The train tracks of life

My grandson loves to watch his "Thomas" go rolling around the tracks, through tunnels, over bridges, he loves to lay down at eye level with it, relax, and just watch the train be a train.

One time, while we were stretched out on the floor enjoying the moment, I remembered an analogy I had come across in a book, (can't remember now which book.) The writer had compared man's existential condition to a train moving along train tracks. His context, as I remember it, had to do with Catholics fretting over church dogma, and how the rules were necessary because they were conducive to man's spiritual destiny.

Suppose the train could reflect on itself. It might say, "Look at how confined I am by these tracks, I want to jump these accursed tracks and be free." Unfortunately, as soon as our talking train escapes his imprisonment he finds himself completely immobile! The moral, of course, is that it's fine to live ones life off the tracks, unless one is a train!

The defining question here is, what is man? Is he, by nature, a worshipping being, is he a creature, who, by definition, requires meaning as much as knowledge? Does he have a transcendent spiritual core which is "restless until it rests in (Martin Buber's )'Thou."? (St. Augustine)

Let's examine what separates the cultural "right" from the cultural "left?" What separates the religious "right" from the religious "left?" These political, theological and cultural divides are, in reality, disagreements over the intrinsic nature of man. They are substantive debates, and should not be trivialized by the "can't we all just get along mentality." We need to engage and confront these controversies honestly.

Consider the debate over absolutes and secularism, which Pope Benedict referred to in his first major address as Pope.

Secularists are preoccupied with humanism in one form or another. Man is unraveling the secrets of the universe, of biology, of physics...religious rituals, loyalties, are now obsolete, in fact, they are counter productive, inhibiting man's inevitable progress. Man is now capable of setting the parameters, rules are self-interpretive and situational. Man runs toward self-glorification with every step. Here we have relativism.

On the other side, we have the long Judeo-Christian Tradition, a spiritual legacy embodied in the Natural Law, and the "corner stone" of western civilization. Man is created in the image of God, his destiny is communion, a covenant of love with the three Persons of the Trinity. The wonders of scientific discovery, the mystical heights of contemplation, in complementarity, draw man more deeply into the love story. Man runs towards God and finds his destiny. Here we have absolutes.

Two very different world views, indeed. From which well should we drink? Which source has the "living water," that will quench man's unremitting thirst for freedom, for meaning?

My "money" is on the Judeo-Christian Tradition. At times, in my life, I have been, "off the tracks" and the freedom it promised was a mirage. True freedom enables man to be most himself, or, in theological terms...we are to become what we are.

Mark Steyn, in his latest piece in Imprimis, entitled, Lights Out on Liberty, gives us a very sobering analysis of what is lurking out there, off the tracks, so to speak.

"On August 3, 1914, on the eve of the First World War, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, stood at the window of his office in the summer dusk and observed, 'The lamps are going out all over Europe.' Today, the lights are going out on liberty all over the Western world, but in a more subtle and profound way."

He proceeds to list numerous instances where the western world is cowering, appeasing and giving way entirely to forces that would utterly destroy our freedoms. To name a few;

1. In the Danish cartoon crises the European Union Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security proposed "prudence" when dealing with Islam, aka...Islam is off limits!

2. Steyn himself is currently being sued by the Canadian Islamic Congress because of his "flagrant Islamophobia."

3. The British government is "issuing Sharia-compliant Islamic bonds,

4. Steyn reports that the Fortis Bank, in London, "has stopped using Knorbert the piglet as a mascot for fear of offending Muslims,

5. And, according to Steyn, last month the Archbishop of Canterbury said that it was dangerous to have one law for eneryone and that the introduction of Sharia to the United Kingdom was "inevitable." Oh, yes, the ugly spector of relativism haunts the Church as well.

I only touched the surface with these snippets. Steyn concludes, if this is what is happening now with Muslims at 10% of the population, what will happen when they are 20%...? "Honor killings" are taking place in our own big cities right now.

I would argue, that when one sees true liberty, piece by piece, being abolished, all in the name of tolerance and peace...we are severely off the tracks!

There are absolutes in regard to man's highest and noblest aspirations. It is my contention, they are as firmly planted in our nature as is our DNA.

If we want to go anywhere we're going to need those tracks.

"Renewing America's Promise"/Cecile Richards?

This is a difficult topic...the most difficult topic, because it strikes at the very heart of good and evil.

Evil in our time, given a slight post-modernist spin, (a cultural tendency of the late 20 th century it is underpinned by French theorists such as Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Francois Lyotard . It rejects a notion of universal truth but emphasises that meaning is in appearance and interpretation. ...) is, in effect, calling what is good, evil, and vice versa. Nowhere is this more evident than in the "Alice in Wonderland" jibberish that passes for the abortion debate.

Most intellectually honest individuals realize, for example, that to call the philosophy, that justifies the taking of innocent human life in a mother's womb, which, should be the safest place for it, "pro-choice," is a catastrophic abuse of language, and, more tragically, of meaning. So, now, individuals who believe in the ultimate dignity of human life, are anti-choice!

This is a lie, of course. The truth is, that "responsibility" begins before conception, not after. However, this is the nature of evil, where ever it is perpetrated. It is not difficult to make truth a casuality when, according to our post modern culture, meaning itself is "[only] appearance and interpretation."

Politics now brings us to Tuesday night at the DNC. The theme of the night is, "Renewing America's Promise." On this night, Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, will speak to the Convention. Her abortion message, a sacrilege, certainly fits in with renewing America's promise, doesn't it? Welcome to "Alice in Wonderland!"

