My CMS The View from a New City

Today I had an inspiration while reading about the almost universal rejection of imperialism in society. So I now prophesy though I may not live to see its fulfillment.

Over the last few years I have fretted about the rise of Donald J. Trump and everything he stands for: racism, sexism, immorality, corruption, pathological dishonesty, vulgarity, shamelessness, hypocrisy, etc. I now see that my anxiety was misplaced. The world is waking up to the stench of Trump-ism and will reject it everywhere and forcefully. Vice and arrogance will still exist, but the Trumpian manifestation of it will be almost universally abhorred.

At a reception yesterday, Dr. (call him Doe) told us how he told God to intervene in his daughter’s life and that God responded something like, “Hold on there! She is my daughter too and I know what I am doing.”

The Book of Mormon uses the phrase “dwindle in unbelief” to characterize the decline and disintegration of both the Nephites and the Lamanites. As the angel prophesied in 1 Nephi 12:22,23 And the angel said unto me: Behold these shall dwindle in unbelief. And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations.

An 18th century writer named Giambattista Vico, perhaps the first anthropologist, summarized the trajectory of civilizations as follows:

“Vico saw mankind–nations, civilizations, cultures–as going through progressive stages from bestiality to high civilization and then sinking back into barbarism [the later worse than the first]…The original barbarians possess rude virtues; the later have none left…Crowded city life produces men who are unbelievers, who regard money as the measure of all things, and who lack moral qualities, particularly modesty, duty to the family, and virile courage. Emancipated from ethics generally,they live by mutual spying and deceit.”

Jacques Barzun; From Dawn to Decadence; page 315

In August, I will be 82 years old. Things that happen to people of my age, or older, are seldom called tragic. They are usually called normal, age related events. As my neighbor said, “what don’t hurt, don’t work.” None-the-less, every day is a gift.

The Book of Mormon says that Mormon was the general of the Nephite army at 16. That sounded highly improbable and certainly not something one would insert into a fictional story if one wanted to be believed. However, Alexander the Great first commanded an army in a military campaign at 16.

Here is a quote from Jacques Barsun’s cultural history entitled From Dawn to Decadence:

Teenagers’ cultural contribution is more varied and better recorded , and the thought it brings to mind is the marked difference between earlier times and our own in the feeling about age…And in Castiglione’s manual of Renaissance manners, The Courtier, one of the engaging figures is Francesco della Rovera, nephew of the pope, Lord General at 17, and soon to be “General of Rome.”

Here is something worth watching. Not the answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBCevwUTj-w

I have not had a near death experience. But watching many of them on the internet has reinforced in me the following theological thesis: Faith, hope and charity is…I have faith that God is powerful enough to fulfill His promises. I hope that I will qualify for his blessings. I feel that the people I know will also qualify for his blessings and should be treated as if they will. This thesis came to me as I watched a steady stream of people walk past my New York City apartment twenty-four hours a day and I realized they had all shouted for joy when they first learned that earth life was in the offing even though very few of them now know anything about that moment and its plan as they walk along the street below my window.

This understanding of faith, hope and charity is very far from the “I’m saved and your damned” theology of some religious people. It is also the opposite of the Nietzschean philosophy that only the “superman” counts for anything. All other humans are only the mush out of which the “Uebermensch” rises.

We just read chapter 5 of the Book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon. I was bothered by the instantaneous conversion and marvelous blessing of those who a minute ago were intent on killing Nephi and Lehi. This is similar to the circumstances surrounding Alma the Younger’s conversion. Thinking about it, However, I came to realize that this is a feature of many of the modern near death experiences. Bad people find themselves in a bad place until they decide to call upon Jesus. Then they are instantaneously caught up to a state of light and love.

Whatever the theology of these cases, and their divergence from the average case of lifelong progress of those who are actively pursuing truth, I have to admit that it is a thing. A thing in the real world, and not a failing in the Book of Mormon.

Saw the movie, Hail Mary, last night. The movie, among its multitude of implausibilities, assumes that intelligent life is a default state in the universe that can only be destroyed by a universe wide catastrophe. The truth is that intelligent life rests on a razor’s edge and the failure on just one of the many elements required for its existence would make intelligent life impossible. I know, I know. It’s just fiction.

Looking forward to a cross country train trip:

Love,
By Billy Collins

The boy at the far end of the train car
kept looking behind him
as if he were afraid or expecting someone

and then she appeared in the glass door
of the forward car and he rose
and opened the door and let her in

and she entered the car carrying a large black case
int the unmistakable shape of a cello

She looked like an angel with a high forehead
and somber eyes and her hair
was tied up behind her neck with a black bow

and because of all that
he seemed a little awkward
in his happiness to see her,

whereas she was simply there,
perfectly existing as a creature
with a soft face who played the cello.

And the reason I am writing this
on the back of a manila envelope
now that they have left the train together

is to tell you that when she turned
to lift the large, delicate cello
onto the overhead rack,

I saw him looking up at her
and what she was doing
the way the eyes of saints are painted

whe they are looking up at God
when he is doing something remarkable,
something that identifies him as God.