The Story of Me! - (Inferno Meditation 3)

Each one of us continually creates a story or movie in our head, "The Story of Me". Everything we experience goes into this story and builds into a grand narrative that begins with our birth in the mythic past before we can remember, and continues to grow each day. To add to our story, we categorize and collect supporting characters and props for our epic tale: the quirky neighbor, the crazy best friend, the pets, the gadgets, the hobbies and interests, all the little things that show us to be a unique and special person destined for great success, or at least a great tragedy if things don't go as planned.

However, despite the fact that there are approximately 6 billion such stories going on throughout the world today, there is not as much diversity among them as one may expect. For example, we all imagine ourselves as the main character in our own story. It never occurs to us that we may really be a small bit actor on the stage. Maybe we're the crazy best friend or the weird neighbor and the real hero is someone else entirely. Christian theology gives a name to this universal feeling that we are at the center of the story; it is called Pride and invariably tops the list of the seven deadly sins.

This being the case, it shouldn't surprise us that the people in Hell are eaten up with Pride. They all continue to view the story of the world as their story, and assume that everything revolves around them. When Dante encounters the shade of Francesca in the circle of the Lustful, she says to him:

“O living creature, gracious and so kind,
Coming through this black air to visit us,
Us, who in death the globe incarnadined,”
Inferno, Canto V, lines 88-90

Her assumption is that Dante has come to Hell specifically to visit her and hear her story. Again in the circle of the heretics, he encounters Cavalcante who hails him and exclaims:

“...‘If thy grand art has made thee free
To walk at large in this blind prison of pain,
Where is my son? why comes he not with thee?’”
Inferno, Canto X, lines 58-60

Cavalcante belives that Dante's art, poetry, has won some contest and the prize is a trip to Hell. Immediately, Cavalcante is incensed that his son Guido is not with Dante. "After all," he thinks, "isn't my son at least as good a poet as you? Why isn't he here to visit his old man?"

Finally we see Pope Nicholas III in the circle of Fraud who declares:

“‘…Why then, what doest thou ask of me?

Art so concerned to know my name, thou’st leapt
These barriers just for that? Then truly know
That the Great Mantle once my shoulders wrapped.’”
Inferno, Canto XIX, lines 66-69

Once again, he believes that they have come a long way just to jump the barriers and talk to him.

Each and every sinner in Hell is morbidly self-absorbed and can't turn their thoughts from those who have wronged them and those whom they blame for their situations. This self-absorption is the epitome of all sins, because it breaks both of the Great Commandments; it puts self before God, and it puts self before others.

The Biblical antidote for such Pride is true Humility, which, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, "is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." The solution to the self-absorption of Pride is to surrender your position as the hero in your own story. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3). When we learn to joyfully accept the part of supporting character and to consider and treat others as the protagonists of the story, when we become more ready to listen to the story of others than to tell our own, when we would rather serve than be served, only then will we truly reflect the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5), something the people of Dante's Hell are incapable of doing.

Do Something! - (Inferno Meditation 2)

“And he replied: ‘The dismal company
Of wretched spirits thus find their guerdon due
Whose lives knew neither praise nor infamy;

They’re mingled with that caitiff angle-crew
Who against God rebelled not, nor to Him
Were faithful, but to self alone were true;

Heaven cast them forth – their presence there would dim
The light; deep Hell rejects so base a herd,
Lest sin should boast itself because of them.”
Inferno, Canto III, lines 34-42

Life is not a video game. If you make a decision and don't like the direction things are going, you cannot go back to your last save point and try the alternate decision. Real decisions in real life have real consequences. However, in our culture today, the very fact that we have only one life and can't experience everything the world has to offer is unthinkable to many, and so we avoid making decisions that may in any way diminish our options. We want the benefits of marriage with none of the responsibility or commitment, which is why the number of cohabiting, unmarried couples increased by 88% between 1990 and 2007 according to the US Census Bureau. Many women want to invest their lives in rewarding professional careers, but also want the benefit of children, which is why more than a third of first time moms in the US today are over 30 years old according to NCH statistics.

This trend is also seen in the rapidity with which people today adopt a host of new causes, hobbies, diets, trends, and religions. We're all afraid that we may be missing out on something in life. In the Christian realm, this often leads to well-meaning and earnest people jumping from denomination to denomination lest they should miss some vital part of Christian experience tucked away in some other place. I've seen a family jump from Pentecostal to Baptist to Presbyterian to Roman Catholic, experiencing all the flavors so to speak. This had little to do with conviction and more to do with the desire not to miss out on anything.

