayer. ”Even now, and you can look at me: Am I a savage person?” he asked, adding: “My conscience is clear.”

Thayer’s Pol Pot Interview: POL POT: UNREPENTANT An Exclusive Interview By Nate Thayer – Nate Thayer (typepad.com)

Nate Thayer, journalist who interviewed Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, dies at 62 : NPR

~~~~~

“Wokeism is Maoism”- Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao’s cultural revolution who is warning Americans about what’s to come.

Survivor of Mao’s China WARNS America is falling for the SAME tricks – YouTube

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“In order to survive you have to pretend to be stupid.” -Dith Pran, about life in Cambodia under Khmer Rouge

“I see … a pile of skulls and bones. For the first time since my arrival, what I see before me is too painful, and I break down completely. These are my relatives, friends and neighbors, I keep thinking … It is a long time before I am calm again. And then I am able, with my bare hands, to rearrange the skulls and bones so that they are not scattered about.”

— Dith Pran, writing about his return to Cambodia for The New York Times in 1989.

“This is sad for the Cambodian people because he was never held accountable for the deaths of 2 million of his fellow countryman. The Jewish people’s search for justice did not end with the death of Hitler and the Cambodian people’s search for justice doesn’t end with Pol Pot.”

— Dith Pran, upon the death of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 1998, quoted in The Times.

~~~~~

Cambodian Genocide: 33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields (allthatsinteresting.com)

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ARCHITECT OF GENOCIDE WAS UNREPENTANT TO THE END – The Washington Post

The Killing Fields: authentically good | Period and historical films | The Guardian

The Tragic Real-Life Story Of The Killing Fields (grunge.com)

Last Word: Dith Pran – YouTube

Pol Pot – Definition, Death & Quotes (biography.com)

Dith Pran, ‘Killing Fields’ Journalist, Dies at 65 : NPR

Pol Pot And The Cambodian Reign Of Terror Of The Killing Fields (allthatsinteresting.com)

Cambodia | Holocaust and Genocide Studies | College of Liberal Arts (umn.edu)

Part of my life is saving life. Dith Pran

Young Americans Post Sick Videos on Chinese-Run TikTok Praising 9/11 Mastermind Osama Bin Laden’s Evil “Letter to America” After Seeing it in a British Newspaper (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Cullen Linebarger

~~~~~

Lenin Think:

Why do revolutions “eat their own?” What is the sociological dynamic here? – History Stack Exchange

Filed under Communism, cultural Marxism, Culture, totalitarianism Tagged with Cambodia, Communism, cultural revolution, Dith Pran, genocide, Khmer Rouge, Mao, Marxism, Pol Pot, The Killing Fields, Western Civilization

Revolutions of the Soul

November 12, 2023 Leave a comment

Know this: the issue, whether abortion, gender, sexuality, racism, capitalism, equality, colonialism, Jews or some other oppressor/oppressed power struggle– the issue is never the issue. The revolution is the issue. The key question of any revolution is who holds power, as Lenin wrote.

Many of the revolution’s WOKE reactionaries are blinded by the mythic romance of revolution. Pursuit of revolution itself is seen as something valuable, as taking part in something stylishly ‘Che Guevarean’ and adventurous and something to be passionate about. It may be a religion for some.

The revolution’s WOKE reactionaries are OK with creating suffering and totalitarianism as long as the rhetoric is about total transformation, whatever that entails.

The revolution of the hour: for the destruction of the Western world; we are to be the causalities and they, the martyrs in their romantic myth.

I’ve learned how true revolution takes place. It’s not through mad passions but through everyday empathy and love and the tiny alterations of the heart and mind that move us in that direction . . .

~~~

Literary critic Joseph Epstein, with the title of his book-length essay, asks The Novel, Who Needs It? Turns out, I do, as it offers “truth of an important kind unavailable elsewhere in literature or anywhere else.”

So, I’ve made it a point to read the realist fiction of Russian writers – Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and others along with Chekhov’s short stories.

With a sense of moral urgency, fiction-writing has always been serious business for Russians. The great writers were the truth-tellers, the prophets, the voice of the voiceless, and the conscience of a nation— “a second government,” as Alexander Solzhenitsyn once put it.

Why read great novels and Russian literature today? Gary Saul Morson provides his reasoning:

Like realism in painting, the realism in Russian fiction captures life with an accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of life. It rejects flowery idealization, fantasy, and supernatural elements, and presents close observation of the human experience which can lead to personal discovery.

Life’s most important questions are explored in Russian fiction. The open-endedness of the writing leaves one to ponder the choices one is making. Literary realism can be grounding.

Ultimately about ideas, superior fiction shows how ideas -ideology and love for two examples – are played out in the lives of the characters. Over time, with tiny alterations, they change their minds –- and you see their conversion. Character development in literary realism is important.

“A single novel can touch on the wildest adventure but also dwell on the most private personal psychology,” writes Epstein. He gives the example of Moby Dick. I went with Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina for the latter.

Anna Karenina (1878), a novel about love and the family, explores the lives of its characters. Some pursue romantic love and others develop mature love. There are heroes and villains in Tolstoy’s most pro-family story.

The consequences of infidelity and the compromises made for forbidden love begin to add up for both Anna and Stiva. In contrast are those well-married and living a rather prosaic life – Kitty and Levin. Over time and with many intimate conversations to understand each other, they have matured from romance to love and found contentment.

Tolstoy at 68 years of age, had just finished Anna Karenina. It has been said by some that as he wrote Anna, Tolstoy was going through a spiritual crisis. He perhaps goes through a very similar spiritual conversion as does Levin.

Tolstoy had been as baptized and raised according to the principles of the Orthodox Christian Church. But later, at eighteen, he said “I no longer believed in anything I had been taught.” I see that as a typical eighteen-year-old response to what feels confining and irrational.

But Tolstoy moves from staunch atheist to a firmly spiritual person. He believed that God was the answer to the type of carnal excess and groundless passions found in the Anna and Vronsky relationship.

Were Levin’s thought processes and his spiritual journey, his tiny alterations of consciousness, also Tolstoy’s spiritual journey? We get a sense of spiritual crisis, of spiritual revolution, and of spiritual maturation in the following four excerpts.

Tolstoy narrates the birth of Levin’s son almost entirely from the new father’s point of view. The birth of his son sparks a spiritual breakthrough in Levin.

Anna Karenina, Part 7, Chapter 13

One night, Kitty awakens Levin with news that her labor has begun. Levin is beside himself, aware only of her suffering and the need to alleviate it. Kitty sends Levin to fetch the midwife and the doctor and to get a prescription from the pharmacist. As he heads for the door, Levin hears a pitiful moan.

“Yes, that’s her,” he told himself, and clutching his head, he ran downstairs.

“Lord have mercy! Forgive us, help us! He repeated the words that suddenly came to his lips out of nowhere, and he, a nonbeliever repeated these words not only with his lips. Now, at this moment, he knew that neither all his doubts nor the impossibility of believing with his reason, which he had known in himself, in any way prevented him from turning to God. Now all that flew from his soul like dust. Who else was he to turn to if not to the One in whose hands he felt himself, his soul, his love?”

Gary Saul Morson, in Anna Karenina in Our Time: Seeing More Wisely,73:

“His reason suspended out of intense empathy, Levin, an unbeliever on rational grounds, finds himself praying, and not “only with his lips” (738). Why he, an atheist, prays sincerely at this moment becomes for him a riddle touching on life’s essential meaning. Desperate to do something but with nothing to do, Levin simply has to endure, a state that (as we shall see with Karenin) provokes the soul torn from its habitual responses to experience the sublime.”

Anna Karenina, Part 7, Chapter 14

Levin is floored, angry that the pharmacist preparing the opium and the doctor drinking his coffee are so laid back – taking their time – about the approach of the birth. He’s in such a state he can’t think straight. For them, the birth was an ordinary event. But for landowner Levin, who had been primarily concerned with farming and agricultural and was writing a theory book about it, there was no place to catalog the event.

Levin has no way to analyze what is happening. “All the usual conditions of life without which it is impossible to form a conception of anything ceased to exist for Levin. He had lost the sense of time.”

When Levin hears Kitty’s first scream, Levin is nonplussed. He has so bonded to Kitty over time that, in empathy, he suffers intense agony. He had experienced the same intense feelings and helplessness as his brother was dying.

“He knew and felt only that what was transpiring was similar to that which had transpired a year before in the provincial town hotel at his brother Nikolai’s deathbed. But that had been grief – and this was joy. Still, both that grief and this joy were identically outside all of life’s ordinary conditions; they were like an opening in that ordinary life through which something sublime appeared. What was transpiring had come about with identical difficulty and agony; and with identical incomprehensibility, the soul, when it did contemplate this sublime something, rose to a height as it had never risen before, where reason could not keep up.

“Lord, forgive and help us,” he repeated to himself incessantly, feeling, in spite of such a long and seemingly total estrangement, that he was addressing God just as trustingly and simply as during his childhood and first youth.”

Anna Karenina, Part 7, Chapter 15

Watching his brother die, Levin thinks that death is a cruel joke – you live, suffer, struggle and suddenly cease to exist. Now seeing his wife in such a painful state and thinking she is dying, he is beside himself: he “had long since given up wanting the child. He now hated the child. He didn’t even wish for her life now, he only wanted a cessation to these horrible sufferings.” New life brings new suffering.

But with the birth of his son and being anchored to life by his new family, Levin then understands that death is merely part of life. He maturely concludes that if one lives “for one’s soul” rather than for illusory self-gratification, the end of life is no longer a cruel trick, but a further revelation of life’s truths.

“If Levin had been told before that Kitty was dead, and that he had died with her, and that their children were angels, and that God was standing before him, he would have been surprised at nothing. But now, coming back to the world of reality, he had to make great mental efforts to take in that she was alive and well, and that the being howling so desperately was his son. Kitty was alive, her suffering was over. And he was inexpressively happy. This he understood and it made him completely happy. But the child? Where had he come from, and why, and who was he? He simply could not understand, could not get used to the idea. It seemed to him something superfluous, something extra, which he could not get used to for a long time.

Anna Karenina, Part 7, Chapter 16

A changed man.

“At ten o’clock the old prince, Sergey Ivanovitch, and Stepan Arkadyevitch were sitting at Levin’s. Having inquired after Kitty, they had dropped into conversation upon other subjects. Levin listened to them and during these conversations could not keep from recalling what had come to pass, what had happened prior to this morning, recalled himself as he had been yesterday, before all this. It was as if a hundred years had passed since then. He felt as if he were on some in accessible height from which he was making an effort to descend in order not to insult the people he was speaking to. He spoke and thought incessantly about his wife, the details of her present condition, and his son, to the idea of whose existence he was trying to accustom himself. The entire feminine world, which had taken on for him a new, previously unknown significance since he had been married, now in his mind had risen so high that his mind could not grasp it. He listened to the conversation about dinner yesterday at the club and thought, “What is happening with her now? Has she fallen asleep? How is she feeling? What is she thinking? Is my son Dimitri crying? And in the middle of the conversation, in the middle of a sentence, he jumped up and left the room.”

. . .

