Piety and Justice



Our modern day Diogenes, Richard Weaver, continues on his quest in the final chapter of his far-reaching diatribe, Ideas Have Consequences, by examining the roles of piety and justice in reversing the decay of civilization.

Like the ancient philosphoser seeking a man of integrity (wholeness), Weaver wonders whether modern man wants to be well.

His conclusion?

It doesnt matter whether man desires health.

Weaver knows that it is his duty as one who can foresee (prophet) to shine the light on the path illuminating the way.



So, dear reader, if you peruse my words no further, be advised that this short volume is indispensable to your health. I cannot make you read it. My summaries might make you feel better temporarily, but like true medicinal aids the prescriptions are lethal and necessary. I can only pray along with Weaver that you will read and catch the imagination of those who look to you for guidance.

Now for a little recap.

After six chapters explaining the miserable state of society (civilization), Weaver proposes a solution which involves 1) a right relationship with property, 2) repaired communication (skills), and 3) a major attitude adjustment. The last of which is the concept addressed in chapter nine.

Weaver jumps right to the point and blames modern man's attidude. He is impious. If you are not offended by this label it only proves that you are a product of modern civilization, killing off everything/one who came before you and unconscious that crimes have been committed. Weaver proposes that we discipline (or exercise self control) the will through respect (venerence) in three areas of life:

1) Nature - Find the middle ground, avoiding total immersion and total abstraction.
2) Neighbors - Accept others as being allowed to live their way. God made my enemies :)
3) History - The past has substance but only insofar as I can reflect on it.

It is disheartening to observe that modern man seems to have lost all sense of obligation, not feeling accountable because he does not recognize that anything is owed (due) these areas. This is where *Justice* seems to have been abandoned. It made me realize why some people dont believe in Hell.

Not one to skim over distasteful part of a discussion, Weaver explains how our impiety toward the distinctiveness of nature, the loss of individuality(personality), and the contempt for the past are powerful forces disintegrating the foundations which undergird our civilization. I liked best his dispelling of the myth of the equality of the sexes, which was a part of his proposal to restore the proper sentiment in nature.

Check out the word theomorphic, especially as it relates to the distinction between the disease of individualism and the tonic of personality. This is admirable as defined by Weaver:

that little private area of selfhood in which the person is at once conscious of
his relationship to the transcendental and the living community.

I'm sure Cindy will address these as well as his other examples. Be sure and read her synopsis.

Finally, Weaver admits that even his chosen field of philosophy doesnt have all the answers and if applied is very likely to blow up any government on which it is founded, pg 182. Carmon has an interesting essay about the presidental race, which will tie in with Weaver's statement that "every figure in modern public life feels called upon to stress the regularity of his background, habits, and his aspirations." Dont be fooled by political rhetoric. If you do anything political, I implore you to pay closer attention to local over national politics.

In the end, I admire Weaver for his dedication to the "fair goal of justice" through the implemenation of old-fashioned piety, although we may need to consult a spin-meister for a more marketable term, if we desire more companions. However, that may not be necessary since as students of history, we know that minorities have exercised control in the past.

Weaver devoted his short life to restoring civilization. That makes him a hero in my eyes. He learned the lesson of endurance and for that I credit him with substance. I hope you will too.

In a way he lives on as a force helping to shape our dream of the world.

The Power of the Word

Words and language, subjects near and dear to my translator heart are the topics covered in Chapter 8 of Ideas Have Consequences. No doubt my poet friend, Cindy, is thrilled with the concepts in this chapter as well. Surely, editor Carmon is wooed by Weaver’s efforts to restore America’s communication skills. Kelly? not sure which area fits her personality best. I’m more concerned that her daughter’s health is greatly improved.

Seriously though, now that we’re safe and hunkered down in our (underground) pieces of private property (that last metaphysical right), Weaver establishes the next offensive line of attack to rescue society from the perils he recognized in his short lifetime. Whether one agrees or not, community depends upon the ability of men to understand (one another). And I am here to lob metaphorical grenades from the trenches in an effort to keep the family together :)

My heart is further warmed by Weaver’s initial mention of the divine element present in language (Yay God!) and his quoting of Scripture (Genesis, John, and, everlasting life.) There was lots of background information on language. I suffered through the detailed explanation of the different theories of language and their various mutilations with dictionary in hand. It will make you feel better to know that I checked the definitions of the following words: teleology, tropes, noumenal, semanticist, atomist, positivist, and Charles Peguy. Have you ever read him? Not me, but maybe I should since this French poet is mentioned in almost every chapter!

Finally, Weaver gets to the heart of the matter.

Words are our reminders of knowledge.

And

language is our great storehouse of universal memory

not imprisoning us, but aiding us to get at the true meaning of things. The common currency provided by words allows man to evoke the ideal or the proper sentiment. He supports these statements by quoting poet Percy Shelley and Wilbur Marshall Urban, a contemporary psychologist and author of Language and Reality.


I loved the examples of the relationship between speech, dress(attire) and manners, pg 160 and the chinks in the armor of French, Bolivian, and Japanese societies. Current professor Walter Williams weighs in on this *pressure to abandon* in this short article. Note how his John Milton quote is similar to Ralph Waldo’s, the chapter’s opening quote.

The corruption of man is followed by the corruption of language.

That’s the point! Weaver is trying to reverse the trend of lowering the level of abstraction behind the meaning of words. Weaver knows that there are absolute meanings which the opposition is trying to muddle or destroy. We live in an age frightened by the very idea of certitude. pg 163 Thankfully since Weaver quotes Scripture, I feel permission to as well in support of the fact that FIRST comes the corruption of man.

Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him.
Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.

Mark 7:15

Futhermore, in light of the fact that the skill with which one uses his language is a solid indicator of success, Weaver rightly declare that dramatic poets would top the scale over scientists when rating *the best teachers*. Remember he's annoyed at the scientists development of the atomic bomb. And so, it should come as no surprise then when Weaver plops the task of rehabilitating the *word* in the lap of educators. That, dear reader, is YOU and the very reason that you are reading Ideas Have Consequences in the first place.

If you want to avoid the vices of sentimentality and brutality, the unfortunate results of our government's educational system, employ the twofold training Weaver proposes (1)literature and rhetoric and (2)logic and dialectic in your academic schooling. Read Cindy. She covers poetry very well. I (grammarian and spelling-n*zi who minored in French and German) will promote the study of foreign languages. Just do it!

Nothing so successfully discourages slovenliness in the use of language as the
practice of translation.

Teachers of the present order have not enough courage to be definers; lawmakers have not enough insight, pg 164. Presidential candidate Ron Paul's defines Freedom in this short article, which is important, but not as important as Justice, Mercy, and Truth. So, be an evangel. Your audience (offspring) is ready and waiting.

It’s all about definitions - order and forms (and proper spelling - tee hee). ALL education is learning to name rightly, ...to discern, ...to have the courage to see truly what you see.... to have a stable vocabulary so we have stable law. Make sure you’re not climbing down the ladder of abstraction (pg 155) but rather up to the WORD which is deliverance.

When Jesus Christ utters a word, he opens his mouth so wide that it embraces all heaven and earth, even though that word be but in a whisper.

- Martin Luther


Addtl reading at the Heritage Foundation lecture on the power of language.

The Last Metaphysical Right

Refreshing is how I would describe Chapter 7 of Richard Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences. After reading pages and pages detailing man's 400 year slide into a chaotic abyss, I was beginning to lose hope that Weaver in fact had a viable solution. I now know why Kelly chose to highlight this chapter in her review of the book last year.

Weaver has not been wandering aimlessly, however, in his search for a place where a successful stand may be made for the logos against modern barbarianism. He has carefully plotted the course of the ship which he navigated safely to the shores of the most free nation in the world. That is, a nation governed by a constitution which allows for small scale private property ownership.

The ordinances of religion, the prerogatives of sex and of vocation, all have been swept away by materialism, but the relationship of man to his own has until the present largely escaped attack.

It was easy for me to grasp the concepts presented in this chapter because not only was I taught them at home from a very early age but also I studied them in college. Weaver's explanation of the superiority of private property ownership in one word *hisness* is assertive and convincing. As mothers, we all see this in our children and their toys at a very early age.

In the *hisness* of property we have dogma and there the discussion ends.

I dont think my children started to keep track of their private property because of my nagging and rules, but more because of this last metaphysical right that is planted in their very beings.

So, it is clear (to me) that private property is a suitable citadel for protecting us from the long arm of the State. Entrenchment is another good word that Weaver uses to describe the position we members of society must take in order to defend ourselves from the literal and symbolic starvation alluded to in the opening quote.

In a Country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation.

Now Trotsky (1879 - 1940) may have opposed Stalinism, but he was still a Marxist. But even he recognized the danger....all the evils that Weaver has catalogued, all flowing from a falsified picture of the world p 129. Providentially in my family, I (we) have been brought to see this quandary and have been driving afresh that wedge between the material and the transcendental.

Practically speaking, we have followed the moral solutions proposed by Weaver by supporting and being involved in small, local business ownership, occupying the homes we own, and enrolling in schools which provide a private liberal arts education (specifically independent of federal or state funds). While we dont have a family farm (at this time), most of us own land, in addition to the lots where we reside.

There is a price here. It costs time and money and backbone. It's tiring. It's satisfying.

Achtung! Dont drop your guard. The modern state does not comprehend how anyone can be guided by something other than itself. In fact, these days the State is jealous of any entity which competes with its position. Expect to be attacked.

Furthermore, many in society today are not healthy and ready for battle. They have tasted the apple of this evil mindset and are complacent. They need a prescription for healthy living. In order to follow the instructions, they will need nourished minds. Intellectual integrity provides clarity for the every.day.hum.drum of practice (or discipline as described by my blogging buddy, Cindy.) Recovery from this illness cannot be hurried.

So, while Weaver explains better the whys of private property than I have in this summary, I am here to tell you that it is possible to take a stand in this critical battle against the cancer of chaos just by reading Ideas Have Consequences and teaching the principles to your own children. Start by making sure they understand the vocabulary he uses.

One last piece of advice...

Make an assessment of your family's dependence on the State.

Then make sure your catacomb is safe and solid.

Citizen of Megalopolis vs Citizen of Zion

Thinking about the effects of the prevalant spoiled-child psychology manifested in our national character can be depressing, unless you're reading along with Cindy at Dominion Family. According to Weaver though, we are fast approaching mass psychosis (and that prediction was fifty years ago!) Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences was an effort to diagnose the ills of the age. He offers a remedy based on the right use of man's reason, acceptance of an absolute reality, and the recognition that ideas, like actions, have consequences.


