Summer Reading

Thanks to the malleable, easily manipulated science of the “experts,” we’ve all spent more than a year imprisoned in our homes by COVID. Okay, I exaggerate. If we donned an approved mask and kept our distance from friends and strangers, we were free to make brief trips to the supermarket in search of toilet paper. But for months churches were off limits, as were local eateries, since such places were seen as COVID petri dishes. Participating in such activities was not only perceived as dangerous, it was also illegal. The result? All of us, especially those of us who are retired, had far too much empty time on our hands.

How did you use all that free time? Like many folks, did you spend countless hours playing mind-numbing online games? Maybe instead you decided to subscribe to Netflix so you could watch all their politically correct series and movies. Or like some people I know, did you search YouTube for nutty animal videos and send them to your friends? Of course, you might actually have done some reading. You don’t have to answer, and I won’t confess my sins of excess leisure. But whether or not your reading list has changed, I thought it might be fun to recommend a few books to keep you busy during these long summer days.

I’ll preface my list by saying that I never pay a lot of attention to reading lists generated by others, even by those I respect. But that’s just because I have so many unread books piled up in my den that adding others would just add to my guilt. So…if, like me, you already have a long list of unread books, stop reading this post right now and jump over to YouTube. That said, here’s my list…

The Possessed (or Devils) by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881). I first read this book almost 60 years ago when I was a freshman at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. I spent only one year at Georgetown — for which I thank God daily — before receiving an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. Like my change in educational institutions, reading this book had a major influence on how I viewed the world, particularly the world of politics and government. Dostoevsky was, of course, one of Russia’s great novelists and most literate folks have read either Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov, his two most famous and widely read books. The Possessed, although not as well known, might actually be the most relevant to our times. Like Russia in the 1870s, radical, revolutionary ideas are gaining traction today, particularly among our poorly educated youth and young adults. I decided to reread this book some weeks ago and, based on recent events in our own country, found it even more relevant.

Let me offer a rather long quote from the book — a scene in which one radical speaks with another, describing those whom they recruit, the folks Lenin named the “useful idiots” who could be called on to do the busy and nasty work of the revolution:

“It will amuse you: the first thing which has a tremendous effect is giving them titles. Nothing has more influence than a title. I invent ranks and duties on purpose; I have secretaries, secret spies, treasurers, presidents, registrars, their assistants — they like it awfully, it's taken capitally. Then, the next force is sentimentalism, of course. You know, amongst us socialism spreads principally through sentimentalism. But the trouble is these lieutenants who bite; sometimes you put your foot in it. Then come the out-and-out rogues; well, they are a good sort, if you like, and sometimes very useful; but they waste a lot of one's time, they want incessant looking after. And the most important force of all — the cement that holds everything together — is their being ashamed of having an opinion of their own. That is a force! And whose work is it, whose precious achievement is it, that not one idea of their own is left in their heads! They think originality a disgrace…All that business of titles and sentimentalism is a very good cement, but there is something better; persuade four members of the circle to do for a fifth on the pretense that he is a traitor [that is, to kill him], and you'll tie them all together with the blood they've shed as though it were a knot. They'll be your slaves, they won't dare to rebel or call you to account…And another thing….the essence of our creed is the negation of honor, and that by the open advocacy of a right to be dishonorable a Russian can be won over more easily than by anything…The right to dishonor — why, they'd all flock to us for that, not one would stay behind!”

These words, written 150 years ago, 50 years before the Russian Revolution of 1917, still apply. Socialism, although it always fails when put into practice, sounds so good to those who ignore its history. The only way, then, to recruit the hard-core believer is through pure sentimentalism. Later, once the socialist state is created, every aspect of life must be controlled or a counter-revolution will follow. The “leaders” of Antifa and Black Lives Matter, not to mention the dozens of overt terrorist organizations throughout the world, apply these same rules of recruitment as they fill their ranks with the mindless who do their evil bidding. Yes, indeed, give them a title to make them feel better about themselves, while at the same time crushing independent thought by demanding complete acceptance of the “party line.” Those who resist by thinking and expressing unacceptable ideas are shamed or even cancelled, sometimes in the most permanent way. Demanding the application of violence against those who stray “ties them all together with the blood they’ve shed.” Honor, morality, the distinction between good and evil all disappear.

