Vatican II, with its wholesale abandonment of centuries of tradition, was the spiritual prototype for the Great Reset. They have to jettison the old before they can bring in the new.
Congratulations on being in the top of Substack's "Philosophy" category!
I have long searched for a Christian "Evola" type author, someone that talks about transendance and spirituality from a christian viewpoint. Being raised as an evangelic christian, all I got was spirituality defined either as an emotional experience, or reduced to moral choices. Nothing about virtues, inner character, transendence and sanctification. I'm glad that God led me to the online DR space, and thank you specifically for your part in bringing back these essential topics to the christian sphere. God bless.
Gave up my career to care for my elderly parents. My wife basically gave up hers too. I’m making less than one-third of what I made in my professional career, but i wouldn’t change it for the world. It is such a privilege to be with them.
Sadly, many fathers are not present to establish this necessary ritual of respect. With the advent of cohabitation and no fault divorce, there is no desire to resolve the natural conflicts that arise in any marriage. Narcissism reigns supreme. It’s impossible to establish a concept of respect for a father who isn’t around. We have spawned generations of children and parents who have established a tradition of brokenness. Society has changed but we are the same people in need of structure and parental guidance that is no longer available. Rootlessness is soul death.
I can understand secular people skipping a traditional church wedding and going to a justice of the peace. What I don’t understand is doing a bastardized version of a traditional wedding, where you mix beautiful old customs with brand new barbarisms cooked up in your own imagination to satisfy the demands of your own ego. The ultimate example of that is the pathetic spinsters who have a “wedding” without a groom. As if the bridesmaids, dress, cake, and gifts are the point and the groom is an optional detail. If those girls actually think that way, no wonder they’re spinsters.
“Regardless of one’s metaphysics, it must be recognised that rituals have deep protective value. Han references Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who suggests that, while houses are homes in space, rituals are homes in time. They are familiar, reliable, habitable; we can sink into them, forgetting for a moment our personal vulnerability. “
I love this idea, thank you. This was an excellent read.
Notably, the most of the last 4-5 Tsars of Russia had poor relationships with their fathers, until the country collapsed in a vicious egalitarian bloodletting that ended with the first mass divorces in Russian history. I think we underestimate the importance of the Patriarch. Great read, Johann
Haven’t seen her video but I understand that sometimes one feels the need to venture into the unknown. I myself have ventured into the unknown by moving out of state from my home where I was raised and residing in the state where I met my wife and where she was raised. That being said I have always have had a deep respect for my father especially because he was a deep thinker. To the point I will tell people that he was almost always the smartest person in the room which my wife will agree. Further more he was a rare man who out lived his deceased spouse, my mother, for nearly 2 decades which is not the Norm( which just so happened to be his name). Perhaps as a sign of (dare I say ) divine reciprocity my father walked me down the aisle for my wedding and even held a banquet for my side of the family in my hometown a few months after the wedding. Though he voiced to
my brothers concern he had done something to make me move far away (which he didn’t) he never spoke to me about it ( I found out about this after he passed from my brother). As you note in your article, I do place a god like characteristics on both my parents though I focus on my father in this comment.
I’m really not sure where I’m going with this as I’m writing other than this piece just struck a nerve or an emotion in me regarding my father and the idea that sometime new rituals can be good. Again I have not seen the video and don’t know any context about this person’s decision to not have her father walker down the aisle but I just wanted (maybe narcissistically) present my experience.
Thank you for your writing. I always have to read your post 2 times because they are so dense with thought and depth.
At my wedding I forwent the mother-son dance mostly out of wanting to be out of the spotlight and—nearly a decade later and 4 years since my mother passed—I deeply regret it. Now both my parents are dead (dad in '23) and I do try to find ways to honor them in my thoughts. Today my toddler asked me when her within memory deceased grandfather would be coming back and I had to explain to her there was no coming back from that one thing.
Rituals have been popping up regularly recently, thanks for yet another post. I like your take: a home in time. The general rootlessness and domicide/deterritorialization of modern life is connected to the meaning crisis, and ritual may be one way to "re-home" our civilization. Related to religion that is not a religion?
There's also the postmodern/liberal critique: "Who's values should the ritual affirm?"
How do we create meaningful rituals in a diverse world? Do rituals need to be communal to hold weight?
I'm not sure going back to tradition is the right move. Society will keep in evolving, and regressive movements tend to dissolve sooner or later. Maybe there's a metamodern take.
Thanks for writing a post that induced a bunch of questions! And on an important topic!
I just wrote a fairly long comment on Richard Halliburton, a sea going Junk, dismissing tradition and lost at sea, -but half of my comment disappeared.
OK I figure the universe is trying to tell me something so I'll just say instead, enjoyed the essay! ;-)
The Bible promises long life if you honor your parents. This can be most difficult at times to do, especially if your parents are bad people. But I'm here to tell you it can be done. After all, you wouldn't even be here without them. If you value yourself, you must value them and God will bless you.
Vatican II, with its wholesale abandonment of centuries of tradition, was the spiritual prototype for the Great Reset. They have to jettison the old before they can bring in the new.
Congratulations on being in the top of Substack's "Philosophy" category!