While this book encapsulates many ideas which are dear to my heart, there are ideas more dear to my heart. Those are the ones found in Scripture. And so, today I call on you to read Mark 4:26-29 with me and contemplate this parable in light of Weaver's citizen of Megalopolis who expects redemption to be easy (instantaneous)
pg 113

Here's Mark 4

26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man
scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets
up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by
itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full
kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to
it, because the harvest has come."

So, while Weaver acknowleges that if all he proposed were couched in spiritual insights, the case would be different, he does not do that. However, I like to think that he would approve of these correlating verses. Jesus's parable from Mark tells us how and where we will find the source of dicipline Weaver mentions in the last sentence of the chapter, pg 128.

I hope you will take the time, read this article commenting on the parable. It is written by a man whose little pamphlet changed my outlook years ago.

It will help you digest the rest of IHC.

I promise...

"for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures,

WE MIGHT HAVE HOPE

Rom 15:4


Citizenship:
Christ uncrowned himself to crown us, and put off his robes to put on our rags, and came down from heaven to keep us out of hell. He fasted forty days that he might feast us to all eternity; he came from heave to earth that he might send us from earth to heaven.

- Dyer, W.

The Spoiled-Child Psychology

Chapter Six of Ideas Have Consequences

"Incriminating" is the adjective that came to mind when I wanted to summarize Weaver’s essay. Or “Guilty as charged” fits the description, too.



As Weaver delineates his impression of man’s *brat* behavior, it is easy to identify with his examples and it would be easier still to turn this synopsis into a parenting guide, like I did here.




But that’s not where Weaver is headed as indicated by the opening quote from Hermann Rauschning (1887-1982).

Wherever the typical mass character becomes universal, all higher values are as
good as lost.

This German conservative and reactionary became an opponent of Naziism and Hitler and fortunately lived to write about it, although his repuation is somewhat scarred. The quote is possibly from his book The Revoloution of Nihilism, published in 1939, and was a warning to the West against the anti-cultural, anti-Christian, philosophy of the National Socialists. It is interesting to note that Herr Rauschning died a farmer in the Portland, OR area.

So, while I find it easy to pick out the individual personality traits and characterisctics described by Weaver in the people I deal with everyday (not just my own children), I believe Weaver wants us to take a few steps back from the pages and look at the entire world from a national (mass) character point of view.

The author begins by surveying the landscape and reminding us of the development of national personality types in: Plato, Aristotle, the Renaissance, the Bourgeois, Thomism, and our current Middle Class. I cant get out of my head the image of the Wizard of Oz as the Stereopticon telling us what to think, where to live, what kind of work, where to worship, what to eat. But if we had a wide enough perspective, we could see these personalities in the various countries of the world. For example, Mao Tse Tung's vision for the Chinese.

Weaver blames urbanization for many of society’s ills because cities encourage man to believe he has superiority over nature, especially with the benefits of modern science. Because a person is separated from nature it makes it easier to forget the presence of something greater than himself. Good point. But being a suburbanite myself and grasping Weaver’s ideas and consequences, I am just a little resentful of that broad generalization. I like to think that I appreciate comfort appropriately and could live without the many which I have.

So, let’s acknowledge from the outset what Mr Weaver admits on p 114,

“If all this had been couched in terms of spiritual insights, the case would be different.”

That means no religious solutions count in his logical argument.

Weaver’s “big question” pg 121 is whether this spoiled-child psychology has made us unfit for the political struggle which now seems to loom before us. He identifies the balance of power between the East and the West, or the bourgeois liberal democracy and Soviet communism, but I’m sure we can easily name the current tensions or polarities, like Hilary Clinton as President! I assure you she has visions of a certain type of national character.


It was a surprise to learn that some of Norman Rockwell's famous drawings were commissioned to illustrate FDR's Four Freedoms Speech.

IMO FDR was the ultimate Stereopticon with his ABC government programs perpetuating the modern man's idea that the world/state/father owes him a living.

I had to laugh when Weaver proposed his whimsical solution of having the opposing philosophers duke out the world's problems with the winner’s solutions being adopted by the losers.

Can you imagine?

I do agree that discipline, hard work, and distancing one from the Father/State are key to maintaining the desired culture. Read Cindy on discipline.

So, despite the fact that Cindy refuses (wisely) to use logic when *arguing* with her sons, in this case, we are called to don our intellectual caps and employ the powers of deductive reasoning in order to apply Weaver‘s knowledge to our humdrum existences. Perhaps tomorrow I will post a few stories of how the spoiled-child psychology rears it's ugly head in a small town family practice where my DH works long hours to serve man and his family.

Suffice it for the moment, however, that if you read nothing else today, read chapter six of Ideas Have Consequences. The more people who understand this warped mentality and can thwart it, the better chance we have of correcting our nation’s mass character and restoring its intrinsic value.

Better yet....buy one and give it as a gift.

But remember, because the recipient is a spoiled brat, you will probably have to read it for him/her, tell him/her what it says, AND then explain what that means!

Just dont get bitter about it, as Carmon says.

The Great Stereopticon

Subliminal is the one word I would use to describe chapter five of Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver. Here's the dictionary definition:

existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness; being or employing
stimuli insufficiently intense to produce a discrete sensation but often being
or designed to be intense enough to influence the mental processes or the
behavior of the individual

Weaver's greatest concern is not just the subliminal messages that come through the newspapers, radio, television, movies, and now world wide web and bombard our consciences, but he draws attention to the filtering agent or the Great Steriopticon, which he believes exercises more control than we realize over our thoughts and actions.

No
argument
here
from
me.