The Possessed is well worth reading.

The Wise Man from the West, by Vincent Cronin (1924-2011). In the late 17th century, a second-generation Jesuit, Fr. Matteo Ricci, inspired by Francis Xavier, left the West and went to China as a missionary, where he spent the final 28 years of his life. Ricci loved the Chinese and their ancient civilization and developed the means to introduce Christianity in ways to which the Chinese would respond. He became a great scholar who could communicate with both Chinese scholars and the common people. Convinced that Christianity could coexist with Chinese culture and customs, his attempts to merge the two failed in the short term. As the late, great Fr. James V. Schall, S. J. wrote in the book’s Forward:

“…it was not the Chinese who rejected this possibility but the West in the judgment at the time of the Pope (Clement XI, 1704) himself. Though later popes, as Cronin indicated, have come to regret this choice, the damage was done.”

This is a wonderful book, a fitting companion to another book about this remarkable Jesuit, which I read many years ago. If you read Cronin’s book and want to know more about Ricci and his genius, pick up a copy of The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, by Jonathan D. Spence (b. 1936).

The Unbroken Thread, by Sohrab Amhari (b. 1985). What a wonderful book! It can best be described by its subtitle: “Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos.” Amhari is an immigrant, born and brought up in Iran, who came to this country, immersed himself in Western materialism, but then experienced a dramatic change in his life and became a Roman Catholic. His book is a book of questions that need to be answered by any American who desires to live the kind of life that God desires of us. To provide meaningful answers, the author calls on many of the great minds of Western Civilization. The book is a true page-turner and one you might want to share with children and grandchildren.

The Soul of the World, by Roger Scruton (1944-2020). Although Roger Scruton, to me one of the greatest of modern philosophers, died last year, he left us with many wonderful books. This is perhaps my favorite. It’s not easy reading for those not used to making their way through the language of the philosophers, but for those who keep their dictionary handy, it reaps great rewards. Scruton takes on the atheism of the elites and the blind scientism that attacks the sacred. In his defense of the sacred he turns to art, literature, music, and all forms of human achievement. Scruton wrote over forty books but this book sums up much of his thought and does it beautifully. Although it’s not a long book, it kept that aging mind of mine occupied for more than a few days. This is a book well worth reading. 

Selected Poems, by Elizabeth Jennings (1926-2001). Okay, for a change of pace, I thought you might enjoy some of this woman’s poetry, steeped as it is in religious values and full of the wisdom of one who suffered much in her personal life. English-born, Jennings spent almost her entire life in Oxford. Her poems, marked by a unique simplicity and lyric mastery, move readers to contemplate their own views of the central themes of human life. Love, death, faith, relationships…Jennings touched on them all, colored by her own deep Catholic faith. I first read her only a few years ago, not long after her death, but became an instant fan, believing her to be among the greatest of modern poets. As the late Peter Levi, Jesuit priest and Professor of Poetry at Oxford, wrote of Jennings before her death, “She is one of the few living poets we could not do without.”

Jennings, who had suffered from mental illness, wrote the poem I've included below, apparently while recovering. It's certainly not the most cheerful of her many poems, but it moved me deeply as I considered my own ministry as a hospital chaplain. It begins with the recognition of a painting hanging on the wall, one by the French artist, Maurice Utrillo. I’ve included a photo of the painting below:

A Mental Hospital Sitting Room

Utrillo on the wall. A nun is climbing

Steps in Montmartre. We patients sit below.

It does not seem a time for lucid rhyming;

Too much disturbs. It does not seem a time

When anything could fertilize or grow.

It is as if a scream were opened wide,

A mouth demanding everyone listen.

Too many people cry, too many hide

And stare into themselves. I am afraid

There are no life-belts here on which to fasten.

The nun is climbing up those steps. The room

Shifts till the dust flies in between our eyes.

The only hope is visitors will come

And talk of other things than our disease…

So much is stagnant and yet nothing dies.

_________________

Well, those are a few recommendations for your summer reading. A bit heavy, perhaps, except for Jennings' poetry, but we live in rather heavy times.

God's peace...

