—T. S. Eliot, Thoughts After Lambeth, 1931
Monday, July 08, 2013
T. S. Eliot's comment on the U. S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling
"The world is trying to experiment with attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail, but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserve alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the world from suicide."
5 comments:
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The Japanese would probably find this comment arrogant and ignorant.
ReplyDeleteSo might cannibals in Papua New Guinea. I'm trying to figure out why I should care.
ReplyDeleteMartin,
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind coming off as arrogant and ignorant, no reason for you to.
KyCobb,
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right. That was way a smart-alecky answer. Sorry about that.
The point I should have made was just the opposite: We are here in the West worry about what they might think in the East. Historically, this has not gone the other way. Western civilization has always been the more outward looking culture and the East more inward looking.
Western civilization is inherently syncretistic and has the ability to accommodate different ideas. One good example of this (and this has specifically to do with Western Christianity) was the incorporation of Aristotelian philosophy from Byzantium in the early Middle Ages by things like Aquinas.
You don't seem much of this in the East, which is one reason why Western culture is superior.
As I said to my daughter when she asked me once, "Why is Western Civilization important": "Because it provides you with a culture in which you ask questions like that."
Martin,
ReplyDelete"You don't seem much of this in the East, which is one reason why Western culture is superior."
It seems to me that once Japan decided to open up it accommodated different ideas with remarkable speed such that it is now one of the most advanced and civilized nations on earth. South Korea and Taiwan have made great advances in recent decades, and in the last thirty years China has grown from an economic basket-case to the second largest economy on earth. Though its still politically repressive, many western countries were as well in the not-so-distant past. So I think your statement isn't well-supported by the facts.