Weaver words communicate no lost love for journalists, public relations officers, or press agents, and movie producers. Today we all know them as spin meisters. Weaver addresses the art of writing, the skilled use of propaganda, and the unique opportunities available in the transmission of the human voice. He gives us valid examples in Plato, Thomas Jefferson, the Russians, the US Navy, and advertising (laxatives!).

However, Weaver is not just concerned about these disseminators, but more so about the harm created on the Western mind by the filtering agent. And he looks for the fundamental source:

The operators of the Steropticon by their very selection of matter make
horrifying assumptions about reality.

He believes they are overly influenced by a sick metaphysical dream. Weaver laments:

Somewhere, moreover, the metaphysicians of publicity have absorbed the idea
that the goal of life is happiness through comfort. It is a state of
complacency supposed to ensue when the physical appetities have been well
satisfied. Advertising fosters the concept, social democracy approves it,
and the acceptance is so wide that it is virtually impossible today, except
from the religious rostrum, to teach that life means discipline and
sacrifice

Thank goodness for that religious rostrum! It is our saving grace. And
our privilege to educate our own with the proper perspective to filter all this
information.

So, while Weaver acknowledges that some of us realize that we have been misled, he wonders if we (common men) have sufficient analytical powers to assess information. He sees a small ray of hope in serious writing (Saint Exupery and Hemmingway) because they have exhibited a more genuine contempt for materialistic explanations (to life). He mentions Yeats again in the chapter (Cindy likes Yeats.)

I wonder what he would think of the new movies Bella or Beowolf.

In the end, Weaver seems to toot his own horn (that of the philisopher). These blasts of information (knowledge) from all these different sources is too fragmented and discourages composition, which in turn prevents the simultaneous perception of successive events, which is the achievement of the philosopher. (pg 111)

Again, I just cant argue with his assessment.

Thus, absence of reflection keeps the individual from being aware of his former selves, and it is highly qustionable whether anyone can be a member of a metaphysical community who does not preserve such memory.

But we know there is hope because we (some) are members of a metaphysical community and we remember.

Another quote:

The man of culture finds the whole past relevant; the bourgeois and the barbarian find relevant only what has some pressing connection with their appetites. Those who remember alone have a sense of relatedness, but who has a sense of relatedness is in at least the first grade of philosophy.

Well, ladies. I guess that makes us philosphers. And I dont mind being in the first grade because all I need to know I learned in kingergarten.


So, now in the style of Edith Schaeffer, let us prepare our homes and our relations for a great tradition - gathering together and giving thanks. Here's an opportunity to remember who made you and for what purpose.

That filter will shine the proper light on the images in your path.


Oh! Here's Kelly's (Badgermum's)

cup of tea








awaiting her arrival so we can finish our discussions.

The Great Stereopticon

Source-n*zi that I am, I couldn’t really get very far in my comprehension while reading Chapter Five of Ideas Have Consequences until I had investigated the title and the quote. Believe me, I tried to skip that step. So, now I share with you the answers to my queries and save you some time.


Without looking it up, I thought *The Great Stereopticon* was a word made up by Richard Weaver along the lines of Tolkien or Lewis.

But I came to find out three things: that a stereopticon is a real word (a 19th century invention), that I’d seen one recently (think Frandsen‘s magic lantern show in Sweet Land), and that my family owns one (photo illustration)!!


In addition, the entire chapter made more sense , when I realized that we all have stereo vision. Each eye sees a slightly different image that then blends to create what we see. Things are becoming more clear now, huh?

Mr. Weaver states that the “vested interests of the age... have constucted a wonderful machine whose function is to project selected (emphasis mine) pictures of life in the hope that what is seen will be imitated. There are three parts to the machine which he calls the "Great Stereopticon” (think the Wizard from the Wizard of Oz). The components are 1) the press or newspapers 2) motion pictures and 3) radio.

Granted we 21st-century- types might not think much of radio, but in 1948, when Weaver was writing radio was enjoying a tremendous impact. I dont know what you think of talk radio today, but there’s a connection. However, to get a better sense of this, I asked both of my parents, who grew up in the Forties, to tell me about radio in their families. My father remembered listening mainly in the car, whereas my mother remember sitting around a large, table-top radio listening to programs like Let’s Pretend.


Now for the distasteful part of my research - the quote which is an obvious slam at the first part of the Great Stereopticon’s image-creating monster.

“Sick are they always; they vomit their bile and call it a newspaper.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th century philosopher and mental case, wrote a book Thus Spake Zathustra: A Book for All and None. It contains long passages of poetry and song, mocking Judeo-Christian morality and tradition. The most famous line from this book is “God is dead.” I read Nietzsche in college and didnt like him or his Ubermensch then or now. His Zathustra is a reference to an ancient Iranian prophet and religious poet, also regarded as a prophet in Islam.

Hmmmmm...

My final research covered “primordial synthesis.” What the heck is that? Those are the fifth and sixth words in the opening sentence of the chapter. Did you know what that is? I didnt. Most of the google searches involved physics and formulas. Thinking that didnt quite fit, I searched my Britannica (2003) and found an answer: it’s related to the study of religions.

From Britannica I gathered that the history of religions on a cross-cultural basis, though it has quite an ancient pedigree, came into its own in a modern sense from about the time of Max Müller (late 19th cent). During this period, various lectureships and chairs in the subject were instituted, being located in The Netherlands, Western Europe, Britain, and the US (Harvard and Chicago).

Bingo!

There’s our link.