“Her gaze, bright in any case, shone even more brightly the closer he came. On her face was that same alteration from earthly to unearthly that one sees on the face of the dead; but there it is farewell, here a welcome. Again agitation similar to what he had experienced at the moment of the birth overwhelmed his heart. She took his hand and asked him whether he had slept. He couldn’t answer and turned away, convinced of his own weakness.

~~~

These four excerpts offer an opening into the ordinary life of Levin and Kitty. Other characters, the novel’s headliners Anna and Vronsky, go through significant turmoil over their decisions. Dolly, whose husband Stiva was unfaithful, stands out. But not for bad decisions or for the number of mentions, but for her care and love. She simply does what is needed and shows Christian love.

I’ll end with a quote from Gary Saul Morson’s Anna Karenina in Our Time: Seeing More Wisely:, 190:

“In this novel, Christian love produces monstrosity, and real saintliness, if the term can be so used, is inconspicuous. It does not sound a trumpet.

Any doctrine that defies human nature and everyday practices will, if backed by sufficient force, create much greater suffering than it sets out to alleviate. A movement that is truly “revolutionary” – that, like Bolshevism, sets out to change human nature entirely – will create evil on a scale not seen before the twentieth century. Tolstoy saw Christian love, revolutionism, and all other utopian ways of thinking as related errors. If so, they are errors of our time, and perhaps prosaic goodness offers the best hope of correction.”

I would correct the above with “Tolstoy saw insincere Christian love . . .”

~~~~~

The Abiding Truths of Russian Literature – A Conversation with Gary Saul Morson

The Abiding Truths of Russian Literature: A Conversation with Gary Saul Morson – AlbertMohler.com

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2017 marks the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution, an event that tragically reshaped Russian and Western history. How such an extraordinary event, and the ghastly regime it produced, could ever have happened depended not only on a great war, and the theoretical arcana of Karl Marx but, perhaps even more, on the outlook of the Russian intelligentsia and its assumptions about its social role. These same psychological and ideological predispositions continue to be found among intellectuals today. Hence, understanding the cultural setting of the Russian Revolution also helps us understand some of the more dangerous currents in contemporary intellectual life.

“Russian Lessons from 1917” – Gary Saul Morson – YouTube

~~~~~

Filed under Christianity, humanities, Literature, Russian Literature Tagged with Anna Karenina, Christianity, Humanitites, Russian Literature, Tolstoy

Scaffolding

November 5, 2023 Leave a comment

I sat down with a close friend the other day. I asked him about his early church experience, as I am interested in church dynamics.

Here’s what Dan (not his real name) said during the interview:

“My parents attended a Baptist church in Chicago before moving to the suburbs. I was a kid and just remember old buildings with a fusty smell and pictures to color. After the move, we started attending a Bible church. I was eight years old.

“I don’t remember a single sermon. But I do remember the church sanctuary. I sat there Sunday mornings and evenings for maybe twenty years.

“There was a plaque on the back wall above the choir loft. It said “God is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent. Hab. 2:20.

“Front and center was a large wing pulpit. Three large minister chairs were behind it along the choir loft. A piano on the left and an organ on the right flanked the platform.

“On the main floor in front of the pulpit was the oak communion table. “This Do In Remembrance of Me” was carved on the front. The table held the offering plates and a flower arrangement.

“To the right of the platform and behind a large rectangular hole in the wall was the baptistry. A landscape was painted on the walls surrounding the water tank.

“Opposite the platform, sixteen rows back, was the entrance to the sanctuary. A clock was centered above the double doors to let the minister know when to end the service.

“Rows of blond wood pews filled the space between the front and back with an aisle down the center and along each end.

“The side walls were painted-beige cinder block. Each wall had three windows of tinted-amber bubble glass. Forest green curtains bordered two sides of each window.

“The walls around the windows were bare except for a wooden rack near the organ. It held the numbers in attendance at the service and at Sunday school the week before. An usher counted attendance every Sunday.

“That’s a twenty-five-year snapshot. I don’t recall that room ever changing.”

I asked him about the service.

“Prelude. Hymns. Lots of choruses about leaving earth and flying away. Sermon. Calls for salvation and rededication of your life. Postlude. Every Sunday.”

I asked him about memories that stick out.

“Let’s see. There was the leader of the boy’s club. He let us run around and be crazy one night each week. One time he took us to a construction site to show us what he was working on. He was a carpenter.

“There was an adult Sunday School teacher who visited a nursing home once a month. He had me come with him on those Saturdays. I’d play a hymn with my trumpet. Afterward he would give a short devotional.

“And there was this interim minister – there were lots of them – who got me my first job as a clerk in a Camera/Photo store. One time – I was twelve or thirteen – he had me come with him downtown to Pacific Garden Mission. I played my trumpet and he spoke to those who had come off the streets of Chicago.”

I told Dan that he only mentioned certain men as memories that stick out. Then I asked if anyone had mentored him.

“No one from church. Only my trumpet teachers did.”

I asked him to explain.

“I started playing the trumpet in third grade. My uncle gave me a beat-up Conn trumpet that he longer wanted to play. In the Junior High School, the band director wasn’t crazy about the look or the sound of my horn. So, he switched me to French horn for two years. But my heart was with the trumpet. I asked my parents for private lessons.

“Before I started lessons – this was during eighth grade – my father and I went to an instrument store. He bought me a brand-new Bach Stradivarius b-flat trumpet. The horn was a beautiful and expensive gift. I felt affirmed.

“My first trumpet teacher was a high school principal who also played trumpet in big bands. The first question he asked me: What trumpet players did I listen to? I told him Herb Albert. He just shook his head.

“He told me who I should listen to and to what pieces of music. He began giving me exercises to practice. Major and minor scales. Tonguing exercises. I’d have to play them for him the following week.

“The summer before high school I took what he taught me and practiced like crazy. The high school concert band director had sent out the requirements for entering the band. Those included playing major and minor scales and site reading.

“A month before my freshman year began, I was called in to audition for the band director. I played all the scales and sight read what he put in front of me. He was pleased. I was in the concert band – first trumpet section right behind the first chair trumpet, a sophomore.

“My junior year of high school the band director Mr. Gies became my second trumpet teacher. He also played the trumpet semi-professionally.

“What happened was this: the guy who sat first chair was a stellar trumpeter but he needed to be replaced. During the summer the first chair French horn player became pregnant. Both would soon be leaving the school. So, the band director began one-on-one time with me.

“Over several months Mr. Gies and I met in the school auditorium during an open period for both of us. Playing the trumpet in that auditorium, that sanctuary, was like no other experience. With those unstifled acoustics I could open up and project a nice broad sound.

“Mr. Gies asked me how I practiced. I shared with him the Carmine Caruso method for building chops. I learned the method from my first trumpet teacher, Mr. Lichti.

“I told him that the method involves interval training, articulation, range and produces endurance. With it, I had developed an extensive range -double high C to over an octave below the treble staff. The method had formed my sound to that point.

“Sitting together offstage, Mr. Gies and I worked through the Caruso method along with the Clarks – Clark Technical Studies – which are exercises used for the development of fingering technique.

“I cherished that time alone with the band director. In between playing an exercise we talked about anything and everything. And sometimes we were silent and it felt comfortable.

“We practiced together the rest of my junior year. I was ready for the first chair trumpet position when the other guy left.

“My third trumpet teacher was at a Bible school. After high school I entered a Christian Ed/Music program. The Christian Ed program was a bust but the music program was a blessing.

“I took private lessons from the concert band director, Mr. Edmonds. Unlike the other teachers, he was an established pianist with perfect pitch. He had a different take, a different sound in mind, for my horn – a precise centered pitch. He was also a composer. He adapted classical music for our concert band to play.

“In between playing my practiced exercises and being critiqued, the director and I would talk about anything. I shared with him the challenges I was facing. My practice time was limited because of my studies and the time spent listening to classical music for music appreciation class. And I had a part time job. He prayed for me at the end of each lesson.

“Like back in high school, I sat first trumpet second seat behind a sophomore in the concert band. But at an outdoor band concert, Mr. Edmonds had me solo the opening trumpet lines of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobles”. And when The Gaither Trio – Bill, Gloria, and Danny – came to town for a couple of concerts and needed some horns for the finales, Mr. Edmonds offered his two first chair trumpet players. The private lessons and my practice gave me opportunities to play.

“Looking back . . . sitting next to a trumpet teacher week after week, I learned from those who knew what to listen for and who to listen to. Mr. Lichti, for example, helped me realize that I had “deaf spots” in my listening. To develop my “ear”, I began to listen to Adolph “Bud” Herseth, principal trumpet in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I wanted to emulate his bel canto sound and his musical acumen.

“To accomplish this, I had to take a risk. You see, with one-on-one instruction you cannot hide, you can’t fake or pretend. You play your horn and the truth comes out. Sloppy practicing is immediately revealed and so is the need for discipline. You need another’s knowledgeable perspective to grow as a musician. Words or notes alone are not enough.

“The three trumpet teachers I mentioned invited me into their musical realm, which was both affirming and daunting, as I was made me accountable to them. In the role of apprentice, they imparted to me trumpet knowledge, technical ability, and a love for the craft.

“And now that I think about it, I take it back. The man who took me and others to his construction site and the man who took me with him to the rest home and the man who took me with to the Chicago mission and got me my first job were mentors. They influenced me just like the trumpet teachers advanced the formation of my horn playing.

“You asked about my early church experience. I’d say that there was lots of scaffolding but no formation. For me, there was really nothing life changing about going to church and sitting in silence listening to someone standing behind a pulpit. But there was with people I spent time with.”

End of interview.

~~~~~

Church culture: “Tragically, in recent years, Christians have gotten used to revelations of abuses of many kinds in our most respected churches–from Willow Creek to Harvest, from Southern Baptist pastors to Sovereign Grace churches. Respected author and theologian Scot McKnight and former Willow Creek member Laura Barringer wrote this book to paint a pathway forward for the church.”

A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing by Scot McKnight | Goodreads

In this podcast, theologian Scot McKnight and his daughter, Laura Barringer, join Julie Roys to discuss their latest book, A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing.

While their first book explained the characteristics of a “tov,” or good, culture, their latest book tackles the next challenge—transforming ingrained toxic cultures into tov ones.

Pivoting Your Church from Toxic to Healthy | The Roys Report

Pivoting Your Church From Toxic to Healthy | The Roys Report (julieroys.com)

~~~~~

Bud Herseth’s Final Concert on NPR – YouTube

Adolph Herseth Interview – YouTube

~~~~~

Filed under Christianity, discipleship, Music, The Church, trumpet Tagged with Christianity, church, discipleship, musical instruments, musicianship, trumpet

The Days of Woke and Rows

October 29, 2023 Leave a comment

The Roots of “Woke”

“Stay woke, keep your eyes open” is heard in a recording of Black folk singer Lead Belly. He’s talking about his 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys”. Radio host Lana Quest says it’s the first documented usage of the term.

Lead Belly, born Huddie William Ledbetter, advises all “colored people” to stay alert to deception–especially of law enforcement—after the injustice done to the Scottsboro Boys in Alabama. “Staying woke” was a basic survival tactic.

“Stay woke, keep your eyes open” @ 4:30 mark.

“Woke” and “stay woke” have their origins in African American Vernacular English. But since the time of Lead Belly, “Staying Woke” has been co-opted to become the watchwords of identity politics and the politics of class struggle or wealth distribution.

What is “Woke” Today?