In The Inferno, all of these traits are characteristics of what Dante calls "the futile". The futile exist in the Vestibule of Hell, cut off from Heaven and Hell proper by the fact that they never made a firm decision in life. They simply flip-flopped back and forth for their entire lives without ever settling on anything. Here is Dante's description of the futile. Remember that Dante's depictions of punishment in hell are really allegorical depictions of the state of the soul in this life.

"So I beheld, and lo! an ensign borne
Whirling, that span and ran, as in disdain
Of any rest; and there the folk forlorn

Rushed after it, in such an endless train,
It never would have entered in my head
There were so many men whom death had slain.”
Inferno, Canto III, lines 52-57

This is a great description of the mass of overgrown adolescents in our culture today who refuse to make decisions in life, but rather eternally chase the whirling banner of trends and experiences, being blown about by every passing wind rather than taking root and growing. Let this be an exhortation for all of us. Go do something with your life! Go live for something other than yourself! In Hamlet, Polonius gives his son the advice, "This above all: to thine own self be true." However, Dante shows us that the Vestibule of Hell is populated by people "Who against God rebelled not, nor to Him were faithful, but to self alone were true..."

Run On - (Inferno Meditation 1)

"Then said my courteous master: "See, my son,
All those that die beneath God's righteous ire
From every country come here every one.

They press to pass the river, for the fire
Of heavenly justice stings and spurs them so
That all their fear is changed into desire."

Inferno, Canto III, Lines 121-126

On Pilgrimage

In the upcoming days I'm going to be on a pilgrimage to Paradise with my companion, Dante, and my guide, Virgil. I've taken the pilgrimage before, but this time around I'm going to be focusing on the moral lessons that can be learned from the journey as a devotional time.

Dante Alighieri wrote his great master work, The Divine Comedy such that it could be interpreted on different levels, following the fourfold interpretation scheme for Scripture popular in the Middle Ages. First the poem can be read literally as a tour of the afterlife. It is important to note that Dante did not actually believe that Hell was a giant pit in the earth under Jerusalem or that Purgatory was a corresponding mountain in the other hemisphere. Nor did he believe that the punishments in Hell, the purgations in Purgatory, or the rewards in Paradise exist literally as he wrote them. In this sense the story is fiction. In another sense, however, the story is the story of Dante's spiritual journey through the Christian life. C. S. Lewis did something very similar with his own life in The Pilgrim's Regress. On a secondary level, the book may be read allegorically for truths we are meant to see about the world around us. Just as the apostles allegorically/typologically interpreted the Old Testament to apply it in their day, so we can read Dante's journey as an allegory of human civilization and understand what Dante's civilization and, by extension, our civilization need to repent of in order to become a good society. Third, the book can be read on a moral level, applying the lessons Dante learns to our own lives and teaching us how to live as Christians. Finally, the book can be read on what was called an anagogical level. An anagogical reading looks to the chief and ultimate end of man and how we are to arrive at it.

In explaining how to interpret his work, Dante used the example of the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. "For if we regard the letter alone, what is set before us is the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt in the days of Moses; if the allegory, our redemption wrought by Christ; if the moral sense, we are shown the conversion of the soul from the grief and wretchedness of sin to the state of grace; if the anagogical, we are shown the departure of the holy soul from the thraldom of this corruption to the liberty of eternal glory."

This is why it is important to see The Divine Comedy, first of all, as a whole work. Colleges and schools requiring students to read only Inferno would be like requiring students to read The Fellowship of the Ring and never proceed to The Two Towers or The Return of the King. The story is incomplete and incomprehensible. This is also why it is important to make the pilgrimmage of The Divine Comedy several times. The first time around, there are so many historical and classical allusions that the reader has a hard enough time keeping up with the merely literal sense of the story. Subsequent readings make the reader familiar with the story on this level and leave room to benefit from the book in the other three ways mentioned.

This time around, I'm focusing primary on the moral sense of the story: a.k.a. reading it as a devotional. As I travel with Dante on my journey over the next week or so, I'll be posting things that come to my attention as especially interesting or helpful.

He loved Balder before Christ

"If my religion is erroneous then occurrences of similar motifs in pagan stories are, of course, instances of the same, or a similar error. But if my religion is true, then these stories may well be a preparatio evangelica, a divine hinting in poetic and ritual form at the same central truth which was later focused and (so to speak) historicised in the Incarnation. To me, who first approached Christianity from a delighted interest in, and reverence for, the best pagan imagination, who loved Balder before Christ and Plato before St. Augustine, the anthropological argument against Christianity has never been formidable. On the contrary, I could not believe Christianity if I were forced to say that there were a thousand religions in the world of which 999 were pure nonsense and the thousandth (fortunately) true. My conversion, very largely, depended on recognizing Christianity as the completion, the actualization, the entelechy, of something that had never been wholly absent from the mind of man."