Our author was a professor at the University of Chicago and this academic area of study, the Science of Religion, enjoyed popularity under Joachim Wach (died 1955), who studied how religious values tended to shape the institutions that expressed them but whose time obviously was over by 1948, when Mr Weaver talks about the disappearance of primordial synthesis (or the blending of these basic assumptions across cultural lines.)

Well, there you have the background needed to finish reading and understanding chapter five of Ideas Have Consequences.

Surely there were some things you didnt recognize right away.

Come on...tell me.

Egotism in Work and Art

Stripping away all protective layers Richard Weaver exposes man for what he really is in chapter four of Ideas Have Consequences. Then he proceeds to detail how this inner self manifests itself in our daily lives through work (labor) and play (art).

Without delving into modern psychology, Weaver is addressing our ability to self-assess by identifying the ego (id and superego, too) and how man knows himself (epistomology.) Taking us back to the Renaissance, Weaver points to a split in the theory of knowledge, throws in a reference to forbidden knowledge, and then throws up his hands by saying

Nothing can be done until we have decided whether we are pimarily interested in
truth.

I concur with Weaver’s lament that man’s egotism has prevented him from realizing that he is an obligated creature. Once that concept is apprehended, work and play take on different meanings. Because most do not understand this concept, Weaver spends pages explaining how man has fallen from the ideal and created a big mess.

At this point, I highlight only one example from each category of work and play, not really ignoring Weaver’s references to the middle class mentality, labor unions and the institutionalized workforce or the artistic community of writers, musicians, and painters, but trying to cut to the chase.

In labor egotism rears its ugly head in the work of the homemaker. While Weaver does not specifically address this arena, I propose that his principles of interpretation apply because of the obvious general lack of appreciation for this valuable commodity within the current work force and market place. The fact that most men expect their wives to work outside the home is all the example needed to support my claim. It is a full time job to take care of the nuclear and extended family. Women understand this naturally, but suppress it (in rebellion). These jobs are work (labor) and have value (monetary). If men and women truly understood the “ideal of the task” in the work of the family (the basic unit of society), our culture wouldnt be in the state of decline that we are experiencing. I'll bet my blogging buddy, Cindy agrees with me on this point.

Allow me to propose a few questions at this juncture:

Who heads up the corporation called the family and who executes the plan? How do we propose to keep our large families unified in the future? Have you ever considered how you will gather (and finance) your family in ten years when all your children have spouses and children? Here's a taste of how my parents keep us together and are influencing the culture. I'd love to tell y'all more about it.

Next Weaver explains how egotism rears its ugly head in art. Let’s just focus on the modern.

In Impressionism which is the revolutionary event of modern painting the
movement has a variety of causes. Clive Bell is inclined to see it simply as a rediscovery of paganism. This meant the acceptance of life as good and
satisfying in itself, with a consequent resolution to revel in the here and
now.

This assessment is undeniable in Auguste Renoir’s masterpiece, the Luncheon of the Boating Party (whose theme is La Vie Moderne). I wrote about this here when I read Susan Vreeland's book by the same title. Furthermore, I have recently viewed a fabulous exhibit of paintings where the theme is the reliance of the Impressionists on the Old Masters. As the Impressionistic works were juxtaposed with examples of the inspirational masterpieces, all of Weavers statements are visible as one regards these paintings and reads the curators program notes.

I find Weaver’s surveys enormously helpful in setting the stage and giving me a proper perspective for whatever form of work (homemaking) or play (reading/writing) I undertake.

In conclusion, how should we view this information?

Go back and make a vocabulary list from chapter four and incorporate it into your family's daily life. There will be consequences. I propose that they will be good.

It will help to clean up the mess.


Update: Don't forget to read Kelly's insights. And I'm looking for Carmon's next entry, too.

Source Material

Ignoring the quote at the beginning of each chapter of Ideas Have Consequences is a mistake. Hence, today I take some time to write about the author of the one which frames chapter four, Egotism in Work and Art.

All persons chronically diseased are egotists.

There’s more to the quote and I challenge you to re-read it. I did several times and could not recall it from my limited Hawthorne exposure in The Scarlet Letter or The House of Seven Gables.

However, just those six words alone are pregnant with meaning and I'm sure I can tie them into Cindy's recent posts about parenting and discipline. But back to my framing of chapter four.

The first sentence grabbed me on several levels, not the least of which was my connection to the medical field. But that’s not where Weaver or Hawthorne were going with the thoughts. These few phrases are clipped from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, "Egotism or The Bosom Serpent" published in 1843 and nowadays readily available in a book of his short stories. Perhaps I should read it in my preparations for synopsizing and applying chapter four.

A little background on Hawthorne (1806 - 1864) from my college professor, Dr Russell Kirk, who names Hawthorne as one of his ten "most exemplary conservatives." It is significant that “on the eve of the Civil War, the two most interesting conservative thinkers (Nathaniel Hawthorne and Orestes Brownson) were men of letters (note connection to IHC chpt 3), rather than politicians. Unfortunately, they could not prevail against Abolitionists and Fire-eaters."

Furthermore, Kirk recommends reading Hawthorne as necessary in the development of the moral imagination (an Edmund Burke phrase mentioned in IHC’s chapter one - remember?). Kirk divides the reading of Great Books into four categories, which levels address the formation of the normative conscious. Hawthorne falls in the narrative history category.

Today Carmon is highlighting a noteworthy film because of its virtuous message, and I indeed hope to see Bella. In addition, however, I’m adding some Nathaniel Hawthorne to my reading list, so that when I run across him in the future I will recognize him and his influence.