Modern Gnostics

(This is the second -- and probably the final -- post on gnosticism and its presence in today's world, a sequel to my earlier post: Roots of Modern Gnosticism)

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When we examine ancient gnosticism's modern successors, we encounter a change, or a progressive movement that renounces God, or really any belief in a vertical, other-worldly transcendence. Gone, then, is the “hidden God” of the ancient gnostics, replaced by a horizontal belief in a closed historical process manipulated by a revolutionary elite. According to these elitists, these modern gnostics, only they can understand the process as history moves inexorably forward, one step after another. 

For the gnostic, the old world -- that is, traditional society and its institutions -- must be destroyed to make way for the new. Change, then, means destruction. This transformation will take place thanks to the knowledge -- the gnosis -- possessed by the elite who will manage the process. We see shades of this gnostic thought among politicians, intellectuals, academics, revolutionaries, media pundits, and others who desire to transform the world through programs run by experts, by those in the know. In other words, the gnostic, rejecting the God who acts in and redeems the world, believes in self-salvation through human knowledge.

Eric Voegelin, one of the more stable and believable 20th-century philosophers, reminds us of the gnostic's "prohibition of questions." Using Karl Marx as an example, Voegelin describes Marx's unwillingness to answer questions as central to his philosophy. To paraphrase Marx: For socialist man, questions become an impossibility. When socialist man speaks, man must be silent. Indeed, for Marx, questioning his thought "becomes a practical impossibility." 

Interestingly, Rudolf Hőss, the commander of the infamous Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, when asked at trial why he did not question or disobey the horrific extermination orders, replied that such a thought would never even occur to him. "Something like that was just completely impossible...I had to carry it out," he said. Yes, indeed, for all socialists questions become "a practical impossibility." It matters little whether they are communists (international socialists) or Nazis (national socialists) or run-of-the-mill socialists (democratic socialists), since they employ identical tactics -- some just more subtle than others -- when it comes to exerting power over others. Too many people have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that the word, “Nazi,” was shorthand for the full name of the political party founded by Adolph Hitler, the Nationalsozialtische Deutsche Arbeiterpartie, or the National Socialist Workers Party. There is really very little difference between extremists on the left or right. 

[Note: If you have about 22 minutes to watch a homily that addresses the role of Divine Mercy in the conversion of Rudolf Hőss before his execution, watch the video I've embedded below. As my eighth-grade teacher, Sister Francis Jane, often said, "You might be surprised whom you meet in heaven...assuming you get there."]

We see this prohibition of questions, too, in the response of today's leftists to serious questions, a response that inevitably centers on attacking the questioner. The gnostic mob -- regardless of what it calls itself -- silences its questioners with personal attacks, both verbal and physical, and with noise. It screams it’s irrational chants as it tries to destroy the symbols and ultimately the foundation of the existing society.

The gnostic "spirit", however, is largely a revolt against God. Marx, in his doctoral dissertation, provides us with the perfect example of this. Like Prometheus, Marx writes:  

In a word, “I hate all the gods” is its own confession, its own verdict against all the gods heavenly and earthly who do not acknowledge human self-consciousness as the supreme deity. There shall be none beside it.

The Marxist, a true modern gnostic, rebels against the cosmic order created by God and, therefore, rebels against God Himself. But today's gnostic knows that such a revelation might well undermine his legitimacy in a world that still largely accepts a transcendent God who cares for His creation. And so, the gnostic must deceive, knowingly deceive, and perpetuate an ideological shell game. It's a game that cannot  succeed in the long run; but in the short-run some very nasty things can happen, as they have in the past and are happening in the present.

Fascism and communism are both manifestations of the modernist and socialist ideology that rejects God. In a sense they embrace the first sin in Eden — “you, too, shall be like gods” — and like all evils attempt to imitate good but ultimately embrace the culture of death. From the beginning of recorded history to 1900, governments murdered an estimated 133 million of their own citizens. Between 1901 and 1987, governments killed nearly 170 million of their own citizens. Stalin slaughtered 41 million, Mao 35 million, and Hitler 21 million. Another 38,5 million died in state-sponsored wars during the same period. 