Professor Robert George of Princeton University, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program at Princeton, attempted to define “Woke”:

Recently, on Gab social media, Lindsay posted the following challenging the praxis of “Wokeism”:

“DEI violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Corporations do not have the right to subject their employees to systematic psychological abuse. Public institutions have less standing. Compelling a worldview in addition to speech through psychological torment should be a criminal offense.
DEI programs compel the adoption of a systematic worldview that answers fundamental questions about the world and man’s role in it while demanding certain duties of conscience. They demand people act in the world through the view that the world is ordered by systemic oppression.”

James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose co-authored a book:

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody

Lindsay also participated in a Heritage Foundation panel: VIRTUAL EVENT: Wokeism at Work: How “Critical Theory” and Anti-Racism Training Divide America | The Heritage Foundation

Lindsay begins by describing wokeism and its philosophical roots. We then learn from the other panelists about the weaponization of Critical Race Theory and about the machinery that’s built up in our government to continue the woke programs. Government employees, fearing for their jobs, obey the mandates of compelled speech. I was recently made aware of one such example:

“The Department of Health and Human Services, headed up by Biden transgender Admiral Rachel Levine, has enforced a mandate requiring all employees to use preferred pronouns and “acknowledge the gender identity of their colleagues.”

Biden’s HHS Forces Employees to Use Preferred Pronouns (independentsentinel.com)

~~~~~

“This is what Woke’s Kingdom is like,” said Marcuse. “Once upon a time a professor sowed seed of critical theory in the minds of his students. Every night he went to bed; every day he got up; and the seed sprouted and grew without much effort on his part. Social media produced the growth by itself: first the Tweet, then the “Likes”, then the complete thought reform. But when the crop of activists is ready in goes the media’s call for radical activism, because the revolution has arrived.

-The words of Jesus (Mk. 4: 26-29), converted to the secular world view.

~~~~~

Codified “Woke”

Every social institution has been affected by “Wokeism. A handful of 60s and 70s laws have reached into our legal system, our education systems, and our corporations like invasive weeds. Legislative outgrowths have had their effect on the landscape of human resources and admissions. Institutional wokeness has made space for some groups and some thought while choking off all others.

Richard Hanania, in his book The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politicsmakes the case that “Long before wokeness was a cultural phenomenon it was law.”

Christopher Caldwell, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, wrote in his 2020 book “The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties”, that The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became a “rival Constitution”, incompatible with the original one. It “emboldened and incentivized bureaucrats, lawyers, intellectuals, and political agitators to become the ‘eyes and ears,’ and even the foot soldiers, of civil rights enforcement.”

“Over time,” Caldwell noted, “more of the country’s institutions were brought under the act’s scrutiny. Eventually all of them were.”

In The New Criterion’s October 2023 issue, editor Roger Kimball, Introducing “The new conservative dilemma: a symposium” with The abnormal as the new normal, references the above legal history and comments about the situation we find ourselves in:

“The hypertrophy of the Civil Rights Act did not take place in a vacuum. Its progress was directed by the essentially Marxist ambitions of those radicals who plotted the “long march through the institutions” of the 1960s and beyond. . .

“If the Civil Rights Act is the engine behind the transformation of liberal society into an illiberal, proto-totalitarian compact, the designers of the cultural revolution of the 1960s—from Frankfurt School Marxists like Herbert Marcuse on down—provided both the plan and the fuel. The result is a weird, almost surreal situation in which the most common realities and institutions are undermined, transformed, inverted. What is a family? What is a man or a woman? What is free speech? We used to be able to answer with confidence. Can we still?”

What Happened to Woke?

“Stay woke, keep your eyes open” was an early call for Black people to be aware of deceitful practices and prejudiced people and to be awake to racial and social injustice. We all should “Stay woke” and keep our eyes open to see human rights injustice and to fight it.

But yesterday’s “Woke” has taken on a sectarian set of values – the dogma of Critical Theory. Per Aja Romano in his article What is woke: How a Black movement watchword got co-opted in a culture war – Vox:

“. . . across a broad range of political beliefs, one recurring theme is that “wokeness” has demonstrable social, even quasi-religious, power. The writer James Lindsay has argued exhaustively that “wokeness” is essentially a religion where faith in social justice ideology stands in for belief in a deity, and that regular attendance at social justice protests has replaced the role of religious rituals for many progressives.”

Woke fundamentalist thinking thrives across the political spectrum. Monologues of shouting and abuse emanate from those who are certain that they can’t be wrong, that truth and justice are all on their side, and that there is nothing to learn from their opponents, who must be evil or deluded.

Woke fundamentalist thinking, which demands policing of speech and opinion, is antithetical to the open-mindedness and readiness to compromise that animate democracy. Woke Is the Handmaiden of Totalitarianism claims Thorsteinn Siglaugsson.

There’s a lot to take into account regarding the current state of Wokeness:

Consider, says Siglaugsson, that “One of the key characteristics of woke ideology is its utter disregard for reason; for rational thinking, and we see this perhaps most explicitly in the absurdities in the narrative around Covid-19. To the woke, all that matters is their own personal perception, subjective experience.”

Consider that intellectually bankrupt ideas have achieved acceptance in our culture. Truth, abandoned for Woke fundamentalist thinking, has taken on the postmodern understanding of the politics of power.

Consider that Woke conflict theory—separating the world into oppressor-versus-oppressed classes— with zero-sum conflict, offers no ability to agree or understand one another.

Consider that the Woke are antagonistic as everything is understood in terms of conflict: oppressor vs. oppressed power plays. The Woke, thereby, fragment culture as every relationship becomes transactional. “If I don’t get what I want you’re racist and I’m outta here.”

Consider that the Woke self is incoherent and contradictory as it is based on internal feelings. “What’s in here is more important than what’s out there.”

Consider that the Woke won’t let anyone speak into their lives. As such, there is no accountability and therefore no need for repentance, forgiveness, and redemption. There is no need to be reconciled with others and with truth.

Consider that in Woke thinking there are good and bad people. In Christian thinking there is good and bad in each one of us.

Consider that the Woke self is extremely fragile and needs constant affirmation. In the current culture, having power over others is seen as affirmation.

Consider that the Woke self is illusion, its outworking a virtue-signaling performance.

Consider that many on the job are undergoing critical theory consciousness-raising struggle sessions forcing a disconnect from reality and causing anxiety and depression, and, perhaps, suicide.

Consider that many on the job are undergoing Woke diversity training, e.g., being compelled to use preferred pronouns, even though compelling pronouns and worldviews are First Amendment violations.

Consider that our children are being taught, by the Woke, that the country they live in is racist and that all white people are racist.

Consider that Woke school boards and librarians want to place deviant pornographic material in the hands of our children.

Consider that the Woke advocate for pediatric sex changes.

Consider that the “egalitarian” Woke locked down schools for COVID, disproportionally affecting black and brown kids.

Consider that the “oppressor vs. oppressed” Woke support Islamist terrorist regimes.

Consider that the nonsensical Woke mock big business and worship Big Pharma.

Consider that there is something mentally off in the Woke push to defund the police, in eliminating bail, and in releasing violent offenders back into the public to await trial – all done under the rubric of oppressor-versus-oppressed ideology.

Consider that there is something mentally off in listening to climate alarmists and their insane and unscientific push for “Net Zero” emissions, an Eco-Woke version of the oppressor (mankind, fossil fuels) versus oppressed (earth) ideology.

Consider that there is something mentally off with Woke protestors. The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution. Comrades march in solidarity.

Consider that there is something mentally off with a Woke government looking at plans to “cull” 200,000 cows to meet its climate goals to satisfy the European Union’s (EU) net zero requirements.

Consider that Woke Climate alarmism is mental health abuse of young people. Should anyone be concerned about having children because alarmists have convinced them the planet is ending?

Consider that there is something mentally off with a Woke government on track to pass a massive ‘hate speech’ bill criminalizing social media posts likely ‘to incite violence or hatred’.

Consider that wokeism is characterized by thinking unconditionally or un-contextually, in binary. Behavior is to be condemned regardless of its reasons. And so, people are having to walk on eggshells around the Woke fault-finding terrorists.

Consider that “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

And, consider that

. . .
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

. . .

Excerpt from the poem The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939

~~~~~

The Woke kingdom has burgeoned, promoting surreal incumbering effects. And so has mental illness. Correlation?

Consider also that Woke-derived mental illness has produced enablers:

“In fact, the culture of woke in academia is referred to as the Critical Social Justice Theory (CSJT). CSJT adherents seek to identify an enemy and project their own intolerance and guilt onto the enemy. Most of these CSJT adherents are members of the demographic that they are against, which is generally the rich, white elite. They justify themselves as being allies of the oppressed and often speak in a self-deprecating manner to show they are “woke” and striving to be less like the oppressor class. This mentality and the activism it has spawned have created a class of mental health practitioners who are more interested in “social justification” of maladaptive behaviors than actual social justice.”

Woke Mental Health -Capital Research Center

~~~~~

Here are some voices talking about the mental illness of Wokeism

Wokeism Is a Mental Disorder, 10/5/2023 Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski | Listen online (getpodcast.com)

Wokeism Is a Mental Disorder – Watchdog of Wall St.

Podcast for Independent Investors | The Watchdog on Wallstreet

~~~

The Mental Health Side Effects of Wokeism

Princeton professor Dr. Margarita Mooney Suarez shares her expertise as a sociologist and experience as an educator to talk about woke ideology and cancel culture and how they’re affecting the mental health of young people. She talks about the rise in loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicide in pre-teens, teens, and young adults, and she shares a potential solution to the problem: refocusing on beauty.

The Mental Health Side Effects of Wokeism

Episode #229 – The Mental Health Side Effects of Wokism – Doctor Doctor Podcast

~~~

Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.”

“Wokeism” is arguably the most influential public philosophy in our country today. It has worked its way into the minds and hearts of our young people, into the world of entertainment, and into the boardrooms of powerful corporations. But what is it precisely, and where did it come from”

Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.”

~~~

“Will Cain sits down with Environmental Progress founder and author, Michael Shellenberger, to discuss why the worshipping of wokeism as an ideology is inherently dangerous to a society, as well as what Michael and Will believe are the real greatest threats to the American experiment.

Will and Michael look at issues such as climate, energy, food policy, as well as drugs, mental illness, homelessness, and crime to give an overarching view of places where well-intended but naive policies have had disastrous unintended consequences.”

Michael Shellenberger: Why the religion of wokeism is so dangerous | Will Cain Podcast – YouTube

The Will Cain Podcast: Michael Shellenberger: Why The Religion Of Wokeism Is So Dangerous on Apple Podcasts

~~~~~

Woke Mental Disorders Portrayed:

I would like to ask the young women in the picture and the women of the WEF video “Where are you going with this?’ and “How does doing/saying this make you feel?”

World Economic Forum: “Climate affects gender and gender affects climate.”

What? pic.twitter.com/EEb7aXg5NW
— Reed Cooley (@ReedCooley) October 16, 2023

Wokeism – the religion of “never enough!”:

~~~~~~

Levi’s Wokes – SNL – YouTube

~~~~~

Mentally Disordered Laws for Mentally Disordered People:

“Reduxx has learned that a trans-identified male was arrested in Perry County, Illinois, after making threats to commit a school shooting and murder children on behalf of the transgender community in response to transphobic “bullying.”

. . .

“According to Perry County court records, Willie has not yet entered a plea on his charge of resisting arrest, but Sheriff Howard explains that even if he is found guilty he will likely walk away with a fine.

“It’s more or less going to end up going to be a hearing. Now with the state of Illinois having the SAFE-T Act, which went into effect on September 18, those types of crimes are no longer containable. You just bring [a suspect] in for booking, processing, and biometrics and then you release them with a court date and it is all handled by the courts from there on out.” (Emphasis mine.)

