Sound of Breaking
The world is breaking, the world is a sound of breaking
Many-harmonied, diverse, profound,
A shattering beauty.
—Conrad Aiken, “Sound of
Breaking”
Lost
Thank God Lost is over. Now maybe the office watercooler chitchat can move on to a show I actually enjoy.
But I doubt it.
Crisis of Faith
Even when I don't necessarily agree with him, Walter Russell Mead is always worth reading—thought-provoking, well-written, and honest. I especially call to your attention today's article on his blog, entitled “It's a Crisis of Faith, Not a Crisis of Stocks.” In particular:
Over time, Liberalism beat Marxism as the failures of Marxism became blindingly evident. By 1990 the Soviet Union was crumbling and it appeared that the ideas of the liberal enlightenment had all the answers humanity needs.…
For the last generation, we have been acting on the assumption that the great problems have been solved, the great questions answered, and that all that remains is the application of our correct general principles to particular cases. In other words, we have assumed that we are living in an Age of Technique.
I think that is wrong. I think even the experts don't have the solutions to many of our problems. The twenty-first century is a time of uncertainty, risk, revolution and explosion and unfortunately we are heading into it with some assumptions that look less and less likely.…
Liberal democratic capitalism is not a strategy for making God unnecessary by creating a stable and predictable world. Liberal democratic capitalism is a revolutionary force that brings us face to face with the haunting uncertainties and big questions that since the dawn of time have driven people to God in search of answers.
I think I might memorize that last paragraph.
Searching for Structure
I am currently searching for a blog engine or CMS that meets my standards and needs. When I find it, I will install it here. Until then, I'll just update this page with Emacs.