Feudalism was a social and political system that arose principally in the wake of the fall of Rome. It provided structure and stability for a millennium across Europe, taking many different forms but binding families and tying them together for protection and economic advancement with a distinct sense of place and class roles. With the … More Feudalism and the Old South
Humble people are happy people. The world offers her goodness to everyone, but does so on her own terms. It cannot be demanded, grasped at, captured, or enticipated. Pride thinks it is owned this goodness, and when the hardness of the world is instead recieved, it is seen as an insult to its dignity. Humility … More Pride and Happiness
I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I know that the modern fantasy world will fall and burn. You can only sin against normality for so long. I am not saying that the answers will be ideal, or even Christian, but mankind cannot live in delusion against basic human and … More A Prophecy
Meaningful leisure is the antidote to both the modern world’s laziness as well as its bustle, but more than that, leisure leads to the highest human calling, contemplation. “Leisure is,” according to the German philosopher Josef Pieper, “the contemplative reception of reality through our highest activities.” In other words doing activities that allow the mind … More Leisure and the Highest Good
Aristotle – Metaphysics, On Interpretation, The Categories, Prior Analytics, De Anima, Poetics, and Rhetoric Cicero – The Republic, and The Laws Shakespeare – Hamlet (4th reading), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Thomas Hardy – Jude the Obscure Seneca – Selected Dialogues and Consolations William Blake – Songs of Wisdom and Experience Montgomery – Emily Climbs … More Books Read or Listened to in 2023
Christians sometimes fall prey to wrongly seeing everything in two categories: the good and the evil. If we think something is a good (mistakenly or not) we tend to think that, in all circumstances, we should have it, and then any claim to moderation is a limitation on the good itself. Conversely, if we deem … More The Good and the Lesser Good
What does it mean to be a human? It is an important question, assuming, as I do, that I am one. I take an older view of personhood; one in which essence proceeds being, and I take this truth to be axiomatic. While different humans might be unique due to accidental differences, what it means … More A Sacramental Affair
Celebrate the goodness of all created things. Mourn when good things are used for evil ends, but reveal in absolute goodness of creation. As Christians, in a decadent world, with are own personal failings, it’s easy to place a great, and largely deserved, weight on the corruption of what was once paradise, and yet, you … More The Goodness of Things
(Montgomery)It’s a Flash of inspiration,A seeing through the mists.A tasting of eternity,That comes and then desists.(Chesterton)An open door to Fairyland, Where elves and fairies play,And swordmen clash and giants fall,And night is freer than day. (Wordsworth)An Ode to Immortality,A faintly remembered land,An echo of a realer realmThat children and fools understand. (Longfellow)The Song of some … More The Flash – A Poem
I try not to wear jeans and a t-shirt, and there is a specific reason for this. Now, I live in a place where the summers get to 115+, I work from home, I engage in things like running or gardening, and hence I do “dress down” occasionally. But in making a conscious effort to … More Dress-up!
Reflective Wanderer 