Now this is the stuff I really love! I can’t wait to get my hands on the book when it comes out.
If you want to meet people who really know, really grok (in Heinlein’s term) that following one’s desires is the path to perdition, may I suggest a visit to a 12-step meeting, Alcoholics Anonymous or one of its numerous offspring. There, you will meet people whose lives were absolutely destroyed by the desire for some substance (be it drugs or alcohol) or some other thing or activity (overeating, sex, gambling, codependency, what-have-you).
What a strange thing our brains can be! Desiring things we know will be unhealthy, even so simple a thing as not wanting to get out of bed in the morning! And yet we also know that the disciplines we put upon ourselves, those things we don’t want to do, like getting to the gym and exercising, are the very things that will make us happy! If intelligent design is a thing, whoever designed humanity had a perverse sense of humor.
Beyond that, have you noticed how our culture, and capitalism specifically, is rooted completely in this notion that true happiness is to be found in the satisfaction of desires? The whole point of marketing is to create desires where none previously existed and then to satisfy them. Social media is deliberately engineered to make you desire to watch that next video, to keep scrolling, even at the expense of your mental health. Heck, Doritos are engineered to make you desire to keep eating until you’ve gone through the entire bag, at the expense of an obesity epidemic. Once you recognize the pattern, you see it everywhere: an entire economy built on the lie that true happiness is right around the corner for the low, low price of $19.95.
There is something truly evil at the very core of our economic system.
I like the point about discipline as well. Or perhaps guardrails is another way to put it. One of my happiest times in my life was one of the most regimented, while I was in the Army. Was I frustrated by the limitations placed on me? You bet I was! But it turns out that those restrictions also did me and my mental health a lot of good.
It seems to me that a healthy society will eschew this constant drive for more, more, more and will build these guardrails up through many institutions, not just religious ones. Moreover, those limits must start with those at the very top. The masses won’t accept restrictions like these if they see the elites flouting them. This is the main reason Trump is such a disaster: the man never saw a desire that he could say no to and it shows. He’s the avatar of the sickness, not its cure. But of course the same applies to celebrities in their private jets and billionaires buying Hawaiian islands, no matter their political persuasion. We are ruled by people who can’t or won’t say no.
Geoff, this is a really good point. I'm going to incorporate your thoughts into my econ class this spring. Econ tends to be a libertarian glorification of capitalism, and it does deserve to be glorified since industrial capitalism has ended famine, improved longevity, and raised standards of living globally, and continues to do so.
But... it is 100% built on perpetual growth and "more, more, more". At what point are you "improving standards of living" vs "creating desires jus to fill them"? How do you know the difference? Is there one? Was the smartphone the former or the latter? (I'm not sure to be honest, and I'm unclear how you would answer that question beyond the standard econ answer: willingness to pay.) We read Brave New World in my class, and I think I'll incorporate your thoughts in our discussion of that book, probably in our jokes about Centrifugal Bumble Puppy. Thanks.
Ed Abbey. He was a genius. I heartily recommend "Brave Cowboy"- made into the film "Lonely are the Brave" with Kirk Douglas as Jack Burns- and "The Monkey-Wrench Gang" which should be made into a film.
Thanks, as I commented below, I'm not familiar with his work. I looked him up and the movie after the comments came in. I'm not sure what to make of him, but I really appreciate the quote. I'm glad y'all appreciate his work.
First, you ought to watch "Lonely are the Brave." It is Kirk Douglas' favorite performance. Jack Burns is Abbey's alter-ego. "Brave Cowboy" is a brilliant novel. Abbey's "The Monkey-Wrench Gang" is hilarious even if occasionally vulgar.
I love Abbey. 20 year old libertarian me would have thought he was insane. 50 year old postliberal me still thinks he's insane, but I've decided he might also be right.
My favorite is that chapter of Desert Solitaire when he talks about quietly crawling under his trailer so he could get a snake-eye view of rattlesnake mating rituals.
Sorry, but I'm not familiar with his writing. It was a quote I read somewhere that stuck with me. It makes such good sense to me and seems to have so many ways it can be applied.
If you've ever been to the Utah or Arizona high desert, Desert Solitare is a great introduction to abbey about his time living in Arches before it was a national park.
See if you can find online a First Things essay from a while back called "The Emancipation of Avarice" by Edward Skidelsky, son of Keynes' biographer. It's a very good intro to the tackling of the "how much is too much?" question.
Also, the chapter on economics in Brad Gregory's "The Unintended Reformation" is excellent.
Brian, this is probably one of the best compliments anyone has paid to me in a long time. Thank you very much for your response!
I’ve kind of had this post floating around in the back of my head while I’ve been at work for the last five hours. And my first thought, as a medievalist, is that of course you’re right—capitalism has largely abolished famine except in the most chaotic and war-torn places. This is a massive, massive accomplishment, one that should accord it very great deference in all our deliberations.
But I was also wondering if it might be possible to build an economy and a culture around the idea of “enough” rather than “more.” Something akin to Slavoj Žižek’s “I would prefer not to,” perhaps.
When it comes to “creating desires just to fulfill them,” my favorite case study would be that of Listerine, which has the benefit of being more or less ancient history. It’s a good example of how something that is ubiquitous today was essentially made that way entirely through marketing that preyed on our insecurities with the line, “Halitosis [a fancy, medical-sounding word the company invented] makes you unpopular.”
