Nice post, Theodore. Yes, darkness lies within the heart of every man; to deny this darkness is to have it manifest in uncontrollable ways, but it will always manifest one way or another. The wise man will confront and integrate his darkness instead of deny and try to suppress it. Regarding human sacrifice, every society practices sacrifices of one form or another for societal cohesion; this is what globohomo is doing now with child trannies.... Girard called this the scapegoat mechanism, and he thought that Christianity was ultimately so radical and revolutionary because it forced society to identify with the victim of the scapegoating.
Junger commented on Heart of Darkness in his World War 2 diaries,, August 16, 1942 entry: "I read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a story that superbly describes the transformation of civilized optimism into utter bestiality. Two Philistines come to the Congo to make money, and there they adopt cannibalistic habits. In broader contexts, Burckhardt describes this process as "rapid decay." Both men heard the overture of our age. Conrad perceives something more clearly than Kipling, and that is Anglo-Saxon constancy in transitional situations. That is a remarkable and unpredictable trait in our world, which might sooner have been prophesied of the Prussians. The difference between them, however, lies in the fact that the Englishman can tolerate a significantly greater dose of anarchy. If the two were innkeepers in squalid neighborhoods, the Prussian would expect the regulations to be followed in every room. In doing so, he would actually be preserving a certain veneer of order while the entire building was being devoured by nihilism from the inside out. The Englishman would turn a blind eye to the growing disorder at first and just keep on filling the glasses and collecting the money until finally, when the racket on the floor above got out of hand, he would take a few of the customers upstairs, and together they would beat the others to a pulp.
From the standpoint of character analysis, the Englishman has the advantage over the Prussian in being phlegmatic, while the other is sanguine; objectively, he has the advantage of the seaman over the landlubber. Seafaring people are used to greater fluctuation. Add to this the frequently noted superiority of the Norman genetic material, which is more favorable for the creation of a leader class than the common Germanic stock."
I really like this stark comparison between the phlegmatic and sanguine, calm and apathetic vs cheerful and optimistic. Seems our society has been overcome by this orderly Prussian mindset, which is nice during peace but a menace during war. Perhaps we need to revive the spirit of the Englishman and deal with these situations that are getting out of hand.
If I had to guess, Junger was probably irritated by the general complacency of the German population during WWII allowing their country to be "devoured by nihilism from the inside out." Though now it seems to be a disease of the mind not limited to a specific population.
The interesting trek through the jungles of your story finally did pay off. Nice close.
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” That quote from Robert Duvall’s character and the drunken fit of Martin Sheen, which was real, are the only things my memory hold from that movie.
As bad as my memory is I’m surprised it holds that much.
I saw that movie in the theater when it came out. I was only 18 years old. It’s hard to believe I was ever that young.
Sorry, but I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the typo about the “rouge” general. I was going to try to connect it to the comment about “sanguine” by N.L. but apparently I’m not that clever.
haha I didn't even notice the typo, but I guess it works because he was covered in blood.
Everyone I talk to about the movie always ends up saying that line. I'm not sure if most people end up finishing it, but I always found the Seinfeld parody of it hilarious.
Some more trivia: a coworker who had fought on the ground in that war agreed that music was played over loudspeakers from helicopters, but rather than Wagner, it was country western.
Some of the hidden psyop in the use of that idiom might be in what he also observed was the cruelty of "good ol' boys" toward the natives. I once heard a woman observe that country western gave her husband mild PTSD for the same reason.
In civilised parts one can say “behave yourself” and the other will know exactly what you mean, even though on the face of it the words mean nothing at all. Even our dogs can understand what it means. Still, not everyone’s dogs can be be taught, if you get my drift.
The Cambodia Killing Fields comes to mind as man’s inhumanity to man as well. However, Jesus’ holy and sinless blood was sacrificed willingly that we who believe would have eternal life.
Satan blinds men’s minds with counterfeit sacrifice seeking what Jesus has already provided. Thank you Jesus.
“When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Canaanites were worshipping demon spirits: Astarte (Ashtaroth) and Moloch. The valley of Gehenna, or Ge Hinom, outside Jerusalem, was the place of human sacrifice of children to these demons. The Jews thought this place so evil that they would not live there but only burned their garbage there, day and night."
I always found the economic vernacular interesting, like the singular twist "the free exchange of good and service." We are called to produce good and provide service, which should be without constraint, as opposed to evil.
I'll have to look at the movie again; it didn't make much of an impression on me at the time -- but my father flew in Vietnam & it was his favorite movie on the subject of that war.
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
Oh, that's eerie. I like it. He has quite a few interesting observations about the Gulag system.
And it is more than interesting, it is profound, disturbing and ultimately the reason for the events that we celebrate, or should I say, some of us celebrate later this week. May you move past your interest to engagement.