-From God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis

Comic Book Heroes

This week I'm doing my Top 5 Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Are you a comic book nerd like me? If so, feel free to share your list.

1. Dr. Strange (While other superheroes are dealing with mere supervillains and otherwise corporeal bad guys, Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, is busy doing battle with the nameless horrors that constantly seek to swallow up our universe in chaos. By the Seven Rings of Raggadorr!)

2. The Phantom (The original masked crimefighter, literally. Kit Walker was the first to don a spandex suit and mask to fight international crime from his base in Africa.)

3. Wolverine ('nuff said)

4. Rogue (What's not to love? A southern belle with super strength, the ability to fly, nigh invulnerability, and the unfortunate ability to suck the life force from people by touching them. Rogue was one of my favorite characters from the X-Men world. Unfortunately she got gypped in the movies.)

5. Shadowcat (Most people remember Jubilee as the X-Men's resident teenager thanks to the cartoon. However, I always liked Kitty Pryde who was much less annoying and easier to relate to. She also has an awesome power: the ability to phase through solid objects.)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

"You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!"

It was worth a wound--it was worth many wounds--to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

"It's nothing, Holmes. It's a mere scratch."

Oh, fanfiction. The bane of every author's existence. Masses of misguided fans who take the characters so carefully created and make them do things so contrary to their natures. In this example, for instan... Wait. What's that?... Oh, this is canon? Written by Arthur Conan Doyle himself?... never mind.

So here's the deal. I just finished reading The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. Now I have only to read The Valley of Fear, and I will have completely read every Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. This book, the last compiled by Doyle, was very different from the others. The crimes seemed more gruesome and sensationalistic, Holmes seemed much more emotional, and even the standard format of the stories was changed up a bit; rather than all the stories being told by Watson, one was in the third person, and two were narrated by Holmes himself. In essence Doyle was providing pure fanservice with this collection, having long before lost his interest in Sherlock Holmes. However, despite this fact, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes contains some of my favorite stories. It is also clear that, out of all the stories, these are the ones that most influenced the Guy Ritchie interpretation of Holmes in the new movies. I'll run through this book the same way I've run through other Sherlock Holmes books, simply pointing out things in each story that struck my fancy.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Client

Ah what a mystery. A brilliant, evil, and devious bad guy worthy of Holmes's attention. Holmes stick fighting with a group of street thugs. A horribly violent ending. This story has it all. It also has a line used directly by the BBC series, Sherlock. When the man consulting Holmes says that his client prefers to remain anonymous, Holmes replies, "I am sorry. I am accustomed to have mystery at one end of my cases, but to have it at both ends is too confusing."


The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier

This is one of the stories narrated by Holmes himself. The mystery in this one is not so great. However, I chuckled at Holmes's bitter line near the beginning, "The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association. I was alone." Of course what is merely a single line in the stories (Watson isn't going to talk about this in the stories he writes after all) becomes a large part of the Holmes/Watson relationship in the RDJ/Jude Law movies.

The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone

Once again, we're treated to Holmes, the man of action and master of disguise. And it is awesome!

The Adventure of the Three Gables

Holmes vs. a very devious and powerful woman. This was a good mystery, but only a *meh* story overall.

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire

"This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply."

Along the lines of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes takes on the supernatural and finds a logical explanation.

The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

This one was a quirky mystery. I'm happy to say that I actually solved the mystery before the end, which could mean that I'm getting more in tune with Doyle's writing style, but it probably means that Doyle is getting sloppy. This story is the source of the quote at the beginning of my post. In the aftermath of a shootout, Watson realizes for the first time how much Holmes values his friendship. Awwww. :)

The Problem of Thor Bridge

"Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences."

A corrupt businessman, a jealous wife, and a pretty young governess accused of murder make up the background of one of Holmes's more creative cases.

The Adventure of the Creeping Man

This story had a couple of genuinely creepy moments. This also seems like Sherlock Holmes's foray into science fiction. When a serum is created to restore youth and vitality to the aged, the results are...not entirely desirable. Holmes has a great speech in this one.

"When one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. The highest type of man may revert to the animal if he leaves the straight road of destiny." He sat musing for a little with the phial in his hand, looking at the clear liquid within. "When I have written to this man and told him that I hold him criminally responsible for the poisons which he circulates, we will have no more trouble. But it may recur. Others may find a better way. There is danger there--a very real danger to humanity. Consider, Watson, that the material, the sensual, the worldly would all prolong their worthless lives. The spiritual would not avoid the call to something higher. It would be the survival of the least fit. What sort of cesspool may not our poor world become?"