No, capitalism itself did not end famine. And all the capitalism in the world wouldn't save us if a Carrington Event burned out the electronic and communications infrastructure across the planet.
Some happy historical accidents (the Columbian Exchange and opening of New World agricultural zones) set the stage, then technological innovation, from improved transport means to the Green Revolution, put an end to famine.
Note that the UK was avowedly capitalist and the Irish famine of the 1840s still happened.
All the technology Norman Borlaug used to create the Green Revolution was derived from industrial capitalism. Where do you think all that fertilizer and the techniques to manufacture it came from? Sans industrial fertilizer, the max carrying capacity of the Earth is about 4-5B people, less if you want air conditioning.
Industrial capitalism has created all potential long-term kinds of problems -- I'm with Kingsnorth in his discussion of the Machine. But it has also solved a great many more immediate and serious problems many times and deserves credit for doing so. This is something Paul has trouble acknowledging.
Personally, I'm really glad Adam didn't come back to his cave and say "Eve, honey, this fire thing is nice, but we ought to give it up, since we might run out of trees." Kicking the can down the road isn't always a bad strategy. In the long run, everyone's dead, so the more pressing question is, how do you ensure opportunities for you and your children and your grandchildren to live reasonably good (as in virtuous) lives? Most of the rest is beyond our control. Worrying about things like sustainability over centuries or solar storms destroying industrial life really isn't valuable. In that vein though, there's a great book called When The English Fall about a solar storm told from the perspective of an Amish community. You might like it.
Re: All the technology Norman Borlaug used to create the Green Revolution was derived from industrial capitalism
Huh? That males no sense. The Green Revolution was derived from Biological science (botany subcategory)
Re: Where do you think all that fertilizer and the techniques to manufacture it came from?
If you're talking about the Haber Process that was developed nu a German research chemist* (and tweaked by others a bit later when WWI and the Allied blockade of Imperial Germany made the matter urgent)
Yes, capitalist enterprises showed up later to market and sell the fertilizers. You can make a point that distribution of such goods works best in a capitalist market under normal, non-disaster conditions , and I would agree with you. But the underlying science and technological innovation: No! That takes long term thinking and funding, and for-profit businesses are rarely capable of that, focused only on "shareholder value" and the next quarterly report.
Re: Worrying about things like sustainability over centuries or solar storms destroying industrial life really isn't valuable.
Gee, I guess those hurricane emergency supplies we Floridians are urged to keep on hand are just a bit waste of money too!
Again: long term thinking and preparation for possible disaster is important, and that is decidedly not a forte of shortsighted businessmen who care only about the near-term.
*Alas, Fritz Haber also helped develop chemical weapons and defended the ethics of their use.
I think Brian is at least half correct. Modern science is completely dependent on instrumentation and devices that only could be developed in a free enterprise system. Generally, the USSR was only notable in two branches of science and technology: science with military applications and theoretical sciences (which, as James Conant once put it, only needs a blackboard, and the USSR had some of the best theoreticians in the world); every other branch required copying devices that the West developed. I am aware of exceptions (such as some high-strength magnetic technologies) but in general this is true.
Take a look at the summer lectures this year on the Marine Biological Laboratory web site, you will see some examples of this.
I can't remember the title or author, but I once read a science fiction story about a society where everyone was mandated to consume, and wealth granted the ability to relax the relentless consumption that poorer people were required to accomplish in order to keep the economy going. The culture referenced "Our Teddy" the way Brave New World referenced "our Ford." The solution was to equip each family with robots that would gobble food, wear out clothing, etc, relieving the family of the duty to do so much consumption.
So far, when Rod posts excerpts from his soon-to-be-released book, I skip over them so that they will be fresh and new when I receive the book in October. Does anyone else think that's a good approach, or would it be better to read the excerpts now so that when I read them again in the book I will have had a chance to reflect on them already?
The books have stood up to rereading. I agree that it isn't spoiling it.
But then again, if I'm in a rush one of these days I ought to remember pondering in PA's approach. Temporarily skipping might be better than skimming for book appreciation.
I partly do that. I read enough to see where he is going and then I stop for the reason you state. I suppose I’m like someone walking past a great restaurant that I know I will enter someday for a full course meal, but I choose to just smell the aroma rather than finagle a taste test.
I do likewise, figuring I'm going to read it anyway. My quandary is whether to order the pre-signed copy from Eighth Day (because, you know, Eighth Day), for it would feel as if I were robbing myself of a chance to get a real, in-person signature if I should ever happen to be wandering through downtown Budapest and....
(This would not be happening soon in any case, as I'm thinking of a little vacation to a different European country which is somewhat removed from Hungary as the goal of my first European foray in a long time.)
Pre ordered your book from Eighth Day. Thinking of attending the Conference in Alabama in October ( Paul Kingsnorth will speak?) . To quote Frank Constanza regarding sneak excerpts from your book, well, personally…” I want to go in fresh “.🤪
I hadn't heard that Elaine Scarry quote. It resonates with this teacher and homeschool dad. Thanks, Rod.
Now I'm off to sing at service full of emotivist, evangelical Protestants who disdain rote prayers as "oh, that's Catholic." I love these people, which is why I'm still there, but I really wish they would expand their horizons. I have experienced the same thing you have with the Jesus Prayer, which I pray 100 times every morning without ever telling my Protestant brethren, who wouldn't understand.