I have long searched for a Christian "Evola" type author, someone that talks about transendance and spirituality from a christian viewpoint. Being raised as an evangelic christian, all I got was spirituality defined either as an emotional experience, or reduced to moral choices. Nothing about virtues, inner character, transendence and sanctification. I'm glad that God led me to the online DR space, and thank you specifically for your part in bringing back these essential topics to the christian sphere. God bless.
Gave up my career to care for my elderly parents. My wife basically gave up hers too. I’m making less than one-third of what I made in my professional career, but i wouldn’t change it for the world. It is such a privilege to be with them.
Sadly, many fathers are not present to establish this necessary ritual of respect. With the advent of cohabitation and no fault divorce, there is no desire to resolve the natural conflicts that arise in any marriage. Narcissism reigns supreme. It’s impossible to establish a concept of respect for a father who isn’t around. We have spawned generations of children and parents who have established a tradition of brokenness. Society has changed but we are the same people in need of structure and parental guidance that is no longer available. Rootlessness is soul death.
I can understand secular people skipping a traditional church wedding and going to a justice of the peace. What I don’t understand is doing a bastardized version of a traditional wedding, where you mix beautiful old customs with brand new barbarisms cooked up in your own imagination to satisfy the demands of your own ego. The ultimate example of that is the pathetic spinsters who have a “wedding” without a groom. As if the bridesmaids, dress, cake, and gifts are the point and the groom is an optional detail. If those girls actually think that way, no wonder they’re spinsters.
“Regardless of one’s metaphysics, it must be recognised that rituals have deep protective value. Han references Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who suggests that, while houses are homes in space, rituals are homes in time. They are familiar, reliable, habitable; we can sink into them, forgetting for a moment our personal vulnerability. “
I love this idea, thank you. This was an excellent read.
“...that you may live long upon the earth.”
Notably, the most of the last 4-5 Tsars of Russia had poor relationships with their fathers, until the country collapsed in a vicious egalitarian bloodletting that ended with the first mass divorces in Russian history. I think we underestimate the importance of the Patriarch. Great read, Johann
Haven’t seen her video but I understand that sometimes one feels the need to venture into the unknown. I myself have ventured into the unknown by moving out of state from my home where I was raised and residing in the state where I met my wife and where she was raised. That being said I have always have had a deep respect for my father especially because he was a deep thinker. To the point I will tell people that he was almost always the smartest person in the room which my wife will agree. Further more he was a rare man who out lived his deceased spouse, my mother, for nearly 2 decades which is not the Norm( which just so happened to be his name). Perhaps as a sign of (dare I say ) divine reciprocity my father walked me down the aisle for my wedding and even held a banquet for my side of the family in my hometown a few months after the wedding. Though he voiced to
my brothers concern he had done something to make me move far away (which he didn’t) he never spoke to me about it ( I found out about this after he passed from my brother). As you note in your article, I do place a god like characteristics on both my parents though I focus on my father in this comment.
I’m really not sure where I’m going with this as I’m writing other than this piece just struck a nerve or an emotion in me regarding my father and the idea that sometime new rituals can be good. Again I have not seen the video and don’t know any context about this person’s decision to not have her father walker down the aisle but I just wanted (maybe narcissistically) present my experience.
Thank you for your writing. I always have to read your post 2 times because they are so dense with thought and depth.
At my wedding I forwent the mother-son dance mostly out of wanting to be out of the spotlight and—nearly a decade later and 4 years since my mother passed—I deeply regret it. Now both my parents are dead (dad in '23) and I do try to find ways to honor them in my thoughts. Today my toddler asked me when her within memory deceased grandfather would be coming back and I had to explain to her there was no coming back from that one thing.
Rituals have been popping up regularly recently, thanks for yet another post. I like your take: a home in time. The general rootlessness and domicide/deterritorialization of modern life is connected to the meaning crisis, and ritual may be one way to "re-home" our civilization. Related to religion that is not a religion?
This brings me to another query: how do we get rituals with archetypical weight, yet more in line with our values? David Chapman's "timeworn futures" come to mind: https://meaningness.com/invented-traditions-and-timeworn-futures
There's also the postmodern/liberal critique: "Who's values should the ritual affirm?"
How do we create meaningful rituals in a diverse world? Do rituals need to be communal to hold weight?
I'm not sure going back to tradition is the right move. Society will keep in evolving, and regressive movements tend to dissolve sooner or later. Maybe there's a metamodern take.
Thanks for writing a post that induced a bunch of questions! And on an important topic!
I just wrote a fairly long comment on Richard Halliburton, a sea going Junk, dismissing tradition and lost at sea, -but half of my comment disappeared.
OK I figure the universe is trying to tell me something so I'll just say instead, enjoyed the essay! ;-)
Moving work. Thank you for blessing 15 minutes of my evening. Now I go off to stare into the fireplace for a time. Well done!
An interesting thought provoking post. Thank you.
Not a deep comment, but if I pulled this no way my father would have written the check for my wedding (and nor should he)!
The Bible promises long life if you honor your parents. This can be most difficult at times to do, especially if your parents are bad people. But I'm here to tell you it can be done. After all, you wouldn't even be here without them. If you value yourself, you must value them and God will bless you.
Beautiful.