Trend or continuity

I have not examined the study, as I have little access to journals. However, one of the tenants of actual scientific findings is that the findings should connect with reality. In my, now over 30 years of working with young people, this studies results are in fact reflected by experience. The press release is titled: "Recent generations focus more on fame, money than giving back; Young adults less interested in community issues, politics and environment, finds new research" and is from the APA. I do disagree with the first sentence of the last paragraph in the release, in that I do think that most of our generation, who are raising or have raised this current crop, have created exactly what we have and thus our peer group deserves all the derision we can heap upon them. Of course, we are all products of the disastrous 20th century and are only living on the steep downward slope of culture and civilization.

This kind of information should inform any efforts in the area of community resilience, since the children are disconnected, distracted, inattentive...well you know the litany. St. Augustine wrote: Quod amplius nos delectat, secundum id operemur necesse est.  Thus A.J. Nock was able to say;

The fundamental validity of egoism and hedonism seems to me indisputable, as it did not only to the Cyrenaics and to Epicurus, but to Christian moralists like Butler and Wilson among Protestants, to Spinoza among Jews, and to the mighty Augustine of Hippo among Catholics. But putting all such authority aside, I hold it to be a matter of invariable experience that no one can do anything for anybody. Somebody may profit by something you do, you may know that he profits and be glad of it, but you do not do it for him. You do it, as Augustine says you must do it, are bound to do it (necesse est is the strong term he uses), because you get more satisfaction, happiness, delight, out of doing it than you would get out of not doing it; and this is egoistic hedonism.

If altruism exists then it only came into existence in the 1850's. It was developed by Comte in his efforts with Positivism. Comte being a Frenchman needed to try to make sense of the Frenchman's tremendous capacity for destruction (see Twain's comparison and contrast of Frenchmen and Comanches). I guess Comte came up with something, but again does it reflect reality...the answer is a decided NO. Only the individual can be changed. Improvement can not occur in a community, society, state, nation or any other collective unless each individual improves. So, if you have individuals that are drunk all the time, you have a community of drunks; if you have individuals who are idiots, you have not just a village, but an entire society of idiots. With all due respect to E.O. Wilson, we are not ant or bees.

And so it goes.....

SDG

Cowboy Hypocrisy

Over the years of my wanderings I have had the misfortune of being present during what is misnamed a ‘Cowboy Service.’ These services tend to based on some Christian service, but never seem to elevate to actual worship. Most such services are held in and around the western parts of these united States. However, I suspect they may show up any where.


I recently was made aware that there is a published ‘Cowboy Bible.’ I have seen a copy of this piece of work, but have yet to open it. So, I will save any comments on it for another time. It simply should be noted that all of the dissenting sects have their own version of a bible. Each is written [translated] to rationalize and substantiate the sects own dogma. Most are terribly infantile and so poorly written as to bring tears to the eyes of more sensitive beings.

As for the ‘Cowboy Services,’ each has its own peculiarities, but the ‘minister’ is usually a well dressed movie, urban, or drug-store type. He, less often she, extols the virtues of the cowboy. Apparently, this creature is God’s favorite. It appears that God has given up on shepherds since cowboys came along. Yes, sheep are range maggots and do not mix with cattle. Most actual ranging examples show this to be false as well.

Cowboys are close to God, call on him daily, and thank him for saving themselves and the cattle they work. These guys are patriotic also. They are the ‘my country, right or wrong’ crowd. These are hard working Christian men (or boys) that are the salt of the earth and the knitting that holds the world together. At least that is the picture one gets from these ‘Cowboy Services’ with their ministers in boots.

All of the above gives me a good laugh.  Once again, the deception of these ministers and the gullibility of the masses make for highly humorous behaviors.

One need delve very briefly into the literature to discover something slightly different. A prime example comes from Andy Adams who wrote ‘The Log of a Cowboy; A narrative of the old trail days.’ As a sixteen year old, Adams left the San Antonio area to work with some cowmen and boys. They took charge of a herd in south Texas and moved up the western trail to Montana. Adams’ book is a travel log of his journey and one of the best documents of actual cowboy life and ways in the early trail driving days.

Adams’ writes that during one river crossing a young fellow is drowned. The crew finds his body and one of the boys knows the family. It would seem that the mother, described as a ‘Christian woman,’ has lost two other sons to drowning in the Red River. The boys decide to give this poor unfortunate a decent burial, so that it can be reported back to the mother that the boys had done the best they could by her son. So, one of the boys heads off toward the nearest town for a coffin while a couple of others begin to dig the grave.

Then Adams’ writes the most profound line. He writes, ‘There was not a man among us who was hypocrite enough to attempt to conduct a Christian burial service…’ Instead they send a rider to a wagon train of immigrants, one of which is described as a ‘superannuated minister who gladly volunteered his services.’ Well, the funereal goes off well as the minister’s daughters sang hymns and the word struck the hearts of all the boys.

What stands out here is the attitude that the boys had concerning their own standing before God. They were not hypocritical enough to believe they could pull off a Christian service. In other words, these simple boys who followed cows for living were humble enough to stand down and let God provide. This He did by having a ‘superannuated minister’ in the area.