I leave you with another Kirk quote:

Great books do influence societies for the better, and bad books do drag down
the general level of personal and social conduct.

Parenting Pet Peeves


Cindy in her jolly, winsome way entreated us to join her in listing the things that really bother us about the parenting skills/methods of others.

Now I hestitated to comment on her post, but somehow Cindy has power over me and I did.




I agreed with her on everything :)

Actually, I didnt stick my neck out as far as I should/could because I thought *Surely you will offend people. And remember, Dana, there IS (read “IS” as defined by Mr. Clinton) more than one way to skin a cat. ha ha!*

But here I am, fragmenting myself from the group and obsessing over my own vocational skills, being the egotist that I am, and posting my comments on my own site. After all, negativity garners attention. It sells. Cindy says so! Think the Simpsons will get me some comments?

At any rate, here’s my list based on some vocabulary in Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences, which a few of us area reading together.

IDEAS - It really bugs me that most parent have no idea where they are going and what they are doing. Having no (or low) expectations of themselves, they cant possibly project positive expectations of their offspring.

CONSEQUENCES - Parents conveniently overlook the consequences of the actions of their children creating a never-ending ripple effect of (perhaps more serious) consequences for a single easily corrected action/idea.

SENTIMENT - Most parents today lack the correct sentiment. I’ll extrapolate Weaver’s cold logic and let you know exactly what I mean: many parents dont see themselves the way God sees them.

DISTINCTION - Distinction, differences, discrimination are all healthy skills that parents should teach their children. These all are easily identified within the family unit and can be modeled simply in every day life. Higher educational degrees are not required. It is common sense, as Cindy decries. I claim that we do our children a disservice when we dont make things perfectly clear.

HIERARCHY - Stopping short of addressing parents as His Highness and Her Highness, I believe in delineating the roles of male/female, mother/father, parent/child, teacher/student, et cetera with a clear authority structure. Whether parents like it or not, this is the way the world functions because God set it up that way.

FRAGMENTATION - Here I see a lack of emphasis on the family as a single unit taking precedence over the fragments (individual children). There are some (many) things which we do together as a family because we are a family. That means that not everyone gets to do what s/he wants all the time. And furthermore, there may be lots of things we choose not to do because it fragments the family. Like not worshipping together at the same church (or even divided services) or like the preppy trend to enroll a child in the school which suits him/her best, even if that means the mother is driving to several schools.


OBSESSION - Here the idea follows that the parent is so over involved in the details and micromanagement of a child’s life that s/he cannot see the bigger picture and make wise decisions. It’s just crazy. Quit racing forward, acting as if you are progressing. Take two or three steps backwards and assess the situation from a wider perspective that doesnt just focus on the needs of one child. Balance is Cindy’s word and moderation is Carmon’s, if I remember correctly.

EGOTISM - Oh.my.goodness. Aren’t we all so stuck on ourselves that we can’t see clearly. It’s even worse when we can’t see our children clearly, and therefore, can‘t be exemplary models. EGO, ID, whatever you want to call it, it’s just plain distasteful, especially in mothers who stroke this inner monster and stunt growth.

WORK - This word makes me think of mothers who do everything, unable to enforce her own rules and afraid to delegate tasks. She works hard, seven days a week, but for some reason this ethic is not transferable (or transferring) to her children. So much more could be said here, but I’ll leave you with a favorite phrase of mine: God said “Six days shall you labor and do all your work.” And that command is addressed to all His creatures.

ART - Aesthetics doesnt have to be high brow. Here I will simply refer my readers to one of my favorite books - The Hidden ART of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. She addresses the ways in which we overlook this area in every day living and makes valid suggestions for incorporating drawing, writing, and music into family life.


Let me know if you're looking for more specific information. I have more examples than you want to hear or than I should tell.

Fragmentation and Obsession

Here's where the synopsis of this chapter belongs.

Hierarchy and Distinction

Chapter Two of Richard's Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences is just too chock full of references unfamiliar to me to ignore. So, today I will reveal some of my ignorances and tell you what I have been researching.

First, my query at the end of my first post about Richard Hertz.

Mr. Hertz is the author of a book, Man on a Rock: Why the World is the Way It is - Resentment. It was published in 1946, by the UNC Press, Chapel Hill, NC and readily available for purchase (used copies) at A Libris. The author contends that universal resentment was the cause of the mid 20th century's barbarism and that the responsiblity for it was shared by the whole of Western Civilization. Remember our Weaver was North Carolina born.


Second, I was intrigued by the word *hierarchy* and read about Maslow's Hierarchy of Design. I have contended in comments section of our book club discussion that Weaver is reacting to scientific rationalism, so it was interesting to me (born after 1948) to find this image:















Today (11/23/07) I include a link to an Jay Adam's essay about being *overly critical* I was tickled to note his reference to Maslow's pyramid.

Third, the phrase *ladder to high design* was not one I used routinely, but I understand the meaning in the context of the chapter. Nevertheless, Weaver uses it so freely, I'm thinking where did he get that?

It is a quote of Ulysses' from Triolus and Cressida, in which the Hero explains the mishaps of the Greeks before Troy as resulting from their neglect of "order" in plan and attack.

O' when degree is shak'd
Which is the ladder of all high designs,
The enterprise is sick. How could communities,

There is more the that last sentence, but isnt that cool? There's our reference.

I've never read that story. Have you?