The Adventure of the Lion's Mane

Another of the stories told from Holmes's perspective. This one was a bit lackluster, although it offers a nice view of Holmes in retirement.

The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger

Funny scene at the beginning of Holmes messing with Watson. When Watson comes in to discover Holmes consulting with a client: "This is Mrs. Merrilow, of South Brixton," said my friend with a wave of the hand. "Mrs. Merrilow does not object to tobacco, Watson, if you wish to indulge your filthy habits."

Aside from that, this is one of the stories in which Holmes doesn't really detect anything.

The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place

This was an awesome story. The mystery was top notch, the pacing was perfect, and Holmes was brilliant. Also, this story makes explicit the little gambling problem which Watson has that makes it necessary for Holmes to lock up his checkbook as we see in "The Dancing Men".

"By the way, Watson, you know something of racing?"

"I ought to. I pay for it with about half my wound pension."

The Adventure of the Retired Colourman

A good story to finish off. Watson gets his chance to do a bit of detecting and report back to Holmes. Although, Holmes is a bit snarky about Watson's attempt to describe the scene:

"I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall--"

"Cut out the poetry, Watson," said Holmes severely. "I note that it was a high brick wall."

Also we get an explicit description of Watson as a ladies man, something we only really see in Jude Law's portrayal of the character (certainly not with *shudder* Nigel Bruce).

With your natural advantages, Watson, every lady is your helper and accomplice. What about the girl at the post-office, or the wife of the greengrocer? I can picture you whispering soft nothings with the young lady at the Blue Anchor, and receiving hard somethings in exchange.


Overall this was a really fun book and an essential part of your Sherlock Holmes reading list.

4/5 stars

The Influence of Marxism

Words like "communism" and "fascism" get thrown around a lot in today's political climate. However, few have studied these philosophical systems in any sort of depth or can adequately define their historic context. For example, it is common to hear a liberal commentator call right-wingers "fascists". Historically however, the ideal of fascism under Mussolini in Italy, the ideal of socialism under Hitler in Germany, and the ideal of communism under Stalin in Russia are strikingly similar. The mechanisms of the three systems may be different, but the circumstances that prompted them in each case are similar and the goals of each are similar. This explains why all three men were praised by liberal intellectuals in the U.S. prior to the beginning of World War II.

In order to get a better understanding of the political landscape today, it may be good to redraw the lines of left wing-right wing distinctions to better reflect the actual position which various ideologies take on the level of control government should have over the lives of the citizens.

Notice that the first three systems of political thought, the leftmost positions, are all influenced directly by Marxist principles. Though Marx himself may not have envisioned an all-powerful government, such a government has resulted in any nation that has sought to apply the principles of his Communist Manifesto.

Also notice that by the point of the list in which the systems of Distributism and Classical Conservatism appear, there is no influence from Marxist thought. Both of these systems stem from different schools of thought that go back much farther than Karl Marx.

However, what if we examine the dominant political ideas in the U.S. today, Modern Liberalism (very different from Classic Liberalism, by the way) and Modern Conservatism represented by the Democratic and Republican parties? Have we, in our culture today, been influenced by Marxist principles? How would we know if we had? Thankfully, Karl Marx himself made a list of ten things that will be noticeable in any society that has accepted his principles. He writes, "These measures will of course be different in different countries. Nevertheless in the most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable."

Let's take a look, shall we?


1. Abolition of Property in Land and Application of all Rents of Land to Public Purpose.

Well, at least we don't have this one in America today. Or do we? Have you ever had to pay property taxes? For property you own? Of course you have. And what would happen if you didn't pay those taxes? The government would confiscate your property. So who does that house/car/land actually belong to? That's right. Now you're thinking like a Marxist.

Also consider zoning laws, which were declared Constitutional during the presidency of Herbert Hoover in 1921. It is considered legal for the government not only to tax your property under threat of confiscation, but also to tell you what you can or cannot build on your property or whether you can or cannot use your property for business purposes.

2. A Heavy Progressive or Graduated Income Tax

The first president to institute a progressive income tax was that lover of freedom and liberty himself, Abraham Lincoln. This was ended in 1872, but brought back in 1913 by the Woodrow Wilson administration via the 16th Amendment. Then during the time of Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, the Social Security Act was passed, thus establishing the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time and giving the Federal government another means to tax the income of the citizens.