Years ago (when Rod first talked about this) I used by fingers. Then I bought a rosary from a local Catholic bookstore (so I guess I actually get to 110, since a rosary has spacer beads.) I wasn't that worried about the exact number, only the process. I do plan on buying I prayer rope, but haven't been to an Orthodox monastery recently, and it's not the kind of thing you order from Amazon.
My life was very greatly impacted by something similar. I learned to recite a one word prayer while not following any thoughts and just letting Christ flow. In other words, I learned Christian meditation. I was so very much better after that. It makes such a difference in, for example, levels of day to day anxiety. And much more.
During the Jesus Prayer you do not follow thoughts, just letting them pass through as best you can? Not rejecting - thoughts will come up and rejecting can make it worse, but - Not following the "What will I have for dinner?" thought. Also not even following the "How can I be a better Christian?" thought? The second is supposed to happen but not during meditation. But you did not say this was meditation, so I wanted to clarify.
Yeah, I'm still working on the not following through part. I said I did the prayers, not that I was good at them. :-)
I actually started with Paul's admonition to "pray unceasingly" and began saying "Thank you Lord Jesus" internally with each breath. As you said, it doesn't have to be anything complex.
Oh, I think the not following through part - well for me - fails about once a minute, and that is with a good session. But even if there is some follow through, once it is noticed, I think just follow no more, and don't feel you failed or aren't good at it, etc.
I also learned something fascinating. Not all people think in words all the time. Sethu of this forum, for instance says he only thinks words if he is listening, speaking or writing. My dad once told me he could stop thinking and I didn't believe him. I read up on it recently, however, because I'd always assumed everyone thought, in words, constantly. - You are perhaps like me and around half (?) the people, with words never ceasing to run through your head as thoughts. If the word or the short phrase of a prayer can be the only words you think, even for seconds or split seconds - what a difference this makes as I'm sure you know. And I think you will have read the brain studies on this.
I'm not good on "pray without ceasing". I have been hoping it is "be aware of God's presence always, which is a form of prayer". I don't succeed in even that. Sounds like you have a beautiful practice to me.
Koine Greek scholars say that the original of "pray without ceasing" is "pray with the frequency of a hacking cough," and even with that, it seems to me that it's probably exaggeration for the purpose of making a point.
What you write is true of my prayer life too. I have to pray for concentration to pray - kinda of circular there!
It is said that mathematicians think in terms of shapes, kind of like the visualizations in A Beautiful Mind or The Queen's Gambit. I've only had that happen to me twice in my life, and the experience was exhilarating and a bit frightening. I knew I was perceiving reality in a different way because both times I solved the problems I was facing, but I felt an odd disconnect with my normal mental processes.
What I like, as you've done here, is for people to say that prayer with words from the heart, recited traditional prayer and meditation (The Jesus Prayer) are all important, and all of spiritual benefit. Also that different believers will find a different balance for their particular spirituality.
When production was moved offshore and the old brick mill was emptied and turned into luxury condos, the cultural jigs that served humanity for literally thousands of years were tossed into the dumpster. Some were seen and recovered by dumpster divers, but the majority are long gone. They're buried in a landfill somewhere, for future archeologists to find and ponder. That was one of your best evers. Thanks.
It occurs to me that for us adults who don't have the jig which being a machinist or a mason would bring, the effort to learn a musical instrument would be an acceptable substitute.
I have been pondering the "embodied practice" issue for some time. Thanks for providing some more thinking points.
There is a great power in fixed and continued practice. When we do it in the Christian religious context, we are transformed through our regular practice and rituals.
I think this is what the Latin Mass people understand and the moderns misunderstand-- accessibilty rarely leads to increased spirituality and devotion.
Plus, we need space to let our intuition guide us and to leave the limited materialist space.
Croatia is wonderful (I had the privilege of teaching college in Dubrovnik for a semester). For a Catholic like me, it was inspiring to see priests in cassocks and nuns in habits, not to mention the multitude of beautiful churches and the large number of shrines, sanctuaries, and chapels found willy-nilly along the many streets. I also spent many hours just gazing over the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic.
If you've ever wonder about the meaning of "An idle mind is the devil's workshop," read almost anything by Matthew Crawford. People who fabricate metal while making a motorcycle chassis or run electrical lines through conduits in a new construction have no time to conjure up obscure theories about race or gender. They're too busy figuring how how their trades mesh with actually existing realty and physics to produce a wonderful, finished product. And then comes that ice-cold beer afterwards.
Preach! More generally, engaging with the 'real' keeps people grounded. Try gardening instead of take-out or learning an instrument instead of pressing 'play'. I recall reading that late Austro-Hungarian empire wisely required its royalty to learn a useful trade as an antidote to youthful idleness; I believe Franz Joseph II became a decent carpenter in his youth.
In re: "conjure up obscure theories". Also, if a real crisis were to strike like a severe economic depression or Black Death redivvius, interest in remapping pronouns and such would fall away. A high level of social stability and abstraction from concrete concerns is required for those buds to bloom.
Dystopian. The notion of any world, empirical or transcendent, where a simple exclamation is held against someone for eternity, much less her sons have to serve her sister's sons because of something their mother did, is repulsive. This is the kind of speculative attempt at spiritualism I would expect by a bloated Brit entranced by the majesty of a colonial empire -- even if I really enjoyed "Captains Courageous."
