To finish up my series of posts about Burke’s ’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), here are a few other assorted profound and interesting passages from Reflections. In this first passage (p. 14), Burke writes about being true to your proper character: Those who quit their proper character, to assume what does not belong to them, are, for thei greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave, and of the character they assume. In this passage (pp….
More from Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) by Edmund Burke. Before this passage, Burke has been writing about how the French revolutionaries had created an entirely new system for geographical divisions of the country, and he describes all the negative consequences of the new system. In this passage (pp. 266-7), he observes that the revolutionaries are treating France like barbarous conquerors, subduing the people and destroying their institutions: It is impossible not to observe that, in the spirit…
More wisdom from Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (1790). Much of what he writes could be written about the woke upheavals of 2020, from pages 245 to 252: I AM convinced that there are men of considerable parts among the popular leaders in the National Assembly. Some of them display eloquence in their speeches and their writings. This cannot be without powerful and cultivated talents. But eloquence may exist without a proportionable degree of wisdom. When…
More from Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), comparing the beneficial superstitions bequeathed to us by tradition, versus the foolish invented superstitions of pretended philosophers (pp. 230-235): If the injustice of the course pursued in France be clear, the policy of the measure, that is, the public benefit to be expected from it, ought to be at least as evident and at least as important. To a man who acts under the influence of no passion, who…
More wisdom from Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), pp. 205-214 (emphasis added): All this violent cry against the nobility I take to be a mere work of art. To be honored and even privileged by the laws, opinions, and inveterate usages of our country, growing out of the prejudice of ages, has nothing to provoke horror and indignation in any man. Even to be too tenacious of those privileges is not absolutely a crime. The strong…
I’ve been reading Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (1790). It is interesting (and alarming) to see the many parallels to current events. The following passage (pp. 165-168) seems to be describing the intellectual and spiritual forebears of the current agitators of the moment: Along with the monied interest, a new description of men had grown up with whom that interest soon formed a close and marked union — I mean the political men of letters. Men…
In 1600s New England, many Puritan churches had someone called a tithingman. He would hold a long staff and either sit above the congregation in the balcony or walk up and down the aisles. Whenever he spotted someone dozing during a sermon, he would hit the person with his staff to wake the person up. (One end of the staff had a feather for a gentler way to wake the elderly and small children.)1 Once the parishioner was suitably awakened,…
Wokism is an extremist religion. The West has not faced so powerful of an extremist religion movement since the 1600s. One of the maxims inscribed outside the Ancient Greek temple at Delphi was “nothing to excess”. Aristotle expanded on this with his concept of the Golden Mean: Moral virtue is a mean . . . between two vices, the one involving excess, the other deficiency . . . it is such because its character is to aim at what is…
The following comes from my book, The Triple Path (available as a free download in PDF or ebook formats, or for sale in hard copy and ebook formats wherever books are sold–the book lists references for the e sources for this passage). My posts from recent days have been about the new religion of Wokism. I will be posting more in coming days on the subject. This passage from The Triple Path (Virtue 4) is particularly relevant: Beware the zealots,…
Note: This is a re-post of a post originally from September 24, 2017. I am reposting because it is more relevant than ever. I will be posting more on this subject. I’ve said it before: religion is an innate part of human nature. Someone can give up on organized religion, but he can’t give up on being human, so religiosity will still be a part of his character. Those who give up on church just transfer their religiosity to other…