Willie’s next hearing is scheduled for January 2, 2024.

Trans-Identified Male Arrested After Threatening To Murder Children In Illinois Over Transphobic “Bullying” – Reduxx

Mentally Disordering Social Media:

Dozens of U.S. states are suing Meta Platforms (META.O) and its Instagram unit, accusing them of fueling a youth mental health crisis by making their social media platforms addictive.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday, the attorneys general of 33 states including California and New York said Meta, which also operates Facebook, repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms, and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use.

…

But the states said research has associated children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms with “depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.”

Meta’s Instagram linked to depression, anxiety, insomnia in kids – US states’ lawsuit | Reuters

Dozens of states sue Meta over addictive features harming kids – POLITICO Meta sued by 33 states for child-harming business practices • The Register

Informed Dissent:

Cult-Owned CDC Lunatics Wants Pregnant Women to Get 4 Vaccines – More and More Women Are Saying ‘No’ – David Icke

New Non-mRNA ‘Emergency’ Vaccine Authorized for COVID (mercola.com)

CONSUMER ALERT: The Deadly Reason Tylenol Should Be Removed from the (greenmedinfo.com)

‘Adulterated’ Covid Vaccines Should Be Pulled From The Market: Experts (substack.com)

Fast Food Loaded With Antibiotics, Hormones, Heavy Metals, but Few Nutrients (mercola.com)

Battling Beasts and Bureaucrats: Naomi Wolf and the American Medical-Government Police State | Mises Wire

~~~~~

Beauty isn’t boring. Read Evie Magazine.

A boy sits and reads among the ruins of a bookshop that was destroyed during an air raid in London, United Kingdom in 1940.

Filed under Black America, Memorial Day, Progressivism, Wokeism Tagged with black americans, mental health, progressivism, Wokeism

Truth Beyond the Binary

October 22, 2023 Leave a comment

“The Gleaners” (1857), by Jean-François Millet, depicts women picking up loose grain in the field. Without words it relates the hardships and the dignity of everyday workers. The painting connects us to our own human story. We recognize something of ourselves in this glimpse of reality. We understand a day’s slog and strain. We empathize with the workers.

The painting’s aesthetic realism, its naturalism and unromanticized imagery draw us in. We like that it rejects idealization and artificiality. “The Gleaners” portrays ’us’ as we are. And the subject’s universality – women doing manual labor – is a catalyst for imaginative truth.

We empathize with the subjects as we project ourselves into their perspective. We imagine what it must be like working in a field under the hot sun. We imagine constantly bending over to pick up left-over scraps of the grain harvest so that poor women and children could live on them. We imagine ourselves in 1857.

We find ourselves stepping out of our world and connecting with history – mankind has been doing manual labor since the beginning of time. We find ourselves connecting not just with the women, but with all of humanity, a humanity that shares the work, burdens, and cares of life. And, our imagination wants to know more of the wordless ‘story’.

We cannot see the women’s faces. Are the women young or old? Are they talking to pass the time? Singing? Are they married? Have children? Do they work from sun up to sun down? How do their backs feel at the end of the day? Are their hands dried out and cracked from handling the grain?

~~~~~

Anton Chekhov’s stories are noted for their ‘naturalness’ – the ability to show ‘exactly what a little piece of life’ is like. Like with Millet’s realistic painting, his prose provides down-to-earth characters, details and a setting that, though with Russian aspects, is universal in its close-to-home familiarity.

Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov, in his Lectures on Russian Literature, described Chekhov as writing “the way one person relates to another the most important things in his life, slowly and yet without a break, in a slightly subdued voice”.

Chekhov, a practicing doctor, observed everyday life and ordinary people as he made house calls and treated patients. He wrote with a concentration on the daily lives of individuals using natural detail. We connect with the subjects in terms of shared experiences, emotions, and challenges that are common to all human beings.

You won’t find sanctimony or moralizing or happy endings in his stories nor heroes in the conventional sense. Chekhov had nothing to prove, no ideology or politics to promote, and he created all his characters equal.

And though Chekhov’s stories seem to go nowhere, his ‘close to home’ imagery mirrors our own situations. Life often goes on unchanged or less than we had hoped for. Life often goes on without resolution. And that is the case in a touching story by Anton Chekhov – “On Easter Eve” (1886).

A brief introduction: “The narrator describes his moving experience of attending an early-morning celebration of Easter Eve in the countryside after crossing a river in flood in the middle of a very starry night, admiring the fireworks and listening to the boatman’s account of the sudden demise of the church deacon while composing Easter hymns.”

The ferryman, a novice monk, grieves the loss of a brother. Nikolai, a sensitive soul enraptured by words, was skilled at writing Akathists. (Akathist or “unseated hymn” is a type of hymn usually recited by Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Christians. It may be dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity.)

The passenger (narrator) listens to the ferryman recount the death of his best friend Nikolai and about the gift Nikolai had for writing hymns of praise. “And Nikolai was writing akathists! Akathists! Not mere sermons or histories.” The passenger then asks “Are they so hard to write then? The ferryman responds “Ever so hard” and goes on to describe what’s involved, including the following:

Everything must be harmonious, brief and complete. There must be in every line softness, graciousness and tenderness; not one word should be harsh or rough or unsuitable. It must be written so that the worshipper may rejoice at heart and weep, while his mind is stirred and he is thrown into a tremor.

Just one more quote to invite you to be with the narrator and ferryman “On Easter Eve”.

Here the narrator describes Easter Eve at the Russian Orthodox Church, reminding me of the swollen river he had just crossed:

One was tempted to see the same unrest and sleeplessness in all nature, from the night darkness to the iron slabs, the crosses on the tombs and the trees under which the people were moving to and fro. But nowhere was the excitement and restlessness so marked as in the church. An unceasing struggle was going on in the entrance between the inflowing stream and the outflowing stream. Some were going in, others going out and soon coming back again to stand still for a little and begin moving again. People were scurrying from place to place, lounging about as though they were looking for something. The stream flowed from the entrance all round the church, disturbing even the front rows, where persons of weight and dignity were standing. There could be no thought of concentrated prayer. There were no prayers at all, but a sort of continuous, childishly irresponsible joy, seeking a pretext to break out and vent itself in some movement, even in senseless jostling and shoving.

Juxtaposed “On Easter Eve”: great sadness and great celebration, life and death, light and dark. Chekhov captures common shared experiences. There is nothing lofty, sarcastic, or judgmental in the story. There’s just a truthful and loving portrait – a ‘gleaning’ – of humanity at its most authentic moments.

Enjoy this heart-tug of a story.

Anton Chekhov – On Easter Eve Download

~~~~~

“French painter Jean-François Millet, whose humble manner of living stands in stark contrast to the impact his work had on many artists who succeeded him, saw Godliness and virtue in physical labor. Best known for his paintings of peasants toiling in rural landscapes, and the religious sub-texts that often accompanied them, he turned his back on the academic style of his early artistic education and co-founded the Barbizon school near Fontainbleau in Normandy, France with fellow artist Théodore Rousseau.” Millet Paintings, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory

~~~~~

Margarita Mooney Suarez shares about beauty and the liberal arts. (We need more women like her.)

Beauty and the Liberal Arts, with Margarita Mooney Suarez

Beauty and the Liberal Arts, with Margarita Mooney Suarez – Teaching in Higher Ed

Filed under Art, Chekhov, Literature, Painting, prose, Short Story, Writers, Writing Tagged with Anton Chekhov, art, Jean-François Millet, literature, On Easter Eve, The Gleaners

Binary Beckons for More from You

October 15, 2023 Leave a comment

Two options guided my early incorrigible years: “Either you do what I say or your father will deal with you when he comes home” “Either you clean you room or lose your allowance” “Either you are home by 9 or you will be grounded.” The church, too, presented two stark choices: “Either you get saved and go to heaven or you go to hell”; “Either walk the straight and narrow or walk the wide way of the world.”

The either/or binaries of my early childhood were meant to prepare me for life. I learned that if I wandered off into “or” territory there was sure to be consequences. My parents guided my behavior from their own experience of walking within binary guard rails.

They had learned that from the simplest safety issues to the most important issues in life, honest straightforward either/or choices are required. My late mother shared one such either/or choice.

My father, having grown up in the Dutch Reformed church where smoking was the norm for men, was given a choice by my mother when she was dating my father: “Either you stop smoking or that’s it.” Thankfully, my father didn’t “or” the situation. I wouldn’t be here if he did.

With knowledge of their own either/or choices and exposing me to the either/or choices of the book of Proverbs, my parents either/or’d my youth. Binary guard rails were set in place for my time in Jr. High and High school.

When I attended Moody Bible Institute after high school (early 70s), the binary thinking infused in me by the church came into question.

A first-year class called “Personal Evangelism” was taught by Mr. Winslett. During that semester Mr. W described different religions. As he did so he labeled the churches of the Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness and others as cults. When he came to the Catholic church, he said it was a cult because Catholics worshipped Mary, had a pope, and put tradition ahead of scripture. I remember hearing this and thinking that we’re better than all of them. But something felt off.

(Per Article I of The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy found on the Moody Bible Institute website, the Bible, not tradition, is the authoritative Word of God.)

The highly partisan Mr. W, a representative of MBI, had sallied Catholicism: MBI represented real Christianity and Catholicism, a “cult”, did not; either you are with us in Bible first thinking or you are not one of us. (Mr. W was the only teacher I met a MBI like this. But there are many who preach and teach the same binary “us and them” thing.)

I was raised Protestant. Differences of Protestantism and Catholicism were minimally noted in my church. But I had read about Luther, the Ninety-five Theses, and the Reformation. I knew about the abuses and corruption of the Catholic church. Those include Johann Tetzel selling indulgences.

But faith in God and his salvation coupled to Mary, the pope and tradition were not Christianity deal breakers for me. For without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Instead of imposing exclusionary theology, abide by the words of the old hymn: “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform . . . God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.”

Years later I came across the same “us and them” attack. I brought my daughter to an Awana program going on at a Baptist church. On the night that she and I were to race the Pinewood Derby Car we had crafted together, the speaker bad-mouthed the Catholic church during a promotion for the Baptist church we were standing in.

He said something to the effect that their Baptist church wasn’t like the unsound Catholic church. I was shocked. There were members of that Baptist church and other churches in attendance. What did they walk away with that night?

I’ve seen this attitude surface so many times by haughty either/or Protestants. I’ve also seen it in either/or Catholics. Both groups interpret Church teaching in a narrow way, then argue that whoever disagrees with their tightly wound interpretation must—by the fact of that disagreement—be in opposition to Church teaching. The Either-Or fallacy used by both Protestants and Catholics: “I can’t be in error therefore YOU must be!”

Another anecdote of the “us and them” attitude: One night I was sitting in a donors meeting listening to a presentation. The Episcopal church I attended wanted to annex and refurbish the house next store and make it ministry usable. At front and center of the room that night was a picture board showing the proposed design. The crossway from the existing church building to the house showed a cross in relief in the arc above the passageway. One woman remarked that we should get rid of the cross because “we’re not Baptists.”

Look. Our family and church backgrounds teach us to think in opposites – basically in terms of good and bad. We are presented with two options and they appear as your only options and mutually exclusive. We then bring unmediated polar extremes into adulthood.