I read what you offered. Does the full poem provide a context that totally reverses the meaning? Its a valid point that one should read a book before critiquing it. But, the purpose of reviews and excerpts is to discern what is worth devoting the time to... since when I die, there will be so much in print I never had time to get around to.
As to ritual. raised a Methodist and lately a Presbyterian, but I am always transported by the words of commendation from the burial rite in the Book of Common Prayer: Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee, a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming.
IMHO, I don't see much enchantment in your writing, but a lot of anger... self justified anger... yes maybe so but if anger is one of the seven deadly sins, is righteous anger legit? like the famous market incident... but was his heart really consumed by anger or was he disciplining like a loving father ( where you act mean, but really aren't mad at all just love your kids?)
for what it's worth - I lived out the Benedict Option in real life - left Philly to build an offgrid cabin in Alaska so forgive me for criticizing, but i'm not just a reader - I apply this shit to my life and it has major effects ( specifically being angry all the time )
Well, good for you, and I mean that. But this is a newsletter that's mostly about the intersection of religion, politics, ideas, and current events. I'm not writing Rod Dreher's Enchantment Diary. I'm sending out a daily account of the things I'm thinking about on a given day, about the way we live.
yes, and I identify with a lot of your assessments, but in your writing you most definitely identify as a disciple of Christ - the writer is in the vanguard of consciousness of the faithful- and I wonder whether you are imitating Christ with the whip trying to drive out the money changers, or whether you, too, are a merchant in the house of God, pay-walling the Good News and selling books - got to make a living indeed, but when you carry the mantle of a disciple of one who did not mince words, it's sorta natural that you do get called out. as in can you really sit at the altar of modern right wing politics and serious discipleship at the same time?
Your intellectual theorizing about morality seems correct in my eyes, but are you doing it at a bourgois coffee house on a mac computer with a dainty little european desert waiting for you....? is the line about " sheltering the alien, feeding the hungry, visting the imprisoned" as being the real tell-tale sign to be ignored?
Are we larping Christianity or are we larping the pharisees? With all of our self-righteous indignation - is there a life of immense compassion - the sublime morality of the good Samaritan going on over there in Hungary? Or cafes and dinner and intellectually stimulating conversations, but not much entering into the broken places.....
that's it, I won't have any more comments - these words are as much a criticism of myself as of you -
good luck with your writing... lmk if you're ever strolling through Alaska. I'll buy ya a coffee
I've read Rod Dreher for over a decade. I don't read a lot of anger. Occasionally Mr. Dreher shows some anguish over his own life and over a Civilization clearly in decline. But I don't see Rod as an angry person. I believe his religious values help save him from anger.
I don't know how it is with you, Rod, but the more I embraced Christian morality, the less angry I feel. I'm never angry for more than a few seconds. Sure, I am unhappy over the demise of the Civilization I was born into, but to wallow in despair is not an option. As Binx Bolling had a po'boy to eat, I have my wife's crab dip to eat and all is well.
I’m Catholic but I was raised Episcopalian. The general confession from the Book of Common Prayer really sums up our human condition “we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against Thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done & done those things which we ought not to have done.” Nailed it.
One thing: I’m Catholic and appreciate the benefits of a liturgical tradition. Any prayer or sacred song repeated daily or weekly will be there should you become separated from kirk and kin to ground you and keep you focused beyond whatever trouble you may be in. But the easily retrievable memory is really a mental process, not “bodily,” as if that would make it somehow superior. And of course, Christians whose traditions rely more on Bible reading than ritual are well versed in both the Lord’s Prayer and the more popular psalms. After all, that’s where they’re kept. The ancient liturgies incorporated psalms and prayers from scripture, as well as regular epistle and gospel readings, as a means of familiarizing their mostly illiterate worshippers with what is contained in our sacred writings, i.e., the Bible.
Apologies if the above seems pedantic. I just anticipated how my Protestant loved ones might react to the tendency to elevate liturgical tradition over their own. I’ve learned, so you must.😇
Hey Rod,
FYI, the link to Crawford's substack takes you to Amazon.
CRAP! I hate it when I make mistakes like this! https://mcrawford.substack.com/
Rod, you should have mentioned that Marilyn also has an excellent Substack called Submission:
https://open.substack.com/pub/marilynsimon
Wow, I didn't know. Thanks for posting that.
Now this is the stuff I really love! I can’t wait to get my hands on the book when it comes out.
If you want to meet people who really know, really grok (in Heinlein’s term) that following one’s desires is the path to perdition, may I suggest a visit to a 12-step meeting, Alcoholics Anonymous or one of its numerous offspring. There, you will meet people whose lives were absolutely destroyed by the desire for some substance (be it drugs or alcohol) or some other thing or activity (overeating, sex, gambling, codependency, what-have-you).
What a strange thing our brains can be! Desiring things we know will be unhealthy, even so simple a thing as not wanting to get out of bed in the morning! And yet we also know that the disciplines we put upon ourselves, those things we don’t want to do, like getting to the gym and exercising, are the very things that will make us happy! If intelligent design is a thing, whoever designed humanity had a perverse sense of humor.
Beyond that, have you noticed how our culture, and capitalism specifically, is rooted completely in this notion that true happiness is to be found in the satisfaction of desires? The whole point of marketing is to create desires where none previously existed and then to satisfy them. Social media is deliberately engineered to make you desire to watch that next video, to keep scrolling, even at the expense of your mental health. Heck, Doritos are engineered to make you desire to keep eating until you’ve gone through the entire bag, at the expense of an obesity epidemic. Once you recognize the pattern, you see it everywhere: an entire economy built on the lie that true happiness is right around the corner for the low, low price of $19.95.