If you can make your way through such modern philosophers as Heidegger, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Marx you will encounter the core of modern gnostic thought. Marx was probably the most influential, although Nietzsche was certainly the most readable. Yes, they were all intellectuals, but those who took their ideology into the streets — Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and all the rest — were really just thugs. In fact, once the thugs gained control, the intellectuals and the academics were usually the first to go. During the so-called “Cultural Revolution” in Communist China (1962-1976), Mao first adopted the slogan, “Never Forget Class Struggle.” Under this slogan Mao encouraged the students to rise up against their teachers who were labeled bourgeois intellectuals. The students, who evolved into the infamous and brutal Red Guards, beat and imprisoned their teachers. Mao even attacked the party itself because he believed too many of its functionaries were insufficiently revolutionary. This phase was spurred on by the slogan, “Sweep Away All Monsters and Demons.” Mao later demanded the Red Guards erase all vestiges of the old culture, which led these young thugs to attack virtually everyone. Destruction was universal — churches, temples, shops, libraries, cemeteries, museums, monuments, statues, even pets were destroyed — and countless people were slaughtered. The entire process was orchestrated by Mao as a form of directed anarchy, violence from below but with approval from above.

Under Marxism — and, folks, socialism, even Bernie’s and AOC's so-called “democratic socialism,” is founded on Marxist principles — human beings are seen as socially determined by their historical and material circumstances; they are not defined by their infinite worth before a transcendent God. According to Marx himself, Marxist revolution implies “the replacement of religion by politics as the source of man’s liberation, since evil is a consequence of society...and not of an original sin,” and it ultimately leads to an ennoblement of violence and the extinction of ethics. 

Revolutionary ethics sees its own version of violence as liberating, unlike what it claims is the repressive violence of the established order. Marxism approves of the former as the means to overcome the latter. We will continue to encounter this "liberating" violence so long as those who should know better continue to support and bankroll violent revolutionaries.

Barack Obama called for the "fundamental transformation of America" but to the far left these words simply mean total revolution. And in total revolution violence becomes just fine, a necessary tool to achieve the complete alteration of the society. Ethics, too, at least ethics as we know it, becomes meaningless, since such concepts as justice, freedom, and morality are incompatible with revolution because they represent and legitimize the existing order which must be destroyed. Oh, these words and others like them will be parroted to recruit those who believe society is oppressing them, but to the revolutionary they mean little. 

Because the modern gnostic elites believe they know better than the masses, they really can’t stand the thought of the uninitiated being free to use the gifts God has given them. For the same reason, elitists, whether of the liberal or revolutionary variety, always crave power. For the revolutionary, the only acceptable form of democracy is mob rule, the democracy of violence which for them is the pathway to power. Liberal elites are more subtle and strive to convince the masses to trust them because they know better, all the while working within “the system” to undermine the people’s freedom. Publicly they minimize the violence of the revolutionaries, although they fear it could get out of hand and threaten their personal power. And yet this same fear leads them to continue their quiet support of the revolutionaries.

A recent Rugters University study found that the social media profiles of some anarchists gained hundreds of thousands of followers since May. According to Pamela Paresky, one of the study's co-authors:  

"The systematic, online mobilization of violence was well-planned, coordinated (in real tme), and celebrated by explicitly violent anarchy-socilaist networks that rode on the coattails of peaceful protest...The ability to continue to spread and to eventually bring more violence, including a violent insurgency, relies on the ability to hide in plain sight -- to be confused with legitimate protest, and for the media and the public to minimize the threat."

As I mentioned in a recent post -- Madness Rising -- the similarities with the early years of the Russian Revolution are striking. 

What’s behind it all? For the true believers, it”s driven by their ideology and their quest for power. For the followers, Lenin’s “useful idiots”, I really believe that too many today simply refuse to recognize that which is good, that which is beautiful. Modern education has taught them that the world of man lacks goodness, and the wonders and beauty of God’s creation escapes them. Lacking moral imagination, the concept of sin and disorder in the human soul means nothing to them. How can it, since they reject the very idea of the goodness of creation by a transcendent, loving God who acts in the world? One gets the impression they’re just bored with it all.

There is much evil in the world today, but that’s nothing new. The evil — and that means Satan and all his followers — are unable to fathom the motives of the good. We see evidence of this in the way so many haters simply cannot understand religious values, particularly Christian values. One need olny read the mainstream media's coverage of things Christian, and especially that related to the Catholic CHurch.

We who believe, though, live on in trust and in hope; and hope is knowledge, the firm knowledge that "all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" [Rom 8:28]. God will indeed bring all things to good because the good is far more powerful than any evil and will emerge the victor.