Educated or Anesthetized?

"The difference between the educated and the propagandized mind: The one is prompted to think, the other is anesthetized to thought. The one is given the greatest questions, the other is supplied with canned answers. The one seeks a measured and rational view of oneself and others, the other can be lulled into satisfaction with caricatures."

Tracy Lee Simmons, The Harmony of Contemplation, 2015 CiRCE National Conference

The Thinker, by Auguste Rodin

The Importance of Music

Without the sun, the colors of fall are muted, a bit dull. Music does for the soul what brilliant sunshine does to a stand of autumnally hued trees: it blazes them, brings them to life, gasps the human heart. 

A spiritual force inhabits music.

Music connects the world together, past, present and future. At present, past music reaches forward to us, instructs of its time, while current music sends its messages forward to the future. Along the timeline of life dances music, uninhibited, its stories shared.

From music flows the yearning and hope for everything we care about and long for in this world.

Music's language, like gently curling ribbons, flows in and out of our lives, from the tiny nursery where a mother nurses her cooing infant, to the world stage where the virtuoso massages the hearts of the audience.

Music's inspiration alters the quality of our undertakings, deepens them, enlivens them, betters them.

Music's balance, precision, and understanding mimic the best of humanity, expose the creativity of God. 

Music lifts our hands to the face of the Almighty and rests them there, in promise.

Staring Down the Fear

Ever since the virus contaminated our planet, threatening every single human being alive, I have found myself in a news loop. It started with a fixation to track the virus. That fixation has since enlarged to envelope the despairing miasma that is the Biden agenda. 

I can't stop looking. I can't stop reading. I can't stop . . . staring at it.

I am clenched as I stare. I am frozen as I imbibe.

This morning I analyzed my strange-to-me behavior of over a year and a half.

I am afraid. I am full of fear. I am afraid for my life, for the life of my friends and family, and for my country. For the world.

Staring at the events that seem to suffocate us all, I realize that I stare as I would stare at a large, threatening animal. Don't blink. Don't move. Watch it. Watch for any signs of movement, of change, of a forward motion toward me - terror! - or of signs of a hoped-for retreat - relief! Staring and concentrating with every fiber of my being, mentally and emotionally trembling, I exhaust myself on a daily basis.

All of this staring has achieved nothing. At all. Except for eye-strain induced headaches and occasional insomnia. Anxiety, too. I am well-informed, this is true, but most of the news subsides so quickly it hardly even matters. Every day there is something new and alarming, more Alice in Wonderland weirdness. To keep up is to crack up.

I am still afraid, but less so today. Why? Because I realize that my fear can be assuaged, even largely eradicated, if I break the stare-lock the news has on me and replace it with time spent advancing my own life. How, you ask?

Control the media input, reduce it, massively. It is manipulation, anyway, of the worst sort. It's good to keep a finger on the pulse of current events but not to be strangled by them. I am a witness to history, after all, one of many who will record and testify truthfully to what is now happening. This is important. However, I serve better when I am healthy and balanced.

Set realistic daily priorities which actually achieve productivity and happiness. The furor of national terror will reduce to a slow, controllable simmer. Shocking things will still happen, but they won't obliterate my time and peace of mind if they are not the sole and fearful focus of my life.

Regain a balanced perspective by concentrating on nourishing the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical dimensions of my being which have been too-much waylaid during this time of the virus and Biden. I've found it's quite helpful to do a weekly self-check: have I made time for socializing, for quietude, for exercise, for fun, for family, for God?

The heart can get carried away. The mind makes the choices. Choose a long view, including trust in God. Choose to be rational, logical, faithful. Choose health and intelligence. Keep an eye on the news and help where you can, just don't overdo it to the point of self-harm. That helps no one.

Small tweaks, large benefits.

I feel better already.

Where the Left Goes Wrong

"What you get [from the Left] is the amazingly clever dictionary they've got, so that, for instance, they talk about equity when they mean discrimination. They talk about fairness when they mean unfairness on an amazing scale. They talk about justice and they really mean revenge. 

But it takes a long time for people to see through this, and by the time people have seen through this, we're way down this track.

We are in an extraordinary stage where everything from public health to education and to everything else has been just hijacked by this Leftist language and not enough people have stood up to say, no, we see through this, we know what you're saying."

~~ Douglas Murray, interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight, October 8, 2021

Douglas Murray is one of my favorite people these days. He is wise, knowledgable, and has a devious sense of humor I truly appreciate.

His book, The Madness of Crowds: Gender Race, and Identity, is well worth reading. I have read three-quarters through so far, learning much as I go.
 

Another book by Douglas, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, is in my book queue. There will be some helpful insights and information in this work of Murray's as well, I am most certain.

Douglas Murray. He's a very smart man. Look him up.