There is something truly evil at the very core of our economic system.
I like the point about discipline as well. Or perhaps guardrails is another way to put it. One of my happiest times in my life was one of the most regimented, while I was in the Army. Was I frustrated by the limitations placed on me? You bet I was! But it turns out that those restrictions also did me and my mental health a lot of good.
It seems to me that a healthy society will eschew this constant drive for more, more, more and will build these guardrails up through many institutions, not just religious ones. Moreover, those limits must start with those at the very top. The masses won’t accept restrictions like these if they see the elites flouting them. This is the main reason Trump is such a disaster: the man never saw a desire that he could say no to and it shows. He’s the avatar of the sickness, not its cure. But of course the same applies to celebrities in their private jets and billionaires buying Hawaiian islands, no matter their political persuasion. We are ruled by people who can’t or won’t say no.
Great post, great stuff.
Geoff, this is a really good point. I'm going to incorporate your thoughts into my econ class this spring. Econ tends to be a libertarian glorification of capitalism, and it does deserve to be glorified since industrial capitalism has ended famine, improved longevity, and raised standards of living globally, and continues to do so.
But... it is 100% built on perpetual growth and "more, more, more". At what point are you "improving standards of living" vs "creating desires jus to fill them"? How do you know the difference? Is there one? Was the smartphone the former or the latter? (I'm not sure to be honest, and I'm unclear how you would answer that question beyond the standard econ answer: willingness to pay.) We read Brave New World in my class, and I think I'll incorporate your thoughts in our discussion of that book, probably in our jokes about Centrifugal Bumble Puppy. Thanks.
I've found this quote helpful to ponder, too.
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." - Edward Abbey
Ed Abbey. He was a genius. I heartily recommend "Brave Cowboy"- made into the film "Lonely are the Brave" with Kirk Douglas as Jack Burns- and "The Monkey-Wrench Gang" which should be made into a film.
Thanks, as I commented below, I'm not familiar with his work. I looked him up and the movie after the comments came in. I'm not sure what to make of him, but I really appreciate the quote. I'm glad y'all appreciate his work.
First, you ought to watch "Lonely are the Brave." It is Kirk Douglas' favorite performance. Jack Burns is Abbey's alter-ego. "Brave Cowboy" is a brilliant novel. Abbey's "The Monkey-Wrench Gang" is hilarious even if occasionally vulgar.
I love Abbey. 20 year old libertarian me would have thought he was insane. 50 year old postliberal me still thinks he's insane, but I've decided he might also be right.
My favorite is that chapter of Desert Solitaire when he talks about quietly crawling under his trailer so he could get a snake-eye view of rattlesnake mating rituals.
I've never read "Desert Solitaire" but perhaps I should read it now.
They have rituals?!
Sorry, but I'm not familiar with his writing. It was a quote I read somewhere that stuck with me. It makes such good sense to me and seems to have so many ways it can be applied.
If you've ever been to the Utah or Arizona high desert, Desert Solitare is a great introduction to abbey about his time living in Arches before it was a national park.
See if you can find online a First Things essay from a while back called "The Emancipation of Avarice" by Edward Skidelsky, son of Keynes' biographer. It's a very good intro to the tackling of the "how much is too much?" question.
Also, the chapter on economics in Brad Gregory's "The Unintended Reformation" is excellent.
Hmm, I read Gregory's and I don't remember that one. I'll have to get it from the library again. Love the book overall though.
Brian, this is probably one of the best compliments anyone has paid to me in a long time. Thank you very much for your response!
I’ve kind of had this post floating around in the back of my head while I’ve been at work for the last five hours. And my first thought, as a medievalist, is that of course you’re right—capitalism has largely abolished famine except in the most chaotic and war-torn places. This is a massive, massive accomplishment, one that should accord it very great deference in all our deliberations.
But I was also wondering if it might be possible to build an economy and a culture around the idea of “enough” rather than “more.” Something akin to Slavoj Žižek’s “I would prefer not to,” perhaps.
When it comes to “creating desires just to fulfill them,” my favorite case study would be that of Listerine, which has the benefit of being more or less ancient history. It’s a good example of how something that is ubiquitous today was essentially made that way entirely through marketing that preyed on our insecurities with the line, “Halitosis [a fancy, medical-sounding word the company invented] makes you unpopular.”
No, capitalism itself did not end famine. And all the capitalism in the world wouldn't save us if a Carrington Event burned out the electronic and communications infrastructure across the planet.
Some happy historical accidents (the Columbian Exchange and opening of New World agricultural zones) set the stage, then technological innovation, from improved transport means to the Green Revolution, put an end to famine.
Note that the UK was avowedly capitalist and the Irish famine of the 1840s still happened.
All the technology Norman Borlaug used to create the Green Revolution was derived from industrial capitalism. Where do you think all that fertilizer and the techniques to manufacture it came from? Sans industrial fertilizer, the max carrying capacity of the Earth is about 4-5B people, less if you want air conditioning.
GDP graph I use in class: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-gdp-over-the-long-run
Industrial capitalism has created all potential long-term kinds of problems -- I'm with Kingsnorth in his discussion of the Machine. But it has also solved a great many more immediate and serious problems many times and deserves credit for doing so. This is something Paul has trouble acknowledging.