Either/or thinking integrated into our lives and then reinforced by our respective cultures can produce a worldview in stringent binary terms: as a one or zero. Black-and-white thinking is used to reduce the world to something we can handle which then provides a sense of certainty and security. But “a one or zero” thinking can be adversarial, dividing people into “us vs. them.” A few examples:

“I am right and you are wrong.” (How does that work out in marriage? With our neighbors?)

“If you’re not with me, you’re against me. I have friends and enemies but not acquaintances.”

“Either I win or I lose in this situation.”

It can also produce all-or-nothing false dilemma fallacies which are really manipulative setups:

“If you care about your neighbor, you will get vaccinated” and “Putting others first will get us through he pandemic” “Getting vaccinated is loving your neighbor as yourself.”

“Social solidarity is the most precious tenet of our democracy.”

“You’re either pro-choice or anti-woman. There’s no other moral stance.”

“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

“Either you let your child change their gender or they will commit suicide.”

“You are either racist (by not agreeing with me) or you are anti-racist (by agreeing with me).”

“If you are against LGBTQ books in the library you are a book banner.”

“If you question what is being taught in public schools, you are a domestic terrorist.”

“If you question the 2020 election you are a MAGA extremist.”

“If you don’t accept the climate science consensus (or COVID science consensus), then you are a science denier.”

Either/or “us and them” thinking tends toward exclusion and not embrace. It tends toward absolutism, authoritarianism, fundamentalism and judgement. We see it in Hamas’ attack on Israel. We see it in climate activism. We see it in cancel culture. We see it in the murderous history of totalitarian regimes. We see it in church teaching and we sing it: “Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war.”

We see it in the teachings and practice of Christians, Muslims, and the Progressive Left which would have us believe that they are the opposite of conservative either/or thinking while mandating their own anything-goes version of it. Theology, ideology and government policies are marketed with the dichotomy of good and bad.

It seems that many have retained their childhood’s unyielding binary worldview. It is used as a defense mechanism, as a means of protection from the “hazards and vicissitudes of life”. (From the statement made by FDR when he signed the Social Security Act.)

I’ve seen the binary thinking defense mechanism employed by Christians. Though it comes across as holding fast to the faith and Sola Scriptura, faith vs. science messaging reduces the supposed conflict to “us vs. them” binary thinking which allows no quarter for God’s revelation in nature as revealed by science. Yet, God has revealed himself in both scripture and nature. Science is a tool for understanding God’s revelation of Himself in the physical world.

When I told my eighty-nine-year-old Godly mother that, based on research, I believed the universe to be billions of years old and that God used evolution, she didn’t reply “That’s interesting. Tell me more.” She said “That’s heresy!” Her defense mechanism alarm bell went off. She was reacting from what she had been taught and how she had been taught to think about what she was taught.

Becoming emotionally invested in extremes may lead to the exclusion of people, as “Heresy!” suggests. Such binary thinking can produce unrealistic portrayals of others and it can become used, as mentioned above, as a weaponized defense against others.

Certainly, there are people who watch news commentators because they relish the mocking and “owning” of the opposition. Certainly, there are people who go to church for the same reasons. But there is nothing mature about participation in bad mouthing others. I see nothing of this in Jesus.

I come across Jesus-whipping-the-money-changers-in-the-temple memes on social media. These are extrapolated as Jesus is “destroying” his enemies, so we can do the same. Horrible nonsense.

Relying solely on binary thinking is intellectual and spiritual laziness. An open both/and questioning mind is not a slippery slope and it’s not anything-goes Progressivism. Seek truth and not the comfort of tribal consensus.

Consider that no one has all the information – not your pastor nor MBI nor Anthony Fauci nor climate scientists. It’s OK. Consider that not everything is black and white. Knowing the difference and knowing when to introduce AND with “perhaps” is wisdom.

The Creator of the universe is not a small-minded Person. He holds a universe of disparate thought, theories, and faith in his hands. He is not threatened by any of it. A follower of the Creator of the universe lets God hold the messiness and uncertainty of life in His hands and does not feel threatened.

Finally, a reductionist’s worldview makes it incredibly difficult to hold space for the uncertainty and messiness of others. But there is a better way, a much better way: love and maturity.

Love is great-hearted; love is kind,

Knows no jealousy, makes no fuss,

Is not puffed up, no shameless way,

Doesn’t force its rightful claim,

Doesn’t rage or bear a grudge,

Doesn’t cheer at other’s harm,

Rejoices, rather, in truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things;

Love hopes all things, endures all things.

As a child I spoke, and thought, and reasoned like a child; When I grew up, I threw off childish ways.

I Cor. 13:4-7, 11

~~~~~

(Note: I’ve summed up a lot so as to make this post accessible. I was involved in the Jesus People movement during high school. Along with those in the movement I questioned a lot of the binary thinking of the church. I’ll share that story in another post.)

~~~~~

Science and Faith

In this episode, we focus on the apparent tension between science and faith.

“Many people believe that science and religious faith are bitter enemies with conflicting views of the universe. One the one hand there is the scientific account of the origins of life and then there is the story of universal origins told by the bible. But is this tension real, or is it based on a deep misunderstanding of what the Bible is and how it communicates?

. . .

“Consider this a crash course in reading the Bible as an ancient cross-cultural experience.”

Science and Faith

Science and Faith Transcript Download

Science & Faith (bibleproject.com)

~~~~~~

Kate Boyd | Science and the Messy Middle

Kate Boyd has been learning to live out her faith in the messy middle in a culture that rewards picking a side. While her journey didn’t begin with a conflict between science and religion, her story explores the complexities of understanding the Bible in today’s context and anyone who has struggled with issues of science and faith will resonate with this conversation.

Kate Boyd | Science and the Messy Middle

149. Kate Boyd | Science and the Messy Middle | Language of God (biologos.org)

~~~~~

I’ve been told that I’m either naive or stupid.

I’m not sure which side I’m moron.

Filed under Christianity, Psychology, Science, social commentary, totalitarianism Tagged with absolutism, Authoritarianism, binary thinking, Catholicism, Christianity, either/or, fundamentalism, Protestantism, psychology, Science, totalitarianism

Rooted and Grounded in Love and Math

October 8, 2023 Leave a comment

“For if at any time there can be an excuse for the rashness of a Woman who ventures to aspire to the subtleties of a science, which knows no bounds, not even those of infinity itself, it certainly should be at this glorious period, in which a Woman reigns…”—Marian Gaetana Agnesi’s dedication of her book “Analytical Institutions” to Maria Theresa, empress of the Austrian empire, in 1748.

I’m curious. Have you ever come across this woman in all of your school work?

When you studied the “Enlightenment” did you ever hear about this renowned symbol of female intellectual achievement who is considered to be the first woman in the Western world to have achieved a reputation in mathematics?

Have you heard of the first woman to write a mathematics handbook – Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth – and also the second woman awarded a professorship in mathematics and physics at the University of Bologna after publishing her calculus textbook?

Have you heard of the woman who entertained Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI?

When you studied mathematics was her name mentioned? Did you study the mathematical curve called “The Witch of Agnesi?

Have you heard of this STEM-for-women trailblazer?

Did you ever hear of the pious prodigy known as the “angel of consolation”? Did you ever hear about this devout self-sacrificing Catholic in a sermon or a Sunday School lesson?

Have you heard of this passionate advocate for the education of women and the poor, a woman who believed that the natural sciences and math should play an important role in an educational curriculum and that scientific and mathematical studies be viewed in the larger context of God’s plan for creation?

The mathematician and philosopher Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born May 16, 1718 in Milan.

Maria was the eldest child of a wealthy silk merchant and professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. Her family was recognized as one of the wealthiest in Milan. To encourage his daughter’s interest in scientific matters, her father provided Maria with distinguished professors as her tutors.

An extremely gifted child, at five years of age Maria could speak Italian and French. By her eleventh birthday she had learned Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, German, and Latin. She wasn’t the vaunted and routine “Proverbs 31” woman, a role envisioned by many in the church.

When Agnesi was 9, she recited from memory a Latin oration, likely composed by one of her tutors. The oration decried the widespread prejudice against educating women in the arts and sciences, which had been grounded in the view that a life of managing a household would require no such learning. Agnesi presented a clear and convincing argument that women should be free to pursue any kind of knowledge available to men.

Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of (theconversation.com)

Maria’s father Pietro, to elevate his family’s social status, hosted salon gatherings in his home. There the “Seven-Tongued Orator” could display her knowledge of mathematics, philosophy, history, and music in multiple languages. And, her musical prodigy sister Maria Teresa performed for guests, often playing her own compositions. Pietro used his talented daughters to make his house an important stop in Milanese social circles.

Palazzo Agnesi was a cultural salon where Maria could present theses on a variety of subjects and then defend them in academic disputations with leading scholars. Some said “She spoke like an angel.”

The disputations were conducted in Latin, but during the subsequent discussions a foreigner would usually address Maria in his native tongue and would be answered in that language. The topics on which she presented theses covered a wide range—logic, ontology, mechanics, hydromechanics, elasticity, celestial mechanics and universal gravitation, chemistry, botany, zoology, and mineralogy, among others. Some 190 of the theses she defended appear in the Propositiones philosophicae (1738), her second published work.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Encyclopedia.com

Massimo Mazzotti, in his book The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God, calls the salon gatherings a strategy “of fashioning and controlling this phenomenon of the learned woman.”

The shy and introverted Maria, who wanted to be left alone to read books, performed for astonished audiences. But she did so at the expense of her own physical and emotional health, as she had more than performances to care about.

Maria’s mother died in childbirth in 1732. When her father’s second wife died Maria’s public performances were scaled back. At the age of twenty she assumed the management of the household and the education of her many younger siblings (she was the eldest of 21 children, including her half-siblings; her father remarried three times). She also spent time bolstering her own education. Women at that time could not attend school outside the home.

Seven years later Maria told her father that she didn’t want to be a public academic. She wanted to become a nun. Studying theology, she had become strong in her faith and wanted to live it out in a life of service. She desired to live in a semi-convent-like state at home avoiding all secular socializing and devoting herself entirely to the study of mathematics. She wanted to attend church whenever she chose and dress simply.

Her father, not willing to let his child prodigy become a nun, agreed to let Maria live in such a manner studying theology if she were to also continue her research into mathematics. She would be permitted to do all the charity work she wanted. This would be in addition to her performances and lessons, and her responsibility to homeschool her siblings – she wrote curriculum for them.

1740. Maria studies differential and integral calculus with Olivetan monk Ramiro Rampinelli.

In 1748 Maria she publishes a mathematical treatise, Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth. It is so impressive – regarded by those in the field as the best introduction extant to the works of Euler – that it earns her a professorship in mathematics and physics at the University of Bologna; she becomes only the second woman ever to be awarded such a position.

At the height of her fame, which includes entertaining Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, Maria becomes physically depleted and severely ill. The relentless schedule of study and public appearances has worn her out.

In 1751, she became ill again and was told not to study by her doctors. After the death of her father in 1752 she carried out a long-cherished purpose by giving herself to the study of theology, and especially of the Fathers and devoted herself to the poor, homeless, and sick, giving away the gifts she had received and begging for money to continue her work with the poor. In 1783, she founded and became the director of the Opera Pia Trivulzio, a home for Milan’s elderly, where she lived as the nuns of the institution did. On 9 January 1799, Maria Agnesi died poor and was buried in a mass grave for the poor with fifteen other bodies.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi – Wikipedia

There is so much that could be said about this amazing woman, a woman of intellect and passion, of science and faith. So, I recommend reading Massimo Mazzotti’s biography: The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God. This would be a good homeschooling text.