Last but not least (and not really the last one I investigated, but the last one I'll write about) is *The Thomas Jefferson Education*. Funny how this guy who penned the *all men are created equal* spent so much time and energy denying it in his educational methodology.

Do you own or have you read Oliver Van Demille's 2006 book?

Well, Cindy? Are we moving ahead to reviewing Chapter Three: Fragmentation and Obsession?

Set the date.

I'll be ready.

Ideas Have Consequences

Chapter Two: Distinction and Hierarchy

Offensive is the adjective I would use to describe Weaver’s message in this second chapter of his famous book, Ideas Have Consequences. By that I mean that many of the concepts he describes are repugnant to the average American, especially women, which explains the reason that this book no longer enjoys the popularity it once did. For example, its Amazon.com sales rank is #233,595.

"Uniformity and without distinction"

seems like a fitting title
to this picture of an
outdoor sculpture
found in Kansas City.







The phrase is taken from the Athanasius quote which opens the essay. The full quote can be found in Chapter One ("The Creation and the Fall") of The Incarnation of the Word of God.

Not only did the author deconstruct the idea that all men are created equal, but also he debunks the notion that the French Revolution (liberty, equality, fraternity) was a good thing. He actually discusses the positive aspects of “superior” and “inferior” roles in society. Do you read anyone else who does that?

Furthermore, Weaver points to the writings of America’s Founding Fathers to substantiate their reservations about democratic rule, placing his point of view squarely in opposition to just about every public school teacher today because most believe the United States is a democracy instead of a republic.

Now we are at the point of discovering the purpose for reading IHC. It’s education! And exercising one’s privilege to avoid (or refute) that misinformed public school teacher mentioned in the previous paragraph. Mr. Weaver states on pg 49,

It has been said countless times in this country that democracy cannot exist without education. The truth concealed in this observation is that only education can be depended on to bring men to see the hierarchy of values.

We are all in this boat called education. Some see it more realistically than others. Either way it is crucial. While there are many aspects to education, the best results are achieved with consistency in the application of the blueprints in all areas of construction (of the boat called *education*). This author is throwing you a life preserver.

Read this chapter again and again.

It is the best thing you can do today to help your child (student) tomorrow.



PS
There is an alternate definition of my summarizing adjective, “offensive,” and in tomorrow’s post I will try and list some applications of Weaver’s essays as they might manifest themselves in my family life where we live on the offensive, as opposed to the defensive.

PPS Did you figure out who Richard Hertz is?

Ideas Have Consequences

Chapter One : The Unsentimental Sentiment

Quoting Scottish essayist, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) at the outset, Mr. Weaver frames the ensuing essay with these words:

“the thing a man believes determines the rest.”

I distilled the 66-word quote from the book into the above eight-word one and not only does the title to the book become obvious, but also the treasure of chapter one. If you use this phrase as a filter when reading the wealth of information presented in this 15-page chapter, there will be less confusion.


Weaver launches immediately into a deductive-reasoning style of writing using “words as hard as canonballs” in order to prove his point. First, he defines sentiment, then unsentimental, discussing the pros and cons of both only to declare that the correct approach to all of life is espousing this catch-phrase “the unsentimental sentiment.”

Rational faculty will be in the service of a vision which can preserve sentiment from sentimentality. Pg 20

While Weaver never uses the term “presuppositional thinking,” it appears to me that that is what he is describing when he talks about the metaphysical dream binding man to the spiritual community. Neither does he use the currently popular word “worldview” but he plainly recognizes its value when he tells us that of paramount importance is “one’s attitude toward the world.”

Common answers to the “big” questions of life (religious or metaphysical) have the power to integrate and makes ones sentiments toward the world rational. Pg 22 This is called refinement, when our sentiments pass from feelings to illumined concepts (of what one ought to feel) and man is relieved to become “self-controlled” through this wisdom.

Weaver continues debating the pros and cons of his arguement by comparing and contrasting of the self-controlled man (man of correct sentiments last seen in the 18th century) with the barbarian or Philistine (exemplified in the American frontiersman). Finally, he laments that

“Today over the entire world there are dangerous signs that culture, as such, is marked for attack because its formal requirements stand in the way of expression of the natural man.” Pg 25

At so many things/objects am I (who is “cultural” in Weaver’s sense only by the grace of God) speechless and embarassed when forms and conventions are torn aside, trampled, and mocked by the emancipated libertines. Weaver explains to me with a quote from Burke (pg 27) why the French Revolution and its results are so indicting and incriminatory of our moderns.

Here is the crux of the matter and why I perceive that Cindy is so up in arms about the state of the world and desperate to rear/educate her children with the correct sentiment.

Weaver states:

No education is worthy of the name which fails to make the point that the world is best understood from a certain distance or that the most elementary understanding requires a degree of abstraction. “ pg 27

Only one who understands Burke’s comment on the French Revolution and Weaver's worldview can teach history properly. (You go, Cindy!) Never mind the fact that it is our privilege and duty before God to do so.

Faithful to his logical approach in an effort to persuade others, Weaver does not blatantly mention God, but that is what is meant by “understood from a distance” or “requiring a degree of abstraction”. These are phrases which signify a worldview or a lens or presuppositions which we (Christians) know must be applied consistently to the teaching of our offspring in order to achieve the most profitable results.

Weaver winds down his pummeling by giving four examples of the ravages of the barbarians (those seeking immediacy, i.e. the “real thing”) on our current society (1948):

1) the failure of the modern mind to recognize obscenity;
2) the deterioration of human relationships;
3) the decline of the belief in the hero;
4) and the growth of commericalism.

