Essays in Idleness

“Liberalism is an empty parking lot. Conservatism is a garden full of weeds.”

“The problem with ‘I think, therefore I am’ is that it can be true only for God. When man appropriates this to himself he implicitly claims to be God.”

“All causes except the first uncaused cause are effects. This is so because the first cause causes them to be causes.”

“If Man was God’s attempt to make an artificial intelligence, it didn’t work out.”

“Turning to God will not, necessarily, make one a saint, for that is in God’s grace & providence. But turning from God will, necessarily, make one a pig.”

The quotes above were plagiarized from the “Gallimaufry” page of another blog, or more precisely another anti-blog entitled, A Philosophical Journal — slightly edited in several instances to suit my own tastes. The author signs himself, “RP.” He persists in leaving intelligent, penetrating Comments over here, often with useful references to Thomas Aquinas & others. Conversely, he thanks me for reminding him of the term “Pieperian Thomist,” & has just added it as subtitle to his own works, over there. Alas, thanks to my much-criticized identification policy, I won’t publish his correspondence until he spells out his name. As he refuses to do that even on his own website, we are at an impasse.

RP’s particular interest, it seems to me on perusing his archives, is the Christian reconstruction of the Platonic conception of anamnesis — unfolding in the Paschal Mystery from Christ’s words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” It is at the heart of the Eucharist, in both its Western (Catholic) & Eastern (Orthodox) manifestations. It is what we tried to lose at the Reformation, & are still trying to lose, every day. But it cannot be lost, cannot be forgotten.

The gentleman shares with me a distaste for hyperlinks, & for advertisements. He disallows Comments on his own website, entirely, because they will let automated advertisements in through the program he is using. I would do the same, in that situation. Since we are of a mind, I will give no link to his anti-blog, either, but gentle reader will find it easily enough from the information I have supplied.