Her attitude, says [Massimo] Mazzotti, was that “intellect was necessary for being a good Christian. If you work on strengthening your intellect, you’re doing a good thing for your spiritual life as well.” In later life, her religious writing turned mystical, but when she was most active in mathematics, her approach to religion was more intellectual and rational. Even as her religious practice became more mystical, however, she still saw intellect and passion as two complementary parts of religious life. “The human mind contemplates [the virtues of Christ] with marvel,” she wrote in an unpublished mystical essay, “the heart imitates them with love.

The 18th-Century Lady Mathematician Who Loved Calculus and God | Science| Smithsonian Magazine

Maria never entered a convent. She never married or had children. With Christ at home in her heart by faith and Maria at home with the “sublime sciences” she was rooted and grounded in both love and math. The desire and direction of her life was in learning and serving. Her brilliant mathematical work seized the world’s attention. And then she gave it all up for a half-century of self-sacrifice.

In her view, human beings are capable of both knowing and loving, and while it is important for the mind to marvel at many truths, it’s ultimately even more important for the heart to be moved by love.

“Man always acts to achieve goals; the goal of the Christian is the glory of God,” she wrote. “I hope my studies have brought glory to God, as there were useful to others, and derived from obedience, because that was my father’s will. Now I have found better ways and means to serve God, and to be useful to others.”

Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of (theconversation.com)

~~~~~

A brief intro to Maria Agnesi and the curve called “Witch of Agnesi”:

Maria AGNESI 👩‍🎓 – YouTube

And a composition of her sister, harpsichordist Maria Teresa Agnesi (1720-1795) – Concerto per il cembalo:

Maria Teresa Agnesi (1720-1795) – Concerto per il cembalo – YouTube

~~~~~

Article References and further reading on Agnesi:

Maria Agnesi, the Greatest Female Mathematician You’ve Never Heard of – Scientific American

Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of (theconversation.com)

Agnesi, Maria Gaetana (1718–1799) | Encyclopedia.com

Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Mathematician, Philosopher, Educator | Britannica

Maria Agnesi: Mathematician and Philosopher (thoughtco.com)

The 18th-Century Lady Mathematician Who Loved Calculus and God | Science| Smithsonian Magazine

The Secret Life Of Maria Gaetana Agnesi | NOVA | PBS

The Witch of Agnesi | The Engines of Our Ingenuity (uh.edu)

Analytical institutions in four books : originally written in Italian : Agnesi, Maria Gaetana, 1718-1799 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

~~~~~

Women of Faith in Science

“Katey Walter Anthony has done much of her research deep in the arctic, studying the methane bubbles that are released in thawed permafrost lakes. What she has learned helps us to better understand the complexity of earth’s climate and how it might change in the future. But alongside the exciting story of her scientific journey is a story about how she has come to understand God’s place in it all.”

Katey Walter Anthony | Science, Faith & Thermokarst Lakes

Katey Walter Anthony – Science, Faith, and Thermokarst Lakes

Note: “Climate change” messaging is being framed to fit just about everything, including fear. King Charles III even launched a catastrophe countdown clock. “Man-made Climate change” is being attached to all kinds of phenomena.

As you will hear, “Climate change” is brought up by those involved in earth science during the podcast interviews offered by BioLogos, a faith and science foundation.

Science, any science, is on a journey. No one has all the information and facts.

Climate science is NOT settled science. And, anthropogenic global warming is a theory, no matter how many times “consensus” is mentioned to “prove” it to be otherwise. Remember, “consensus” doesn’t mean something is true. It means that some people agree, for whatever reason, on some idea.

In this podcast, it appears that Katey received funding and grants related to finding earth issues that generate “climate change”. Questions to keep in mind: when a person receives funding related to a specific issue, what do you think they will find and write about? And, to receive more funding to continue one’s scientific pursuits, what do you think they will find and write about?

At the end of the interview, Katey offers wisdom: we should use a circumspect approach to dealing and living with the earth and of learning to adapt in our approach to our own lives.

Become informed. Don’t rely on media for knowledge of anything. There are scientific counter-narratives to the inescapable “Climate Change” narrative as there were for the COVID narrative:

Home – ClimateRealism

Podcasts>>>>Environment and Climate News Podcast on Apple Podcasts

climateataglance.com

Climate Etc. (judithcurry.com)

Watts Up With That? • The world’s most viewed site on global warming and climate change

~~~~~

Filed under Biography, Science, Women in science Tagged with Maria Agnesi, mathematics, Science, STEM, women of math

Frankenscience

October 1, 2023 Leave a comment

In a remote lab something is created using special occult-like knowledge and unethical scientific experiments. The creation does not emerge organically. What’s brought into existence is an intentional mutation of the natural order. Uncontrolled, the monstrous creation escapes into the public. People begin to die and the remorseless creators work to conceal their involvement.

So goes the recent account of the gain-of-function alchemy performed by a cabal of doctors -Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins, the doctors of the National Institutes of Health and of EcoHealth Alliance – in the Wuhan Lab and the ensuing lab leak of transmissible COVID-19 into the world of humans.

A parallel to the Wuhan horror story is an older science-off-the-rails account published in 1818. It is referenced in Jack Butler’s 2021 National Review article titled Frankenstein, the Original Lab Leak, Mary Shelley’s warning about the dangers of heedless scientific advancement takes on new relevance today.

Of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus Butler writes:

Shelley’s gothic tale has become a byword for the view so, uh, ably expressed by Jeff Goldblum (playing Ian Malcolm) in Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”.

The quest to unlock the secrets of heaven and earth and a burning desire to conquer the laws of nature are the driving forces behind Victor Frankenstein’s act-like-God creative act. And what he creates he cannot control. The same driving forces and results apply to the scientists of the Wuhan lab creation, as Butler notes:

Before the creature is made, Frankenstein delights in the possibility that a new species would bless him “as its creator and source” and that “many happy and excellent natures would owe their being” to him. If what we now quite reasonably suspect about the lab leak is true, then the Wuhan Institute of Virology can likewise claim the paternity of a new species, as well as of the many cases, deaths, and variants that have literally plagued the world since.

Before I ever came across the above article, I read Frankenstein. What had drawn me to Mary Shelly’s “ghost story” was what I had read in various science articles. These pieces discussed gain of function, the Executive Order 14081 Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing, coding genetics, the reanimation of dead cells, Neuralink – brain chip implants, human+, AI, transhumanism, transgenderism, and more. Reading about the desire and ability to tamper (or tinker) with the human body to effect change in it and wondering if technology was going to a dark place had me think of Frankenstein.

From the movies I learned that Victor Frankenstein had a lab, an assistant Igor and a bizarre desire to create something outside the natural order – a creature assembled from cadaver bits-and-pieces and strange chemicals, animated by a mysterious spark. I saw the brute, electrodes on his neck, clunking around the screen. I heard the screams of terrorized town’s people.

From the book I learned of Victor Frankenstein’s (no electrode, no Igor) description of his creation:

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips

From the book I also learned that the monster was not given a name. Frankenstein variously calls it “creature”, “fiend”, “spectre”, “the dæmon”, “wretch”, “devil”, “thing”, “being”, and “ogre”. The creation says to Victor “I Ought to Be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel”. The book, I soon realized, had more to offer than depicted in the silly horror movies.

The book’s subtitle – The Modern Prometheus references Mary Shelly’s Gothic tale to Greek mythology’s interpretation of creation. Prometheus was the Greek Titan who fashioned humans out of clay and gave them fire. While Zeus was away, he stole fire from his hearth and gave it to humanity in the form of science knowledge. He taught humans the use of fire and how to trick the gods.

Victor Frankenstein, in his unchecked pursuit of the secrets of heaven and earth, “creates life and thereby challenges God (instead of Zeus) and is punished by having his creation kill a number of his close relatives and friends, including his bride on their wedding night”, writes Stephen Kearn.

Victor doesn’t get burnt, even though he plays with fire taken from God (There is no mention of God in the novel. Perhaps Mary Shelly was a deist who thought of God as away and uninvolved with humans). But unlike Prometheus, Victor doesn’t receive eternal punishment for defying God.

We do read that Victor constantly (every other page practically) regrets what he’s done. But he never acknowledges his creation or its murderous ways to anyone, except later to his father who thinks Victor is delusional. Victor remains silent when he should have spoken up at a trial to defend the innocent. Victor’s self-indulgent ruing does not lead to repentance. By remaining silent he covers up his madness. I wonder about the attitude of Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins’ after they learned of the deadly effects of their horrid creation.

Throughout, Victor receives constant support from family and a close friend, none of whom know what he’s been up to. But Victor, to hide the works of his hands, goes it alone.

Victor is a self-absorbed monster. He’s a loner in his own dark world. No one is allowed to enter it, not even his best friend Henry Clerval who then ultimately encounters the product of Victor’s solitude when he is murdered by the beast. The novel would have us ask, “Who is the monster? The creator or the creation?”

Another aspect of Shelly’s tale is the Faustian nature of Victor Frankenstein. As a student, Victor is dissatisfied with the limits of the natural philosophy he studies. He seeks to penetrate the secrets of nature and find where the spark of creation comes from.

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.”

With such a grandiose desire, Victor trades the integrity of his soul for the capacity to tap into the forbidden knowledge. He studies alchemy and the occult. And like the damned Faust, he pays a tremendous price for his newfound ability. He eventually loses his brother and wife to the effects of his own creation.

There are many aspects of the novel that are never broached in the movies. Isolation, loneliness, the need for companionship, Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden, even Rousseauism. Mary Shelly, daughter of political philosopher William Godwin and her mother the philosopher and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, was well aware of the pedagogical and political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The monster begins his existence as Rousseau’s natural man. He lives according to his basic needs and is content. When people come into the picture he learns virtue and develops vice.

The hideous creature, hiding in the woods from the volatile rejection of townspeople, comes across a cottage and its inhabitants – a blind grandfather, a boy and a girl. He watches them interact day after day through a crack in the wall. He sees how well they get along and love each other.

They play music and read out loud at night. Milton’s Paradise Lost is one of the volumes read. That is how, over time, the creature, ‘born’ sentient and tabula rasa, learns about humanity and how to speak. But the creature is ultimately rejected by them because of his horrid appearance. So, the once-innocent creature with growing malice turns to evil.

I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me?

Rousseau: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”. The creature: I am the way I am because of how people treat me”. (There are many creatures like this running around today.)

The monster, isolated and lonely, demands that Victor produce a female creature. In a contest of wills, it says “You are my creator but I am your master – obey!” If the monster gets what he wants he promises to go far away with his companion and won’t terrorize him anymore. Victor balks at the idea of another such creation.

Even if they were to leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the new world, yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the dæmon thirsted would be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror. Had I right, for my own benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations? I had before been moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been struck senseless by his fiendish threats; but now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race.

That last line makes me think about all the tinkerers whose ability to engineer and tailor organisms – from transgenderism to mRNA vaccines to brain implants – could affect the existence of the whole human race. There is much of the implausible nature of Shelly’s novel that seems plausible today in the hands of Frankenscience. “Be careful what you wish for” I hear Shelly prophetically say.

