I enjoy a good maxim. I especially enjoy startling ones that penetrate to offer sublime truth. One such proverb reads from the seventh chapter of Ecclesiastes: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.” In these evil days one struggles to circumspectly spend his time without having to worry about entering the depressing “house of mourning.” Nevertheless, the truth that the days are indeed evil shocks me to grasp the gravity of decisions; even little ones. What I say to the man I meet in passing for example. Each resolve counts. For, what is history but the accumulation of hundreds of billions of choices of free men added together in a strange, mystical calculation, the formula known only to God, which equates to birth our present circumstances?
Often times my thoughts turn to the obscure. For instance, I often think what might have happened if someone had simply smiled at Vincent Van Gogh a few more times than they did; if someone who didn’t had offered him friendship or had affirmed him in some way. Maybe then his life wouldn’t have been so tragic. Maybe then loneliness woudn’t have killed him.
When I listen to discussions about current events or about any hot-button issue it seems that the matter is presented in terms of a multiple choice test. As if the answer to our problem is either this or that. The problem is that life is not a multiple choice exam, it is an open-ended essay. Mankind has the freedom to write in whatever he will.
The conservative is someone whose worldview hinges upon the belief in free will. Coupled with an understanding that the entire world suffers from constitutional evil, the conservative recognizes a few necessary things about reality. First, in the words of that prophetic realist Richard M. Weaver, that ideas have consequences, and secondly that we have the ability to act upon any idea that our evil natures can conjure up.
I am only a dumb kid but (speaking specifically about American and North Carolina politics) the salad of events that have happened in rapid succession within the past several months scare me. They honestly scare me. Another maxim from Ecclesiastes seven is appropriate here: “Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad.” The oppression I see coming in the name of “progressive” ideologies and liberating us from ourselves is surely going to blindside a few otherwise wise men.
What we must stop doing is thinking of life as if it were a multiple choice test. It isn’t about who you vote for or who wins the next election. Life isn’t an EOG in which you fill in a bubble (completely mind you) for an extreme or moderate position as if it were that simple. There is a larger perspective to note.
It is most important to have a design for the destiny of man that corresponds to reality. Principalities and spirits fight for the soul of man incessantly. There is a grand struggle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light at stake. Engrained in every decision we make is either a vote for or against one or the other side. The full measure of our ability to control the course of history should make us to “stand in awe, and sin not,” to “commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.”
Americans need to realize once again that freedom “is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this essay, despite the fact that I am neither a conservative or particularly in tune with my religion. Good writing, logic, and passion is always a pleasure to read, so I hope there are more posts like this in the future.
I enjoyed writing it! So, I am sure there will be 🙂
“For, what is history but the accumulation of hundreds of billions of choices of free men added together in a strange, mystical calculation, the formula known only to God, which equates to birth our present circumstances?”
Such profundity! Did you come up with that yourself?
Brilliant essay- good work. I love Ecclesiastes.
I came up with it all by mah self lol
This is great, Justin! I really enjoyed it. Also, this one time I didn’t fill in all some bubbles completely on my EOG, and it was terrible. Seriously, my teacher flipped out. Anyway, this really was a great essay, and it made me think that there really is a deeper meaning that a lot of people (including myself) miss a lot of the time because we are so caught up in current events and what’s going on in our lives. We should never take our freedoms for granted, or they will be taken from us (and the process has already started). Anyway, very good essay! 🙂