We just need to stop making so many judgements about other people. It is well known that the West has about the least empathy of anyone. I do not know why they practiced human sacrifice. U. S. official policy has so far killed over 100,000 Ukrainians and/or Russians. Also the U. S. is pretending that their bombs sold to Israel somehow do not make the body count of the U. S. that much higher. There it is: this is what we are afraid to face. Now tell me again about those negroes in Benin.
It's normal to think one's own people are better than others. I think we have little understanding of peoples very different from us. So I kind of like US/America, simply because it is my own place. But I do not believe America is always right and should impose itself on the rest of the world. When the US herself no longer knows what it is doing and there are no political values remaining. You are right --- best not criticize anyone. Period. But good to think things through as best one can (using ideas of others, like for example Herder, who suggested one culture does not understand the other)
Nice post, Theodore. Yes, darkness lies within the heart of every man; to deny this darkness is to have it manifest in uncontrollable ways, but it will always manifest one way or another. The wise man will confront and integrate his darkness instead of deny and try to suppress it. Regarding human sacrifice, every society practices sacrifices of one form or another for societal cohesion; this is what globohomo is doing now with child trannies.... Girard called this the scapegoat mechanism, and he thought that Christianity was ultimately so radical and revolutionary because it forced society to identify with the victim of the scapegoating.
Junger commented on Heart of Darkness in his World War 2 diaries,, August 16, 1942 entry: "I read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a story that superbly describes the transformation of civilized optimism into utter bestiality. Two Philistines come to the Congo to make money, and there they adopt cannibalistic habits. In broader contexts, Burckhardt describes this process as "rapid decay." Both men heard the overture of our age. Conrad perceives something more clearly than Kipling, and that is Anglo-Saxon constancy in transitional situations. That is a remarkable and unpredictable trait in our world, which might sooner have been prophesied of the Prussians. The difference between them, however, lies in the fact that the Englishman can tolerate a significantly greater dose of anarchy. If the two were innkeepers in squalid neighborhoods, the Prussian would expect the regulations to be followed in every room. In doing so, he would actually be preserving a certain veneer of order while the entire building was being devoured by nihilism from the inside out. The Englishman would turn a blind eye to the growing disorder at first and just keep on filling the glasses and collecting the money until finally, when the racket on the floor above got out of hand, he would take a few of the customers upstairs, and together they would beat the others to a pulp.
From the standpoint of character analysis, the Englishman has the advantage over the Prussian in being phlegmatic, while the other is sanguine; objectively, he has the advantage of the seaman over the landlubber. Seafaring people are used to greater fluctuation. Add to this the frequently noted superiority of the Norman genetic material, which is more favorable for the creation of a leader class than the common Germanic stock."
I really like this stark comparison between the phlegmatic and sanguine, calm and apathetic vs cheerful and optimistic. Seems our society has been overcome by this orderly Prussian mindset, which is nice during peace but a menace during war. Perhaps we need to revive the spirit of the Englishman and deal with these situations that are getting out of hand.
Still blaming the Germans?
If I had to guess, Junger was probably irritated by the general complacency of the German population during WWII allowing their country to be "devoured by nihilism from the inside out." Though now it seems to be a disease of the mind not limited to a specific population.
Blaming the Germans for what?
OECONOMIA DIVINA (From The Rising of the Sun)
I did not expect to live in such an unusual moment.
When the God of thunders and of rocky heights,
The Lord of hosts, Kyrios Sabaoth,
Would humble people to the quick,
Allowing them to act whatever way they wished,
Leaving to them conclusions, saying nothing.
It was a spectacle that was indeed unlike
The age long cycle of royal tragedies.
Roads on concrete pillars, cities of glass and cast iron,
Airfields larger than tribal dominions
Suddenly ran short of their essence and disintegrated
Not in a dream but really, for, subtracted from themselves,
They could only hold on as do things which should not last.
Out of trees, field stones, even lemons on the table,
Materiality escaped and their spectrum
Proved to be a void, a haze on a film.
Dispossessed of its objects, space was swarming.
Everywhere was nowhere and nowhere, everywhere.
Letters in books turned silver-pale, wobbled, and faded
The hand was not able to trace the palm sign, the river sign, or the sign of ibis.
A hullabaloo of many tongues proclaimed the mortality of the language.
A complaint was forbidden as it complained to itself.
People, afflicted with an incomprehensible distress,
Were throwing off their clothes on the piazzas so that nakedness might call
For judgment.
But in vain they were longing after horror, pity, and anger.
Neither work nor leisure
Was justified,
Nor the face, nor the hair nor the loins
Nor any existence.
Creslaw Milosz.
Interesting poem.
I like the line: "A complaint was forbidden as it complained to itself."
https://thomaswmorris.com/library/czeslaw-milosz/the-rising-of-the-sun
"a haze on a film" -- "turned silver pale and wobbled" --
Thanks for presenting this work.
The interesting trek through the jungles of your story finally did pay off. Nice close.