Shelley’s novel doesn’t present scientific and technological advancements as purely monstrous. Rather, it is the callousness of the creator, who cannot or will not anticipate the dangers of their invention, who is truly monstrous. Throughout the novel, the reader is invited to bear witness to this ironic parallel.

-Helena Richardson, The modern Prometheus: the relevance of Frankenstein 200 years on

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Podcast>>>> “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley | Evergreen Podcasts

~~~~~

In his Substack article, Sacrificing for Science, How Science is Carrying on a Very Old Practice, Lewis Ungit connects modern science practices to the practice of dark arts:

“What do these people harvesting full term babies (like the witches poses as midwives did in older days) and collecting hundreds of samples (also like the witches poses as midwives) hope to do with these bodies of babies? The reasons are remarkably similar to the reasons a witch would have given. Witches used the body parts to gain knowledge and power (to heal or curse). And Francis Collins (Director of the NIH) gave similar reasons for the Pitt funding. . ..

“But Collins, Biden’s NIH, and the University of Pittsburg are hardly the first to practice such dark arts.

“Since the 1960s, aborted babies have been used to develop vaccines . . ..

“In times of old, parts of the babies were used to advance the magic of the witches, to gain dark knowledge, or as an ingredient in a potent brew. And today, baby parts are collected to gain scientific knowledge and to provide good ingredients to medicines and food. And while moderns view the distinction between science and magic as significant, are they really so different?” (Emphasis mine.)

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“The power to kill could be just as satisfying as the power to create.” – Brandon Shaw in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope.

Rope (1948) – Murder is a privilege for the few – YouTube

~~~~~

More Frankenscience . . . What could go wrong?

Air Vax Could ‘Radically Change’ How People Are Vaccinated

“Yale University researchers have developed a new airborne method for delivering mRNA right to your lungs. The team has also used the method to vaccinate mice intranasally, opening the door for human testing in the near future.

“While scientists are hailing the creation as an easy way to vaccinate the masses, critics wonder if the development of an airborne vaccine could be used for nefarious purposes, including covert bioenhancements, which have already been recommended in academic literature.3

. . .

“Aside from the concerns of airborne delivery, mRNA COVID-19 shots are associated with significant risks — no matter how you’re exposed. People ages 65 and older who received Pfizer’s updated (bivalent) COVID-19 booster shot may be at increased risk of stroke, according to an announcement made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

“Further, a large study from Israel revealed that Pfizer’s COVID-19 mRNA jab is associated with a threefold increased risk of myocarditis, leading to the condition at a rate of 1 to 5 events per 100,000 persons. Other elevated risks were also identified following the COVID jab, including lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), appendicitis and herpes zoster infection. (Emphasis mine.)

Air Vax — The Latest mRNA Delivered Into Lungs – LewRockwell

Polymer nanoparticles deliver mRNA to the lung for mucosal vaccination | Science Translational Medicine

Compulsory and Covert:

RESEARCHERS CREATE AEROSOLIZED MRNA “VACCINE” (rumble.com)

New ‘air vax’ delivers mRNA right to your lungs, raising serious bioethical concerns – LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)

~~~~~

Frankenscience . . . Augmented humanity; the rise of a techno-religion; transhumanist vision of the future; technology confers power:

AI: Transhumanism and Playing God (rumble.com)

~~~~~

Be Aware!

5G FEMA & FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for October 4, 2023

The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4. The WEA test will be directed to all consumer cell phones.

~~~~~

Marching Toward a Technological Tyranny – In The Tank #416 – The Heartland Institute

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Informed Dissent:

With the advent of technology, particularly the internet – the ability of many different factions to use propaganda has only grown.

Propaganda and The US Government: (substack.com)

FDA commissioner, Investment fund manager, Pfizer Board of Director member, CIA advisor and Corporate Media Shill

Scott Gottlieb’s Role in Creating a New Intelligence Office (substack.com)

WORDS MATTER – THERE IS NO MENINGITIS VACCINE.

Shining a light on meningitis – STAND FOR HEALTH FREEDOM

Shining a light on meningitis Download

“The most important change to make is cutting out industrially processed seed oils, which are misleadingly labeled as vegetable oils. Examples of seed oils high in LA, which will radically increase oxidative free radicals and cause mitochondrial dysfunction,17 include soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, rapeseed (canola), corn and safflower.”

Link Between Insulin Resistance and Disease Acceleration (mercola.com)

We must protect our food supply from transgenic edible plant vaccines:

Call your rep to stop research from happening, stop its funding in the farm bill.

US House REpresentative Thomas massie on food transparency – STAND FOR HEALTH FREEDOM

mRNA Vaccines in Farm animals – Pork, Beef, Shrimp – self-amplifying mRNA vaccines for livestock – cattle & swine outbreaks “anticipated”, Australia building mRNA capacity, 9 articles reviewed (substack.com)

10 Things to Know About DNA and RNA Vaccines for Download

10 Things to Know About DNA and RNA Vaccines for Livestock (mercola.com)

The Beef Initiative – Championing localized food supply

Study: With each Covid vaccination, healthcare workers get sicker – applying for progressively more leave and taking more analgesic medication after each dose (eugyppius.com)

Summit For Truth

Technocracy: ‘Sustainable’ Is The New Code Word For Genocide – David Icke

No farmers, No Food! Klaus Schwab should be forced to eat shit (rumble.com)

No Farmers No Food

~~~~~

The perversion of science:

Filed under 2023 current events, Literature, Science, social commentary, social engineering, technology Tagged with Anthony Fauci, EcoHealth Alliance, Francis Collins, Frankenstein, National Institutes of Health, Science, technology

Not Tame Not Tony

September 24, 2023 Leave a comment

Wearing camel hair clothes with a leather belt, eating locust and wild honey – that’s not the way, truth and life of today’s celebrity preachers. No. The wilderness figure of the unentangled Forerunner was light-years away from metropolitan Evangelical-industrial-complex pastors.

John the Baptist had none of the trappings of celebrity mega-church preachers, not even the dressed-down attire that some celebrity preachers wear so as to not put too much emphasis on appearance while placing emphasis on their appearance and calling attention to themselves.

John the Baptist didn’t dress like swanky celebrity preachers, who call attention to their prosperity gospel. He didn’t dress like royalty.

The Forerunner didn’t promote himself. He said “Someone a lot stronger than me is coming close behind” and “Look! There’s God’s lamb! He’s the one who takes away the world’s sin! He’s the one I was speaking about when I said, ‘There’s a man coming after me who ranks ahead of me, because he was before me. I came to baptize with water – so that he could be revealed to Israel.”

The Forerunner was a doormat. He laid down his life to make way for the One who would lay down his life for the world, of whom, John told the crowd, he was not worthy to undo his sandals.

John the Baptist didn’t preach impediments. He didn’t preach a prosperity health and wealth gospel or a power of love and positive attitude gospel. He wasn’t a reed bobbling in the winds of culture. The Baptist announced a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins – not a “you can do it” message.

The Baptist wasn’t a culture warrior. He didn’t preach mushy church talk. He didn’t entertain. He didn’t cajole. He didn’t try to impress with his knowledge. He didn’t preach social justice. Dressed in penitential garb, John called for repentance and criticized a King for his wicked ways.

His wasn’t a ‘you gotta get saved so you can go to heaven’ message. There was no ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’ retribution principle sermon. No. He declared a person, a lamb, a Holy Spirit baptizer, a realized hope. John’s message was for those who had ears to hear: repent and be baptized and I’m not the center of attention.

John the Baptist didn’t have a large auditorium with a worship band and multi-media productions. His message drew huge crowds out to a wilderness riverside. The whole of Judea and everyone who lived in Jerusalem went out to the desert to see the spectacle of a hairy wild-eyed Elijah standing in a river calling for confession of sins, repentance and a plunge in the river.

John the Baptist didn’t have degrees, references, prestige or the charisma of a “winning personality”. The bona fides of the crude and unorthodox John were the words that came out of his mouth and all the prophets and law that had made their prophecies before he came on the scene.

John the Baptist had none of the revenue streams of the modern-day mega pastors. He had no salary. He didn’t receive perks and special treatment. He wore and ate and lived off the land.

The Baptist had no social media accounts or TV presence. He had no royalties from book sales, no online webinars, no DVD sales. He didn’t sell “merch”. He didn’t offer boat cruises and trips to the Holy Land (well, he was already there) and receive a free trip in return. He had no brand or image to protect. There was no John the Baptist newsletter promoting his ministry, detailing the number baptized, and asking for donations.

John the Baptist didn’t have a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion. Like the son of man, John the Baptist had nowhere to lay his head except when it was time to give up his life. John’s head, laid on a platter, was a gift from King Herod, “that fox” who regularly enjoyed listening to John’s disturbing words.

The Forerunner heralded the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, not his own. Sent from God, John came as evidence about the life that was the light of the human race so that everyone might believe through him. He prepared the way, not for himself but for the One who was to come. John eschewed self-promotion, celebrity, and the creation of a following. He wasn’t Forerunner “forward”.

Is that the way, truth and life of today’s celebrity preachers?

The following text were referenced: Matthew 11: 7-15; Mark 1: 4-11; Luke 1: 57-80, 13: 32; John 6:6-36

~~~~~

Podcast: Celebrities for Jesus – YouTube

Calvary Chapel Pastor Remains Despite Reports of Addiction & Abuse (julieroys.com)

The Roys Report Investigation – churches & leaders:

Investigations | The Roys Report (julieroys.com)

~~~~~

Jesus vs. Evangelicals Pt 1

JESUS v. Evangelicals | The Roys Report (julieroys.com)

Jesus vs. Evangelicals Pt 2

JESUS v. Evangelicals, Part II: The Megachurch | The Roys Report (julieroys.com)

Filed under Christianity, mega-church, Short Story Tagged with celebrity pastors, Christianity, John the Baptist, mega-churches

Dire Destiny or Fortunate Destiny?

September 22, 2023 Leave a comment

The fortune from the fortune cookie that came with the Mongolian Beef and egg roll read “Every step forward brings you closer to your destiny”.

Turns out that it’s every step forward by the UN and the WHO that brings me and you closer to a destiny not of our own choosing. Below is a webinar detailing the fast-forwarding steps being taken to control not just our health, but our whole lives. Take action as recommended below.

(Note: you won’t hear about these things mentioned on the mainstream media. The mainstream media is paid to talk about distracting things; none of the things mentioned below are conspiracy theories. One can go to the UN and WHO websites to see what is going on. Also, please send this post to your friends, relatives, and your church.)

The following quote is from this link:

Webinar | Soft Coup, Hard Tyranny: Spawning Global Governance on September 20 – Committee on the Present Danger: China (presentdangerchina.org)

“On September 20, the UN hosted one of three high-level meetings on health with WHO officials attending.
“At the “Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response” meeting on the 20th, the outcome will be a political declaration that “aims at ‘mobilizing political will at the national, regional and international levels for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.’ This meeting and the document they will likely pass appear to be designed to provide political momentum to the passage of the problematic Amendments to the International Health Regulations and the new proposed pandemic treaty, both of which would seriously compromise if not destroy our national sovereignty and personal medical freedom.

“In addition, the United Nations itself is calling for an “Emergency Platform” that would “operationalize automatically” . . . “in the event of a future complex global shock . . .” This shock could range from a “major climactic event” to a “cyberspace connectivity disruption,” a “major event in outer space” or even an “unforeseen ‘black swan’ event.” In other words, the United Nations, like the WHO, wants to take over operations that should be run by our own government in case of any event on earth or in outer space that it deems an “emergency.”” (Emphasis mine.)