Personally, I'm really glad Adam didn't come back to his cave and say "Eve, honey, this fire thing is nice, but we ought to give it up, since we might run out of trees." Kicking the can down the road isn't always a bad strategy. In the long run, everyone's dead, so the more pressing question is, how do you ensure opportunities for you and your children and your grandchildren to live reasonably good (as in virtuous) lives? Most of the rest is beyond our control. Worrying about things like sustainability over centuries or solar storms destroying industrial life really isn't valuable. In that vein though, there's a great book called When The English Fall about a solar storm told from the perspective of an Amish community. You might like it.
Re: All the technology Norman Borlaug used to create the Green Revolution was derived from industrial capitalism
Huh? That males no sense. The Green Revolution was derived from Biological science (botany subcategory)
Re: Where do you think all that fertilizer and the techniques to manufacture it came from?
If you're talking about the Haber Process that was developed nu a German research chemist* (and tweaked by others a bit later when WWI and the Allied blockade of Imperial Germany made the matter urgent)
Yes, capitalist enterprises showed up later to market and sell the fertilizers. You can make a point that distribution of such goods works best in a capitalist market under normal, non-disaster conditions , and I would agree with you. But the underlying science and technological innovation: No! That takes long term thinking and funding, and for-profit businesses are rarely capable of that, focused only on "shareholder value" and the next quarterly report.
Re: Worrying about things like sustainability over centuries or solar storms destroying industrial life really isn't valuable.
Gee, I guess those hurricane emergency supplies we Floridians are urged to keep on hand are just a bit waste of money too!
Again: long term thinking and preparation for possible disaster is important, and that is decidedly not a forte of shortsighted businessmen who care only about the near-term.
*Alas, Fritz Haber also helped develop chemical weapons and defended the ethics of their use.
I think Brian is at least half correct. Modern science is completely dependent on instrumentation and devices that only could be developed in a free enterprise system. Generally, the USSR was only notable in two branches of science and technology: science with military applications and theoretical sciences (which, as James Conant once put it, only needs a blackboard, and the USSR had some of the best theoreticians in the world); every other branch required copying devices that the West developed. I am aware of exceptions (such as some high-strength magnetic technologies) but in general this is true.
Take a look at the summer lectures this year on the Marine Biological Laboratory web site, you will see some examples of this.
Bell Labs would disagree with your assessment.
I can't remember the title or author, but I once read a science fiction story about a society where everyone was mandated to consume, and wealth granted the ability to relax the relentless consumption that poorer people were required to accomplish in order to keep the economy going. The culture referenced "Our Teddy" the way Brave New World referenced "our Ford." The solution was to equip each family with robots that would gobble food, wear out clothing, etc, relieving the family of the duty to do so much consumption.
Matt Taibbi’s Racket did a good interview with Crawford in March:
https://www.racket.news/p/americas-next-motorcycle-philosopher
So far, when Rod posts excerpts from his soon-to-be-released book, I skip over them so that they will be fresh and new when I receive the book in October. Does anyone else think that's a good approach, or would it be better to read the excerpts now so that when I read them again in the book I will have had a chance to reflect on them already?
That's a good question. I include them from time to time to whet people's curiosity. Maybe I'm doing too much of that...
No. Whet away, please. :-) At least one reader really likes them. I've already ordered a copy from 8th Day for my pastor.
The books have stood up to rereading. I agree that it isn't spoiling it.
But then again, if I'm in a rush one of these days I ought to remember pondering in PA's approach. Temporarily skipping might be better than skimming for book appreciation.
I partly do that. I read enough to see where he is going and then I stop for the reason you state. I suppose I’m like someone walking past a great restaurant that I know I will enter someday for a full course meal, but I choose to just smell the aroma rather than finagle a taste test.
I am at this point doing the same, I don't want to have read half the book it bite sizes by the time I get it.
I do likewise, figuring I'm going to read it anyway. My quandary is whether to order the pre-signed copy from Eighth Day (because, you know, Eighth Day), for it would feel as if I were robbing myself of a chance to get a real, in-person signature if I should ever happen to be wandering through downtown Budapest and....
(This would not be happening soon in any case, as I'm thinking of a little vacation to a different European country which is somewhat removed from Hungary as the goal of my first European foray in a long time.)
So, if someone had offered a sincere but extemporaneous prayer at your father’s passing, you wouldn’t have appreciated it? Tough crowd
Of course I would have appreciated it. But it doesn't carry the weight of a psalm.
Pre ordered your book from Eighth Day. Thinking of attending the Conference in Alabama in October ( Paul Kingsnorth will speak?) . To quote Frank Constanza regarding sneak excerpts from your book, well, personally…” I want to go in fresh “.🤪
Yeah, Paul Kingsnorth is going to talk.
And you will be there as well !!!! Great! 👍
I hadn't heard that Elaine Scarry quote. It resonates with this teacher and homeschool dad. Thanks, Rod.
Now I'm off to sing at service full of emotivist, evangelical Protestants who disdain rote prayers as "oh, that's Catholic." I love these people, which is why I'm still there, but I really wish they would expand their horizons. I have experienced the same thing you have with the Jesus Prayer, which I pray 100 times every morning without ever telling my Protestant brethren, who wouldn't understand.
How do you know you reach a hundred? Do you use a prayer rope?