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” That quote from Robert Duvall’s character and the drunken fit of Martin Sheen, which was real, are the only things my memory hold from that movie.
As bad as my memory is I’m surprised it holds that much.
I saw that movie in the theater when it came out. I was only 18 years old. It’s hard to believe I was ever that young.
Sorry, but I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the typo about the “rouge” general. I was going to try to connect it to the comment about “sanguine” by N.L. but apparently I’m not that clever.
haha I didn't even notice the typo, but I guess it works because he was covered in blood.
Everyone I talk to about the movie always ends up saying that line. I'm not sure if most people end up finishing it, but I always found the Seinfeld parody of it hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRnVqVClU8g
Some more trivia: a coworker who had fought on the ground in that war agreed that music was played over loudspeakers from helicopters, but rather than Wagner, it was country western.
Some of the hidden psyop in the use of that idiom might be in what he also observed was the cruelty of "good ol' boys" toward the natives. I once heard a woman observe that country western gave her husband mild PTSD for the same reason.
I recall the expression used by servicemen during that war: "going bamboo".
In civilised parts one can say “behave yourself” and the other will know exactly what you mean, even though on the face of it the words mean nothing at all. Even our dogs can understand what it means. Still, not everyone’s dogs can be be taught, if you get my drift.
Some dogs never stop biting no matter how much training is applied, and only an idiot would leave their children near one unattented.
The Cambodia Killing Fields comes to mind as man’s inhumanity to man as well. However, Jesus’ holy and sinless blood was sacrificed willingly that we who believe would have eternal life.
Satan blinds men’s minds with counterfeit sacrifice seeking what Jesus has already provided. Thank you Jesus.
Certainly no shortage of evil in the world...
Happy Easter :)
my first read of many i hope. looking forward to reading more of what you are offering. 🙏🏻🍀
“When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Canaanites were worshipping demon spirits: Astarte (Ashtaroth) and Moloch. The valley of Gehenna, or Ge Hinom, outside Jerusalem, was the place of human sacrifice of children to these demons. The Jews thought this place so evil that they would not live there but only burned their garbage there, day and night."
https://substack.com/@filiusprodigus/note/c-49813027
Excellent, Theodore. I found this most compelling: “Evil is banal. Trite, trivial and commonplace.
Given its unimaginable supply, who really wants it? Only modern fools.”
I always found the economic vernacular interesting, like the singular twist "the free exchange of good and service." We are called to produce good and provide service, which should be without constraint, as opposed to evil.
I've seen Horrors...
https://youtu.be/BSfTXaqo18o?feature=shared
Absolutely Amazing
"Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror."
The last bit of that movie, after sitting there for hours, always gets me.
I'll have to look at the movie again; it didn't make much of an impression on me at the time -- but my father flew in Vietnam & it was his favorite movie on the subject of that war.
Good movie. Long.
Our children liked "1917", but I found it the most unlikely of "chick-flicks", and very long -- "Apocalypse" should move more quickly.
I saw it on the Big screen with surround sound when it first came out and my friends had to walk me home, I was so blown away.
I hope that Megalopolis is half this good.
Here is my other favorite line that I've said many times myself:
https://youtu.be/t9mmTOv2kW4?feature=shared
No remission of sins without the shedding of blood.
Precisely why God became incarnate and sacrificed Himself, once and for all.
If we are unwilling to accept that sacrifice for ourselves, then the old gods must be appeased, in one way or another.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KmdAuLYZJk8BAVdj7
Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “The line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.”
Or words to that effect.
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
Oh, that's eerie. I like it. He has quite a few interesting observations about the Gulag system.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago
His observation is about us. You and me.
And it is more than interesting, it is profound, disturbing and ultimately the reason for the events that we celebrate, or should I say, some of us celebrate later this week. May you move past your interest to engagement.
And Pascha, this coming May.
"The Gulag" is a marvel.
We just need to stop making so many judgements about other people. It is well known that the West has about the least empathy of anyone. I do not know why they practiced human sacrifice. U. S. official policy has so far killed over 100,000 Ukrainians and/or Russians. Also the U. S. is pretending that their bombs sold to Israel somehow do not make the body count of the U. S. that much higher. There it is: this is what we are afraid to face. Now tell me again about those negroes in Benin.
"We just need to stop making so many judgements about other people."
Then why would you judge the U. S. and the collective West?
"History is brutal and ugly, and hideous practices still operate beneath our illusory playtend guise of normalcy."
That's a catch-all, most people are evil and ignore the evils in the world today.
It's normal to think one's own people are better than others. I think we have little understanding of peoples very different from us. So I kind of like US/America, simply because it is my own place. But I do not believe America is always right and should impose itself on the rest of the world. When the US herself no longer knows what it is doing and there are no political values remaining. You are right --- best not criticize anyone. Period. But good to think things through as best one can (using ideas of others, like for example Herder, who suggested one culture does not understand the other)