Are you aware that your destiny is being determined by elitists? I am. I attended the following webinar last Wednesday (9/20/23). It was produced by the Stop Vax Passports Task Force (SVPTF) and The Sovereignty Coalition (@SovCoalition).

You will want to watch the video to see what is being planned for you – a Communist China type destiny. Become informed so you know what you can do about this.

Panelists:

Hon. Michele Bachmann, Member of Congress (2007-2015); Presidential candidate (2012); Dean, Robertson School of Government, Regent University
• Topic: The need for our leaders to stand against global tyranny

Dr. Francis Boyle, Ph.D., Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law; JD degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D in Political Science from Harvard University; Former Board Member, Amnesty International; Draft author, U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush
• Topic: “Stop the Globalists WHO/UN Totalitarian Medical and Scientific Police State!”

Dr. David Bell, M.D. Senior Scholar at Brownstone Institute; public health physician and biotech consultant in global health; former medical officer and scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO)
• Topic: Why the WHO and the UN should not be trusted to control our healthcare and run a world government

Dr. Meryl Nass, M.D., Board-certified internist; biological warfare epidemiologist and expert in anthrax
• Topic: Spawning pandemics and hyping fear through the new Pandemic Treaty

Dr. Karladine Graves, M.D., family physician, physician’s rights advocate
• Topic: The WHO takeover will obliterate doctor-patient relationships and medical privacy

Alex Newman, Contributor, The Epoch Times and other diverse publications; award-winning international journalist, educator, author, and consultant who co-wrote the book “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children”
• Topic: What life will be like for Americans after the Globalist coup?

Ron Armstrong, President, Stand Up Michigan
• Topic: Americans must demand their elected officials and candidates save our sovereignty and secure our civil rights

Webinar resources are located at the following link:

Webinar | Soft Coup, Hard Tyranny: Spawning Global Governance on September 20 (rumble.com)

Transcript – Soft Coup Hard Tyranny Spawning Global Governance on September 20 Download

~~~~~

“This week, the United Nations (UN), the parent organization for the WHO (just like the CDC reports to our federal government) met to adopt a statement on Pandemic Prevention Preparedness and Response. As expected, the declaration was adopted at that “high-level” meeting, but interestingly, it was not without protest. A group of countries got together to raise an alarm about the transparency of the process and lodge an on-the-record complaint against the process.

The United States can cooperate in international agreements and protect constitutional rights at the same time.

The White House has an opportunity in the IHR amendments to reassert our Constitutional rights, on the record. In 2005, when the WHO last amended the IHR, the U.S. put a formal “reservation” on record, which stated that we will go along with global public health agreements only to the point where our Constitution draws a line.

Click the button above to learn more, and sign your name to take an easy stand for our Constitutional rights.

Friends, we are not powerless against this global body, by signing you will be joining with other freedom-minded citizens to remind our representatives that our constitution comes first.” (Emphasis mine.)

Things are happening quickly. We must act now. Sign the petition and alert you representatives:

Read about the Stand For Health Freedom stand and what the petition states here:

The WHO can’t tell the states what to do – STAND FOR HEALTH FREEDOM

“Stand for Health Freedom will be prepared to use the petition in three ways:

To send to the White House to show that Americans are watching and willing to join together to stop any threat to our Constitution.

To support members of Congress who will uphold their oath of office by checking the president in overreach or unconstitutional agreements;

To deliver to the Office of Global Affairs at U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), informing those who are directly negotiating the treaty and IHR, that this is a simple step they can take to protect Americans;, and we expect them to follow the precedent set by the previous administration, in updating and asserting the reservation for federalism.”Health Freedom Advocacy Center | Stand For Health Freedom

The WHO can’t tell the states what to do Download

~~~~~

Informed Dissent:

The 2023 Cochrane review of “Physical Interventions to Interrupt or Reduce the Spread of Respiratory Viruses” found masking had no effect on confirmed infection rates. The review also found no difference between medical/surgical masks and N95/P2 respirators.

Fauci is still doubling down on masking, saying masks work “on an individual level” even though randomized controlled trials show it makes no difference on the population level

If mask recommendations are renewed this fall, do not comply.

More Mask Masquerades (mercola.com)

Paraphrasing Dr. Peter Marks: “We don’ need no public health emergency to emergency use authorize mismatched boosters”

“Many of us knew this day would come, and now here it is. As of Monday, September 11, 2023, the FDA has provided “Emergency Use Authorization” for the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine boosters. But there is no public health emergency at this time. And the “boosters” being “Emergency Use Authorized” are designed to provide protection against the Omicron variant called “Kraken”. Which is on its way to becoming extinct, outcompeted by newer variants like Eris which have evolved even further to escape the antibody pressure elicited by the globally deployed leaky “vaccines”.”

FDA has Gone Rogue – by Robert W Malone MD, MS (substack.com)

Dr. Malone: COVID-19 Vaccine Found To Have “Negative Effectiveness”, Increasing Health Risks (rumble.com)

Lipid Nanoparticles and mRNA Shots (substack.com)

What You Need to Know About the Latest COVID Jab Rollout (mercola.com)

Minister of Health:

Fauci now admits the Covid Vaccine causes Myocarditis.

Twitter used to ban you for saying exactly this.pic.twitter.com/r4iiZyeiwv
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 13, 2023

Citizen Free Press on X: “Fauci now admits the Covid Vaccine causes Myocarditis. Twitter used to ban you for saying exactly this. https://t.co/r4iiZyeiwv” / X

Threads blocks search for ‘COVID,’ ‘vaccines,’ ‘coronavirus’ over disinformation fear (nypost.com)

Dr. Robert Malone Re: New COVID Variants & More! | Judicial Watch

New Study Detects Spike Protein in Vaccinated 6 Months After COVID-19 Vaccination: Researchers Suggest 3 Possible Reasons | The Epoch Times

The risks of tinkering with shrimp genetics, and using mRNA shots in pigs, cattle and other animals intended for food, are completely unknown

“Few are aware that, since 2018, pork producers have been using customizable mRNA-based “vaccines” on their herds — as it largely slipped by under the radar.” (Emphasis mine.)

mRNA Vaccines Now Headed for Shrimp (mercola.com)

“We know that the COVID vaccines have done various degrees of damage to the immune system in a fraction of people who’ve taken them,” attested Dr. Harvey Risch in a recent interview with The Epoch Times.

“And that damage could be anywhere from getting COVID more often, getting other infectious diseases, and perhaps it may also be cancer in the longer term,” he warned.

Top Doctor Explains Why “Turbo Cancer” Rates Are Likely to Get Even Worse (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Guest Contributor

"Children between six months and four years of age should receive two doses if they have not previously been vaccinated with a COVID 19 vaccine."

Important: No trial was conducted evaluating a two-dose primary series of the XBB.1.5 vaccine in children 6 months to 4 years old. pic.twitter.com/ktBMMrqvQJ
— golden pup (@Golden_Pup) September 12, 2023

“Completely untested, variant-outdated, toxic vaccines approved for infants. I called it unconscionable as the (P)FDA no longer even bothers to pretend science and public health are their guideposts. They used to do a much better job of pretending.” Dr. Pierre Kory

‘Unconscionable’: FDA Approves New COVID Vaccines — Even for Infants as Young as 6 Months — Based on Minimal Data or Testing • Children’s Health Defense (childrenshealthdefense.org)

Myopericarditis and mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines – FDA and CDC administrators lied, and people (particularly children) died. (substack.com)

“Sure, it’s absolutely insane that people are still getting injected with the mRNA Pharma sauce, but we wanted to know how much they’re being billed to make themselves sick with the hopes to fend off the Wuhan sniffles.

Here’s the numbers that major American pharmacies gave us when we called and asked what the cost of the new vaccine would come out to without insurance.

CVS: $190

Walgreens: $155.99

Publix: $202

Costco: Didn’t have any new shots yet

Walmart: Didn’t have any new shots yet

[The pharmacies without shots in stock have no inventory because they had to dump the whole supply of old shots, since the FDA deauthorized their use]”

Expensive poison: Top U.S. pharmacies charging $200+ a shot for new Covid “vaccines” (dossier.today)COVID-19 Vaccines Revealed as ‘Neither Safe, Nor Effective’: Watchdog | The Epoch Times

The Symptom Burden of Post-Covid Vaccine Injury Syndrome (substack.com)

“Cancer Gene Jock” Dr Buckhaults exposes the Plasma DNA that has been found & identified in the Covid 19 Pfizer shots.
*News flash – there shouldn’t be ANY DNA in these shots. These pieces of DNA are now integrated in the DNA of those who took the previous versions of the shots & yes it’s also present in the brand new Booster Shots.

“The DNA in the Pfizer jabs are capable of facilitating future cancers – no question about it.
This is a PERMANENT genetic alteration. Once the DNA is integrated into the human genome – there is NO GOING BACK.” – Dr. Tenpenny (Emphasis mine.)

SC Senate Hearing – USC Professor Dr. Phillip Buckhaults – YouTube

Filed under 2023 current events, Health, Health Care, totalitarianism, WHO Tagged with International Health Regulations (IHR), Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, UN, WHO

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THIS SIDE OF PARADISE

“We have entered, as I see it, a spiritual limbo. Our educational institutions are no longer the bearers of high culture, and public life has been deliberately moronised. But here and there, sheltered from the noise and glare of the media, the old spiritual forces are at work” Roger Scruton

*****

“When a common culture declines, the ethical life can be sustained and renewed only by a work of the imagination.”-Roger Scruton
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“Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.” Oswald Chambers
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“No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit, it is an inner unconquerableness.” Oswald Chambers
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To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony,Oswald Chambers
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“If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a definite knowledge of the old foundations.” John Calvin Coolidge
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Atheism is a post-Christian phenomenon.
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If social justice looks like your hand in someone else’s pocket then you are stealing.
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“In Sweden, giving to charity, absurdly, came to be considered a lack of solidarity, since it undermined the need for the welfare state.” – Roland Martinsson
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“…to love democracy well, it is necessary to love it moderately.” Alexis de Tocqueville
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Capitalism seeks to help others through a servce or product it provides. Free Market Capitalism is the most moral and fair economic system available to man. Capitalism augments personal growth, responsibility and ownership. Charity flourishes under capitalism. Charity dies under subjective “fair share” government confiscatory policies. Socialism redistributes ambivalence and greed.
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“We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one’s life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being.” G.K. Chesterton
*****
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein
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“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.” Flannery O’Connor
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“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.” C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
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“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
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God’s grace is not about the allowance for sin. God’s grace is about the conversation God allows regarding sin.
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From the book of Proverbs: We are not to favor the rich or the poor. We are to pursue justice.
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“Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally.” Oswald Chambers
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One goldfish says to another, “If there is no God who keeps changing the water?”
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“The truth is always there in the morning.”
From Cat On A Hot Tin Roof script – playwright Tennessee Williams
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God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
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“America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.” John W. Gardner
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“Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.” John W. Gardner
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“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.” Dorothy L. Sayers
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“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
G. K. Chesterton
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“The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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This is what the LORD says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

-The prophet Jeremiah, 6:16
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“…our common task is not so much discovering a truth hiding among contrary viewpoints as it is coming to possess a selfhood that no longer evades and eludes the truth with which it is importunately confronted.” James McClendon, Ethics: Systematic Theology, Vol. 1
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