3. Abolition of All Rights of Inheritance.

In 1916, the Federal Estate tax was implemented under Woodrow Wilson. Later, states were given the right to piggyback their own inheritance taxes onto the federal tax. What is the basis of this? Apparently citizens do not have the right to pass on their wealth to future generations without the permission and authority of the government.

4. Confiscation of the Property of All Emigrants and Rebels.

We actually haven't gotten this far in America yet unless you count misapplication of asset forfeiture laws. However, as we've seen recently, there are many in our government who would love the power to indefinitely imprison suspected domestic terrorists (read: American citizens) without a trial and to seize their property which they used to plan their terrorist operations.

5. Centralization of Credit in the Hands of the State, by Means of a National Bank with State Capital and an Exclusive Monopoly.

This one is so easy to spot that I don't even need to explain it. We got plank five of the Communist Manifesto by the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913 under Woodrow Wilson.

6. Centralization of the Means of Communication and Transport in the Hands of the State.

Centralization of the means of communication in the hands of the state? We call that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) given to us by Franklin Roosevelt in 1934.

Centralization of the means of transport in the hands of the state? Under the Federal Highway Act passed under Woodrow Wilson in 1916, federal funds were used for state highway construction. Then in 1938, the Interstate Commerce Act, was passed under Franklin Roosevelt. That same year, the Civil Aeronautics Act was passed, placing the sky as well as the land under control of the government. In 1944, Roosevelt pushed the idea of the Interstate Highway System. In 1966, the Department of Transportation, established under Lyndon Johnson, further consolidated government control of transportation. Don't forget that long before any of these things happened, the government had already taken control of railroads in the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. In addition, did you know that the government holds so much control over transportation that you're not even allowed to operate a motor vehicle without a license from the State? Imagine!

7. Extension of Factories and Instruments of Production Owned by the State, the Bringing Into Cultivation of Waste Lands, and the Improvement of the Soil Generally in Accordance with a Common Plan.

For this one, let's start with the department of agriculture, established under Lincoln in 1862. Then move along to the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1933 under Franklin Roosevelt which further enlarged government control of farming.

8. Equal Liability of All to Labor. Establishment of Industrial Armies, Especially for Agriculture.

Good ol' Woodrow Wilson got the ball rolling on this one with the establishment of the Department of Labor in 1913. Then Franklin Roosevelt carried the revolution further with Civil Works Administration (1933), the Works Progress Administration (1935), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).

9. Combination of Agriculture with Manufacturing Industries; Gradual Abolition of the Distinction Between Town and Country by a More Equable Distribution of the Population over the Country.

Like number four, this is not seen in any systematized way in America today. These ideas are often at the back of political redistricting, though, as rural areas are usually overwhelmingly conservative and urban areas more progressive. Historically this was a problem for the Red Army in Russia during the revolution. It was able to hold urban centers like Petrograd, but had a much harder time gathering support from people in rural areas.

10. Free Education for All Children in Public Schools. Abolition of Children's Factory Labor in its Present Form. Combination of Education with Industrial Production.

Once again, there's no need to go into detail on this one. From 1852-1917 every state passed compulsory schooling laws. That means the government is in ultimate control of the education of children. Homeschooling was effectively illegal in the U.S. from 1917 through the 1970s. Even today the assumption is that the government offers certain families "exemptions" to allow them to teach their children at home, rather than the idea that the parents are the sole authority in the education of their children.

***

So, have our modern political ideas in America been influenced by the principles of Marxism? Overwhelmingly, the answer is, "Yes!" Do we have a communist or socialist government? Not yet. However, it appears that we are at a pivotal point in our history as a nation, as seen by the sharp political divisions in our country today. The next few decades will most likely determine whether we are going to move onward towards ever more Marxist ideals or back to the principles of our founding fathers and first fifteen presidents. At this point it is more important than ever to educate the citizens on the principles found in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution as well as the Biblical principles upon which these documents are based (as seen in predecessors such as the Scottish National Covenant), so that we can make wise decisions concerning our nation's future.

Best and Worst Presidents

Springing from a discussion in one of my classes, this week is a double Top 5. So here are:

The Top 5 Best U.S. Presidents

1. James Monroe
2. George Washington
3. James Madison
4. Theodore Roosevelt *
5. Calvin Coolidge

*Some people may say that I’m being terribly inconsistent by including Teddy Roosevelt on this list. For the record, I'm not.

The Top 5 Worst U.S. Presidents

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Franklin Roosevelt
3. Woodrow Wilson
4. Lyndon Johnson
5. Herbert Hoover


What do you think? Does my list line up with yours? Feel free to comment.

Super Tuesday!

It's Super Tuesday!

And I voted!

* I totally didn't make this comic book cover myself.