It is a long time since I last wrote on my blog. Perhaps it is a case of writer’s block or any one of those spiritual / psychological conditions that cause us to lose interest in things as our world becomes increasingly uncertain. We are subjected to a barrage of propaganda, essentially dualist in the extreme. I am not the only one to have noticed the same degree of popular discontent and politicians seemingly not caring or even in league with some kind of political and financial elite. I approach the whole situation as a sceptic. Aristotle’s Law of Non-Contradiction can indicate one contrary proposition as being true and the other false, or both being false.
I write this from the cabin of my little boat Novalis, still on her trailer and waiting for high tide to be launched here at La Rochelle. The weather is still unpleasant, but should improve this weekend before a new Atlantic depression next week. Our little flotilla of the Dinghy Cruising Association will certainly shelter in a port on the Ile de Ré when it strikes with heavy wind and rain.
Reading books when we have become used to electronic screens takes self-discipline. I have adopted the way of reading a light novel and a serious book, presently Aldous Huxley’s The Perennial Philosophy. This work seems to stick with Christianity and avoid some of the excesses of René Guénon and others of the early twentieth century. I am reminded of the calm prayerful and academic approach of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin contrasted with the noisy initiatic rituals of some groups named after him. I come up with nothing new given what I have written in the past, and which you can find on this blog.
It takes a lot of effort to avoid getting caught up in the “fear porn” of the media. If someone wants to control us, the most effective way to do it is through fear. A Christian does not fear his own death.
Man that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow.
I retired this year from my translating business. I would have preferred to continue for another year, but I was getting no more work from my client agents. I have noticed the increasing quality of AI translation and that I was making fewer and fewer corrections to produce a “human quality” translation. So, I am now a pensioner. That word rings in association with the idea of having become a “useless” human being, worthy only of death to conserve resources for the young and healthy. Fortunately, most people judge humanity from its respect for its senior citizens and the dead.
I need to write, since it is the only way I can exercise a priestly ministry. The institutional Church I belong to is completely irrelevant in the country in which I live. France, the UK, many other countries are consumed with boredom and nihilism. I wrote about Georges Bernanos some time ago in Georges Bernanos and Boredom. People who get bored are usually of the personality profile that seeks to nourish its ego from the energy of others, rather than seek the Transcendent and Immanent God within. It is what I see with many of the “patriots” who target an alien culture seeking to replace them. What is being replaced ? This is one of the most important questions we have to ask ourselves. If we fail to get to what is most interior and rich in meaning, the rest, the exterior, will become more and more irrelevant. This is the drama of modern Christianity. If we try to “make it relevant”, it’s irrelevance will become more and more boring.
Our western culture seems to succumb to thuggery and organised crime, both from abroad and our own countries. Evil comes from within, as we are manipulated by demons, archons and narcissistic humans. It also comes from within ourselves in the form of aggression, fear – – and boredom.
I hope and pray that each of my readers will work out his own way back to God, truth, beauty, goodness, music, nobility of spirit.
The Blue Flower 
Thank you . I will be
Welcome back, Fr. Anthony. I’ve recently read your book, A Twitch on the Sarum Thread. I found it really positive and constructive – sober and realistic, yet suffused with hope and illuminated by a deep longing and love for the Divine. Thank you for writing it!
I hope your flotilla has gone well! Reading a fascinating Dutch biography of Johan Huizinga recently, and noting his interest at one point in the earlier Middle Ages, I wondered when Charles Homer Haskins’ excellent study, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, had been published. The answer turned out to be 1927 – but in the course of looking it up, I discovered Haskins had also written both The Normans in European History (1915) and Norman Institutions (1918), and that there was a LibriVox audiobook of the earlier of these two, enjoyably read, to my mind. So I am now listening to that – with not infrequent reference to the scan of the book linked as the text being read – the curious combination of a real book, though seen through the medium of an electronic screen, and read to me by a history-loving American MD. And earlier today wondering how you were doing, in Normandy – not having checked here for a few days.
With reference to being a pensioner, I had also just lately been thinking about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables (1851) and its character Uncle Venner, and wondering if I ought to reread it sometime soon. I had a quick look just now, and soon found one of the passages that had come to mind – if vaguely: “in two or three years longer, I shall think of putting aside business and retiring to my farm. That’s yonder,—the great brick house, you know,—the workhouse, most folks call it; but I mean to do my work first, and go there to be idle and enjoy myself.” Rather different from the conversation between Ebenezer Scrooge and the two gentlemen seeking a donation to help “make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time”!
Uncle Venner – and lines from Eliot’s Four Quartets spring to mind, such as “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire / Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless” and ” A condition of complete simplicity / (Costing not less than everything)”.
Thank you for your hope and prayer: may we each and all indeed rejoice to be drawn back to God. (“The eyes of all wait upon Thee” was one word in the sermon I heard this past morning.)
I wish you a tranquil and happy retirement.
Thank you for the kind thought. My work as a translator was not very full-time, to say the least. My income is modest, under the tax threshold, but constant and predictable. I am back home from my week in the islands of France’s Atlantic coast. I hope to have the strength to do more reading and writing during the coming winter.
Btw, I retired a year ago. Although I miss some few aspects of the academic life, it was for me a happy liberation.
It is a joy to see that you have returned to your blog, Father. Know that you have silent comrades praying for you in gratitude for your all your goodness.
What amazing writing. I found you through your post “Rabbit Holes” and absolutely loved it. The variety of perspectives, particularly from books I have not read yet, definitely caught my attention; I added that essay to a short list of ones I wish to return back to. Have you ever done a podcast before? I see you aren’t active on your YouTube Channel anymore… I would love to host you on my channel if you are willilng… See https://www.youtube.com/@maxdepthpodcast/videos
Hope to hear back. I would be honored to host you for a converstion.
Thank you for your kind observations. I seem to have lost the energy to do YouTube videos, mainly because of the effect of mass humanity and collective madness. It is all connected. Perhaps a conversation with you might help to bring back some of the energy. Something I have have found poignant with René Guénon was his discretion and silence other than writing his books. However, he seemed to pass over the dimension of beauty, which is a capital element of western culture. Perennial Traditionalism is an interesting subject – if it does not give up on Christianity and claim that tradition is the “property” of oriental cultures. I am finding Aldous Huxley’s book interesting and fresher than Guénon. Yes, let’s get in touch…
Please reach out to me at Maxak888@icloud.com
Beyond excited.