“It’s not easy to say what The Divine Comedy is about, because — in fact — it is about everything of meaning in a human life.
What does one’s love for a beautiful woman have to do with the love of God?
What does justice demand of our relationships with one another, in our cities?
What is wealth? How are we to use it?
How much can we learn by reason alone, and how much do we need divine revelation for?
What is sin, and what does sin do to our hearts and our intellects?
How does the grace of God heal us?
What is the fulfillment of the human mind, the good of the intellect?
What does love have to do with knowledge?
Where are we going, and what is the path that leads to beatitude?”
—Dr. Anthony Esolen, from his lecture series on Dante
Can you imagine a world where these questions and others like them are the foundation of every child’s education? Imagine the minds and characters that would be produced from pursuing such questions.
We might just a get another “Dark Ages” if we educated our children this way.
Thank you @sanderford_paul for the Audible recommendation. I’m enjoying it immensely.
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A primer for restoring sanity at the Pandemic’s end:
1. Someone reveals/asks for vax status:
“I’m sorry, that’s inappropriate. It’s been normalized to share private medical info but it isn’t normal or ethical. You can still get and spread Covid vaxxed, so it’s also irrelevant.”
2. A stranger says you wearing a mask would make them feel comfortable:
“The best studies show wearing a cloth mask is as effective as wearing no mask at all. There are lots of things you could do to make me more comfortable, but it’s not appropriate for me to demand it of you.”
3. Someone wants people to take a Covid test to attend a private event:
“I have no symptoms of illness. The rapid PCR tests weren’t designed for widespread asymptomatic testing so they’re not always accurate. Let’s return to common sense: stay home if you don’t feel well.”
I have a theory that people who have spent a lot of time reading excellent fiction, narrative-based literature, epic poetry, etc and are also stronger in disagreeableness than empathy are the least susceptible to propaganda.
My (mostly intuitive) reasoning is thus:
The disagreeable vs empathetic part should be obvious. If you place a high value on “peace” and/or “unity” as defined by “getting along w/ the group,” you will be EXTREMELY uncomfortable when everyone else is saying “this sounds good” but you think it sounds crazy.
If you’re one who isn’t naturally disagreeable you’ll do almost anything to relieve the cognitive dissonance created by your internal questioning of everyone else’s perception of reality. If you’re empathetic you’ll also empathize w/ their fears, even if you aren’t afraid.
Going to collect threads written by people who are becoming aware of how much the media lies while watching the KR trial. If you’ve seen a good one, drop it here.