These obviously hold true for today, 2007.

By the way, I cant help but draw attention to Weaver's implicit plug for the teaching of vocabulary, derivations, and ancient theater when he intends the original sense of the word *obscenity* to make his point. As Magsitramater would say, "I get the reference."

In conclusion, Weaver pleads with us to reclaim the dream or vision that will save us from the sins/consequences of sentimentality and brutality.

He proposes “restraint imposed by idea.”

Ideas Have Consequences

The Introduction

Broadly painted brushstrokes paint the introductory canvas to Richard Weaver's masterpiece, Ideas Have Consequences, as the author/artist jumps feet first into the cold water of post war society. He readily states that he wants to talk about the decline of the West and propose a solution.


Sounds depressing as looks this 1966 Renee Radell painting, The Tide.

Weaver rapidly covers the philosophical landscapes of six centuries by describing nominalism (14th), then the new doctrine of nature (science vs unintelligibility); then rationalism (deism and materialism); Darwinism; pyschological behaviorism; and finally the abysmality of the 20th century. To wit, he lists the various the methods of education where logic was grammaticized (from vere loqui to recte loqui); definitions (denotations) were assaulted; and the Renaissance pattern was developed, adapting the course of study to produce a successful man. With amazing insight Weaver covers the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century educational disciplines and cites the dominant type of leader from each of these epochs as proofs of the changes.

Declaring that there is a split in the 20th century camps, Mr Weaver labels one sentimental humanitarians and the other remorseless theorists.

"Nothing is more disturbing to modern men of the West than the logical clarity with which the Communists face all problems."

Yet Mr Weaver feels that it is extremely difficult to get people in any number to admit that our society is decadent.

Yet my blogging buddy Cindy is ready to tackle the world's problems and that's why we're all reading IHC.

Modern man has fallen prey to hysterical optimism, becoming insensible and apathetic. Stuck in that position until ready to distinguish between good and evil again, society will continue to spiral downward.

Nevertheless Richard Weaver plods along


laying the groundwork for his argument,

indicting society, making comments,

asking questions, and demanding answers.






He's searching for intellectual integrity.


Name his companion with the lantern.

Ideas Have Consequences

By the time I was 17 yrs old I had a solid grip on what I believed about the world/people/things because my parents had done a good job. I understood even then that I was *philosophically-driven*, but I wasnt good at explaining to others why I believed what I did. Somehow the explanation *that's what my father says* didnt seem like the proper way to defend my positions. Pursuing a college degree filled in those gaps for me.



At Hillsdale College I was exposed to leaders/thinkers/writers who explained the reasons behind what my parents had taught me to be true and right. I read their books, listened to their lectures, and conversed personally with movers and shakers of Conservatism. That was my first introduction to Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences and a host of other authors and their books. Weaver had had an enormous influence on the post-war Intellectual Right and Hillsdale was a bastion of those young conservative intellectuals who were trying to champion freedom and tradition.



The edition of IHC in my library was printed in 1971, and published by The University of Chicago Press. I probably bought it at Hillsdale College (bookstore), where I attended from 1975 to 1978, graduating with a BA in History with French and German minors.

This morning I've re-read the Forward which Mr Weaver wrote over a decade after the initial publication in 1948. He does not feel compelled to make revisions, which I think is a good sign. I find it interesting that Mr Weaver was an English professor since the book is classified as *philosophy.* He does not feel that it is such.

It is an intuition of a situation.

He intended to challenge the forces which threaten civilization.

Sounds revolutionary, huh?

For those of you who are following our internet discussion, I post the Table of Contents. And because it's something I pay attention to.

Introduction (never, ever skip reading the introduction, forward, preface, or such)
I. The Unsentimental Sentiment
II. Distinction and Hierarchy
III. Fragmentation and Obession
IV. Egotism in Work and Art
V. The Great Steropticon
VI. The Spoiled-Child Psychology
VII. The Last Metaphysical Right
VIII.The Power of the Word
IX. Piety and Justice
Acknowledgments

How do you know about Ideas Have Consequences?

Richard Weaver













1910-1963

This is what Kirk says about Weaver whom he knew well.

According to Ambrose of Milan, it has not pleased God that man should be saved through logic. Richard Weaver would have assented to this, knowing as he did the nature of the average sensual man and the limits of pure rationality. Yet with a high logical power, Weaver undertook an intellectual defense of culture and did what he might to rescue order, justice, and freedom from the perverters of language



Among philosophers, Plato was Weaver's mentor; and among statesmen Lincoln. (Although a declared Southerner, in politics Weaver was a conservative Republican.)



Some of his closer Chicago friends - their number was not legion - might not see him during the course of an entire year. He never travelled; he endured stoically the ferocious Chicago winters, often wearing two overcoats, one over the other. Once a year he attended a church, and then a high Episcopalian service; the solemnity and mystery of the ritual, strongly though he was attracted by them, overwhelmed his soul: such a feast would last for months. The frugality woven into his character extended even to his very private religion.

pg 39-40
The Essential Russell Kirk

Addendum on 10/24/07

I emailed Mrs. Kirk to inquire about the details of Mr. Weaver's death at such a young age. She referred me to one of ISI's (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) managing directors. Mr. Vella's email indicated that while no official autopsy had been performed, Weaver's sister (whose husband was Weaver's literary executor) believes he died of a cerebral hemmorhage.