Years ago (when Rod first talked about this) I used by fingers. Then I bought a rosary from a local Catholic bookstore (so I guess I actually get to 110, since a rosary has spacer beads.) I wasn't that worried about the exact number, only the process. I do plan on buying I prayer rope, but haven't been to an Orthodox monastery recently, and it's not the kind of thing you order from Amazon.
My life was very greatly impacted by something similar. I learned to recite a one word prayer while not following any thoughts and just letting Christ flow. In other words, I learned Christian meditation. I was so very much better after that. It makes such a difference in, for example, levels of day to day anxiety. And much more.
During the Jesus Prayer you do not follow thoughts, just letting them pass through as best you can? Not rejecting - thoughts will come up and rejecting can make it worse, but - Not following the "What will I have for dinner?" thought. Also not even following the "How can I be a better Christian?" thought? The second is supposed to happen but not during meditation. But you did not say this was meditation, so I wanted to clarify.
Yeah, I'm still working on the not following through part. I said I did the prayers, not that I was good at them. :-)
I actually started with Paul's admonition to "pray unceasingly" and began saying "Thank you Lord Jesus" internally with each breath. As you said, it doesn't have to be anything complex.
Oh, I think the not following through part - well for me - fails about once a minute, and that is with a good session. But even if there is some follow through, once it is noticed, I think just follow no more, and don't feel you failed or aren't good at it, etc.
I also learned something fascinating. Not all people think in words all the time. Sethu of this forum, for instance says he only thinks words if he is listening, speaking or writing. My dad once told me he could stop thinking and I didn't believe him. I read up on it recently, however, because I'd always assumed everyone thought, in words, constantly. - You are perhaps like me and around half (?) the people, with words never ceasing to run through your head as thoughts. If the word or the short phrase of a prayer can be the only words you think, even for seconds or split seconds - what a difference this makes as I'm sure you know. And I think you will have read the brain studies on this.
I'm not good on "pray without ceasing". I have been hoping it is "be aware of God's presence always, which is a form of prayer". I don't succeed in even that. Sounds like you have a beautiful practice to me.
Koine Greek scholars say that the original of "pray without ceasing" is "pray with the frequency of a hacking cough," and even with that, it seems to me that it's probably exaggeration for the purpose of making a point.
What you write is true of my prayer life too. I have to pray for concentration to pray - kinda of circular there!
It is said that mathematicians think in terms of shapes, kind of like the visualizations in A Beautiful Mind or The Queen's Gambit. I've only had that happen to me twice in my life, and the experience was exhilarating and a bit frightening. I knew I was perceiving reality in a different way because both times I solved the problems I was facing, but I felt an odd disconnect with my normal mental processes.
You can mail-order one though, from a variety of monasteries.
What I like, as you've done here, is for people to say that prayer with words from the heart, recited traditional prayer and meditation (The Jesus Prayer) are all important, and all of spiritual benefit. Also that different believers will find a different balance for their particular spirituality.
When production was moved offshore and the old brick mill was emptied and turned into luxury condos, the cultural jigs that served humanity for literally thousands of years were tossed into the dumpster. Some were seen and recovered by dumpster divers, but the majority are long gone. They're buried in a landfill somewhere, for future archeologists to find and ponder. That was one of your best evers. Thanks.
It occurs to me that for us adults who don't have the jig which being a machinist or a mason would bring, the effort to learn a musical instrument would be an acceptable substitute.
I have been pondering the "embodied practice" issue for some time. Thanks for providing some more thinking points.
There is a great power in fixed and continued practice. When we do it in the Christian religious context, we are transformed through our regular practice and rituals.
I think this is what the Latin Mass people understand and the moderns misunderstand-- accessibilty rarely leads to increased spirituality and devotion.
Plus, we need space to let our intuition guide us and to leave the limited materialist space.
I laughed at the first paragraph of today's entry. Perhaps it's just me, but I pictured it thus:
"What should we do on our honeymoon, Dear?"
"Fly to Budapest and visit Rod!"
HA! They're headed to Croatia, actually, for the bulk of their trip, but were curious about Budapest, and started their journey here.
Croatia is supposed to be gorgeous on the coast.
It is!
Croatia is wonderful (I had the privilege of teaching college in Dubrovnik for a semester). For a Catholic like me, it was inspiring to see priests in cassocks and nuns in habits, not to mention the multitude of beautiful churches and the large number of shrines, sanctuaries, and chapels found willy-nilly along the many streets. I also spent many hours just gazing over the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic.
Highly recommended if you can get there.
The Croatian coast was ruled by Venice for a long time, and itsven spoke a Romance language, Dalmatian, now extinct.
If you've ever wonder about the meaning of "An idle mind is the devil's workshop," read almost anything by Matthew Crawford. People who fabricate metal while making a motorcycle chassis or run electrical lines through conduits in a new construction have no time to conjure up obscure theories about race or gender. They're too busy figuring how how their trades mesh with actually existing realty and physics to produce a wonderful, finished product. And then comes that ice-cold beer afterwards.
Preach! More generally, engaging with the 'real' keeps people grounded. Try gardening instead of take-out or learning an instrument instead of pressing 'play'. I recall reading that late Austro-Hungarian empire wisely required its royalty to learn a useful trade as an antidote to youthful idleness; I believe Franz Joseph II became a decent carpenter in his youth.