BHO has, in truth, (please see the American Right to Life website for an account of all the dismal facts, which difinitively prove his lies, regarding Illinois legislation BAIPA,) cast down his "thirty pieces" with evil, on the only ultimately significant issue--the dignity of human life, created in God's image. No Catholic should EVER vote for such an individual...see Chaput's recent book, Render Unto Caesar.

I have written several posts about the theological concept of "Personhood." Arguably, every threat to our Judeo-Christian culture today, is an attempt to strike down "Personhood," for the individual human being, and, ultimately, the Divine Communion/Personhood, of our Trinitarian God.

We, as Christians, simply must acquire a grasp, both intellectually and mystically, through prayer, of the danger and existential threat, to which we have fallen victim in the modern age. We are an inextricable part, an indispensable and sacred part, of the greatest of all Mysteries, God's own Mystery of love. We must take our stand on the battle lines and fight the good fight in our daily lives, as heirs of those great founding fathers who, unapologetically, brought forth our country in sacrifice and love, founded on Judeo-Christian principles.

Finally, perhaps this is too harsh on the Church, some of the Bishops, most notably Pope Benedict himself, and, in my own community, Bishop Chaput of Denver, have called Christians out to defend truth, against relativism, secularism and the assault on human dignity and freedom.

I came across a wonderful piece by Professor Michael Heller, given at the Templeton Prize News Conference in March of this year. The full statement can be read here,..., it speaks of the "Great Mystery," of God,

Science is but a collective effort of the Human Mind to read the Mind of God from question marks out of which we and the world around us seem to be made. To place ourselves in this double entanglement is to experience that we are a part of the Great Mystery. Another name for this Mystery is the Humble Approach to reality – the motto of all John Templeton Foundation activities. The true humility does not consist in pretending that we are feeble and insignificant, but in the audacious acknowledgement that we are an essential part of the Greatest Mystery of all – of the entanglement of the Human Mind with the Mind of God.

Yes, true humility accepts his vocation, his mirthful and holy "entanglement" with God, and, as Aragorn, in the "Lord of the Rings," cries in his "Battle Speech,"

"...My brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me, a day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day; an hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of man comes crashing down, but it is not this day, this day we fight. By all that you hold dear, on this good earth, I bid you stand..."

I will not watch Cecile Richard's speech, it "will take the heart of me,"-- brothers, stand with me...

The boy and the man/Obama and McCain

Last nights match up between Obama and McCain was a disaster for Obama. One thing only was blatantly obvious, Obama's immaturity. And, since the only remedy for that is the time-consuming task of growing up, his election hopes will, most likely, continue to diminish.

In fact, Obama is stunningly immature for his age, perhaps because he has inculcated himself within a particularly marginal post modern clique, whose primary emphasis is naval gazing. It has produced, in him, a peculiar contemporary type of indoctrination primarily responsible for catastrophic blind spots in his perspective, both theologically and politically.

For example, from last nights contest, when asked about a singular moral failure, Obama, agitatingly verbose, could only mention adolescent misdeeds. McCain, unhesitatingly, said, his failed marriage. The "boy's" response was superficial, it was all he had...his life experience and resulting self-sacrifice, negligible. McCain, on the other hand, spoke as an adult, having invested himself and lost in one of life's momentous committments; he could draw on the wisdom and humility such an experience inevitably engenders in the reflective soul.

Yesterday, while researching President George Washington's final hours, I discovered Martha's first words, when told of her husband's death..."Tis well, all is now over, I shall soon follow him, I have no more trials to pass through."

Trials, "I have no more trials to pass through," these are the words of one refined in fire, purified and humbled through the hard labor and travail of life, at once wholeheartedely accepted and lived, not on one's own terms, but, in humility and grace, on such terms as are given. Trials are the means to "character," yes, we all wish it were otherwise, but it isn't. Years of self-sacrificing investment in life, failures, rising again from the ashes and starting over, this, and this alone builds character, humility and wisdom.

Perhaps the most eerily unsettling example of the "boy" and the "man" last night was Obama's response to the question of evil. How should one respond to evil, appease, negotiate, contain or destroy?

Nowhere was the contrast more stark. He mentioned the horror in Darfur, then, immediately honed in on injustices in American streets, concluding with a self-flagellation of this country for not having sufficient humility; in so doing, he epitomized the utter shallowness of his "theology," and I use the term lightly!

McCain, unapologetically, went straight to the heart of Islamic terror and our moral duty to destroy it before it destroys civilization itself. He was able to hit the target with pinpoint accuracy--existential scars forever steadying his aim. Again, unavoidably, Obama lost the match.

Finally, Obama was asked to give an example of when he stood against the Democratic party to reach across the aisle. His answer disclosed a desperately juvenile attempt to distort reality. He recalled his collaboration, ironically, with McCain, to enact ethics reform. However, apparently this episode ended with Obama "chickening out," at the last minute to side with the democratic leadership! What?

One of my father's favorite poems was Rudyard Kipling's "If," he recited it effortlessly. Through the years, he encouraged his children to internalize its wisdom. Could it be Obama, as the product of affirmative action, is so enmeshed in what is owed to him, that he is incapable of enobling risk?

"If you can make one heap of all your winnings.

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings,

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

...Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son."

Rudyard Kipling

TheBoy v. the Man