
When Mahatma Gandhi was asked, “What do you think of European civilization?” he famously replied: “I think it would be a good idea and they should try it.” The proper response to Gandhi should be: “They did try it, but gave it up.” Continue reading
When Mahatma Gandhi was asked, “What do you think of European civilization?” he famously replied: “I think it would be a good idea and they should try it.” The proper response to Gandhi should be: “They did try it, but gave it up.” Continue reading
The single, atomic, deracinated individual does not exist. When he presumes to be a being in itself, he is deceived in the most pathetic way, because he cannot even name the last of the organic processes that condition his life and finite consciousness. The individual is part of a group, a folk, a gente. He is part of an organic unity. Continue reading
Even the heathen philosophers clearly recognized this truth, especially they who held that the wise man alone is free; and by the term “wise man” was meant, as is well known, the man trained to live in accordance with his nature, that is, in justice and virtue. Continue reading
The understanding of esoteric symbols is the result of revelations given by divine grace, and this demands a progressive opening out, in quality and in strength, of adequate faculties latent in the student. One arrives at this through a tension of the will toward the goal of the search. When it is strong enough and properly oriented, this tension resolves itself in a series of partial revelations that are acquired, and which lead by stages toward those that are given. Continue reading
“The ones who truly love their traditions don’t take them too seriously. They march to get their heads shot off with a joke on their lips. And the reason is that they know they’re going to die for something intangible, something sprung from their fancy, half humor, half humbug. Or … Continue reading
Relying on the best of recent biblical exegesis, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger provides interesting details regarding the actual birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. He avoids the sentimentalism often surrounding the Christmas story, and instead brings out its essential meaning. Interested readers can consult the book. What I prefer to focus on … Continue reading
When the soul and the body are united, nature orders the body to serve and be ruled, and the soul to rule and be master. ~ Phaedo Continue reading
This is a review of The Infancy Narratives by Joseph Ratzinger. Since the story is, or should be, very familiar, we want to instead focus more on the exegetical methods used by Fr. Ratzinger than on the story itself. He writes that good exegesis involves two stages. Historical component. What … Continue reading
It is within our power to transform our lives, to restore the proper order within ourselves, giving primacy to spiritual over material values. No task is more urgent, no work more glorious than the regeneration of individuals and of states. Continue reading