In re: "conjure up obscure theories". Also, if a real crisis were to strike like a severe economic depression or Black Death redivvius, interest in remapping pronouns and such would fall away. A high level of social stability and abstraction from concrete concerns is required for those buds to bloom.
You know the Kipling ballad?
The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part,
But the Sons of Martha favor their mother, of the careful soul and the troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary’s Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.
This strikes me as the kind of dystopian nonsense that keeps me from being a real fan if Kipling, albeit he has written some stuff I appreciate.
Dystopian?
Dystopian. The notion of any world, empirical or transcendent, where a simple exclamation is held against someone for eternity, much less her sons have to serve her sister's sons because of something their mother did, is repulsive. This is the kind of speculative attempt at spiritualism I would expect by a bloated Brit entranced by the majesty of a colonial empire -- even if I really enjoyed "Captains Courageous."
Maybe you better read the poem first. If you have, then I really think we need to draw a line under this.
I read what you offered. Does the full poem provide a context that totally reverses the meaning? Its a valid point that one should read a book before critiquing it. But, the purpose of reviews and excerpts is to discern what is worth devoting the time to... since when I die, there will be so much in print I never had time to get around to.
As to ritual. raised a Methodist and lately a Presbyterian, but I am always transported by the words of commendation from the burial rite in the Book of Common Prayer: Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee, a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming.
IMHO, I don't see much enchantment in your writing, but a lot of anger... self justified anger... yes maybe so but if anger is one of the seven deadly sins, is righteous anger legit? like the famous market incident... but was his heart really consumed by anger or was he disciplining like a loving father ( where you act mean, but really aren't mad at all just love your kids?)
for what it's worth - I lived out the Benedict Option in real life - left Philly to build an offgrid cabin in Alaska so forgive me for criticizing, but i'm not just a reader - I apply this shit to my life and it has major effects ( specifically being angry all the time )
https://fatherofzoomers.substack.com/p/voir-la-mer-see-the-sea?r=jejuu
Well, good for you, and I mean that. But this is a newsletter that's mostly about the intersection of religion, politics, ideas, and current events. I'm not writing Rod Dreher's Enchantment Diary. I'm sending out a daily account of the things I'm thinking about on a given day, about the way we live.
PS "Living In Wonder" does not have politics in it.
The patristic fathers would frown on righteous anger, but modern orthodoxy has room for it
yes, and I identify with a lot of your assessments, but in your writing you most definitely identify as a disciple of Christ - the writer is in the vanguard of consciousness of the faithful- and I wonder whether you are imitating Christ with the whip trying to drive out the money changers, or whether you, too, are a merchant in the house of God, pay-walling the Good News and selling books - got to make a living indeed, but when you carry the mantle of a disciple of one who did not mince words, it's sorta natural that you do get called out. as in can you really sit at the altar of modern right wing politics and serious discipleship at the same time?
Your intellectual theorizing about morality seems correct in my eyes, but are you doing it at a bourgois coffee house on a mac computer with a dainty little european desert waiting for you....? is the line about " sheltering the alien, feeding the hungry, visting the imprisoned" as being the real tell-tale sign to be ignored?
Are we larping Christianity or are we larping the pharisees? With all of our self-righteous indignation - is there a life of immense compassion - the sublime morality of the good Samaritan going on over there in Hungary? Or cafes and dinner and intellectually stimulating conversations, but not much entering into the broken places.....
that's it, I won't have any more comments - these words are as much a criticism of myself as of you -
good luck with your writing... lmk if you're ever strolling through Alaska. I'll buy ya a coffee
I've read Rod Dreher for over a decade. I don't read a lot of anger. Occasionally Mr. Dreher shows some anguish over his own life and over a Civilization clearly in decline. But I don't see Rod as an angry person. I believe his religious values help save him from anger.
Thanks. People who hang out with me do not see an angry man at all.
I will attest to that, though it's been some years now!
I don't know how it is with you, Rod, but the more I embraced Christian morality, the less angry I feel. I'm never angry for more than a few seconds. Sure, I am unhappy over the demise of the Civilization I was born into, but to wallow in despair is not an option. As Binx Bolling had a po'boy to eat, I have my wife's crab dip to eat and all is well.
I’m Catholic but I was raised Episcopalian. The general confession from the Book of Common Prayer really sums up our human condition “we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against Thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done & done those things which we ought not to have done.” Nailed it.
Very similar to orthodox Lutheran and orthodox Presbyterian liturgy.
One thing: I’m Catholic and appreciate the benefits of a liturgical tradition. Any prayer or sacred song repeated daily or weekly will be there should you become separated from kirk and kin to ground you and keep you focused beyond whatever trouble you may be in. But the easily retrievable memory is really a mental process, not “bodily,” as if that would make it somehow superior. And of course, Christians whose traditions rely more on Bible reading than ritual are well versed in both the Lord’s Prayer and the more popular psalms. After all, that’s where they’re kept. The ancient liturgies incorporated psalms and prayers from scripture, as well as regular epistle and gospel readings, as a means of familiarizing their mostly illiterate worshippers with what is contained in our sacred writings, i.e., the Bible.
Apologies if the above seems pedantic. I just anticipated how my Protestant loved ones might react to the tendency to elevate liturgical tradition over their own. I’ve learned, so you must.😇
Congratulations to the married couple!
As for our distinguished host, it was good to see his hair combed. He looks respectable as a writer should be.