Did they have a special service just for themselves? No. Did they have a specially written bible just for themselves? No. Did they dress like move or urban or drugstore imitations? No, they were the real thing. They simply waited on God and humbled themselves before the great mystery which no man can grasp.

SDG

Reading what exactly.....

I had the occasion to converse with a man of unusual talent in these parts. I would say that he is possible one of a very few find minds in the region and has made a good accounting of his self through the years. He was holding forth on the virtue of a small library in the area. He held that the library was a good and noble thing. That the locals could be proud of it and the children did benefit greatly by the books that were available.


Then with a rather puzzled look he asked if I thought the reading scores at the local public school were low and could be improved. After an embarrassing pause, I said no I thought the scores were accurate and very good actually. As to improvement, well the children who took the reading test today would be different than the children who take the test in the future so there really was no way of determining improvement. I added that any forcing of the current scores up or down would burden both the children and the teachers unnecessarily.

Oh, yes he stated, but would it not be better if all of the children could read well and those that read well now could work toward reading even better. All of this I found very uncomfortable, because I knew that had my very able friend known how to read himself, he would be less inclined to force the issue with any one else. But then no one can know everything. So, I said that he must not have been familiar with the difficulty of reading.

In his ‘Conversations of Goethe,’ Johann Peter Eckermann quotes the great man writing:

He then joked upon the difficulty of reading, and the presumption of many people, who, without any previous study and preparatory knowledge, would at once read every philosophical and scientific work, as if it were nothing but a romance. “The good people,” continued he, “know not what time and trouble it costs to learn to read. I have been employed for eighteen years on it, and cannot say that I have reached the goal yet.”

As Erik Kuehnelt-Leddihn observed, the requirement that people have general reading and writing skills is unscrupulous because not only is it beyond most, the majority seldom put those skills to any positive use. Given that most books today are written at an elementary reading level there seems to be no reason to stress the poor unfortunates that inhabit the school by ‘improving’ their reading scores. The picture books (aka. Graphic novels) that occupy the largest number of shelves at the local library are perfect for these creatures that are better able to “let things pass through their minds” than would be great novels which would burden them with the ‘time and trouble’ to learn to read.

Since the situation is as it is and there seems that there will be no positive change in the future, it is probably best to leave things as they are.  Otherwise, one may have kicked a sleeping dog and who knows what difficulties may arise from that.  Those who do take the time and trouble will and there is no reason to upset the disposition of those who can not.

SDG

The most despicable of men

Given what passes for Christian churches in these united States, it is not surprising that the So-Called get their religious entertainment fix each week are shocked to see the condition of the church in Palestine, Russia, north Africa, and etc.  Most but not all of these areas are where one find the church of Jesus Christ.  As Martin Luther wrote:

The church is offensive to the wise and counted with criminals.  This is the lot of the church because this was the lot of Christ, the Head of the Church.

The results of this distance between the church of Jesus Christ and what passes for it here in these united States is of great magnitude.  But this also has a great impact upon the those within each.  In these united States the message is one of "power, wealth, peace, honor, wisdom, and righteousness."  The So-Called preachers cover the remnant with "slander, bitter hatred, persecution, and blasphemy."  This is license for the So-Called to treat the remnant with "contempt and ingratitude."

Robert A. Kelly has pointed out that the fact that the So-Called,

who carry out the persecution of and inflict suffering on Christ's people are the agents of the devil does not mean that they are obviously and outwardly wicked people.  Some are, but most are often the most outwardly pious, upright, and religious people.  They are full of holy zeal to protect God and morality from assault.

And so it is and so it will be.  But what about those who deliver Christ's words of "affliction, shame, persecution, death, etc."  Well, for the most part they are out of step with the new and the enlightened.  They are "the most despicable of men" and thus the source of the church's glory.

SDG

Did I fall out of favor?

As a mendicant scholar, one is always in danger of falling out of favor with the ruling establishment. Of course, one is not a mendicant scholar to become purse proud. So, it is of a great comfort to know that external conditions or even existing conditions are not a measure of ones blessings.

Recent considerations have made me question that if I have indeed fallen out of favor, it would be the the most rapid fall I have ever experienced.  Of course, I could be projecting too much as well.

Re-Introduction

After a significant break, I am now ready to begin (again) chronicling my wanderings. As the title of the blog suggests, I am and have almost always been a wandering scholar. The purpose here will be to give space to the observations I have made in my wandering. There will be room for very little analysis, but much room for ‘seeing things as they are.’

Before defining the basic terms, I think it important to declare the baggage I carry as I wander around. The observations that I make and have made are motivated by a point of departure and framework. Almost by necessity I have become a reactionary Augustinian evangelical (in the classic sense). For additional resources about this foundation the reader is encouraged to go to Holy Scripture, St. Paul, St. Augustine and of course classic Martin Luther. Although my observations are predominated by this foundation, I have also been influenced by certain Rabelaisian Pantagruelisms and a Schopenhauerian view of unscrupulous optimism. There certainly is no mystery to this mix insofar as they underlie the observations of these pages; my prayer is that they represent an experienced mind and an examined life.