It's Strewsday Tuesday again!
Two websites that Becky really likes to visit: American Girl
Girlsgogames
We actually learn some stuff from the American Girl site. Becky especially likes the quiz games. We've learned all sorts of facts about different subjects, candy, for instance!
Thought I'd do a review of the books everyone's been reading:
Me: Right now reading aloud The Creed in Slow Motion (we are going really slowly through this), A Tale of Two Cities, Meet the Austins (almost done!), A Little History of the World, Henry V.
Independent reading:
Josh - a series of Star Wars books that his friend keeps lending him. Can't say I'm up to date on what they are exactly. He's also reading a lot of Shakespeare for his class. Recently finished MacBeth. And he also reads on line a lot of fanfic for the Naruto graphic novels.
Sean - recently finished reading the whole Scott Pilgrim series. We are reading Henry V together. I read it aloud and he follows along in his own book.
Becky - She's almost done reading the Mysterious Benedict Society trilogy. She's also working her way through the Life of Fred series. She's almost finished the Edgewood book. She's reading a book on line at the American Girl site as well. And she has a tendency to pick up any book lying around and read it for a while. She started Little Women the other day, but I don't think she's read too much of it.
Rick - has been reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Ben Franklin. It's his third Isaacson book in a row!
Me - well I didn't finish any books for this past Sunday's Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks, but I will definitely have finished them by next week! So stay tuned. I'm posting my reviews this weekend.
Any book or website strewing going on at your place?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
The HHS Mandate
If you haven't heard, Kathleen Sibelius of the Department of Health and Human Services has mandated that all Catholic organizations that hire non-Catholics must provide free contraceptive, abortificients and sterilization insurance coverage. The nice thing about Catholics is we hire anybody! We don't discriminate! So that means that anybody who runs any kind of business has to go against Church teaching and provide something that is considered a gravely mortal sin. This is tyranny and violates the free exercise of religion guaranteed in our Constitution. I urge everyone to become proactive about this. Even if you are for birth control, most rational people would not agree that the Constitution should be violated in this way. Especially if you voted for Obama, please, you owe it to your country to make a big stink about this! This threat to freedom threatens all Americans.
Go to these links to help.
Go to these links to help.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Menu Planning
Tonight, Saturday, I think we are doing carry out from Noodles and Company. I just can't muster up energy for cooking right now. This is my menu planning for the week. I'm printing it out and putting it on my fridge.
Sunday:
(I didn't make pancakes last Sunday, so I think I will this time.)
Breakfast:
Sprouted multigrain pancakes
eggs
bacon
Lunch: come and get it yourself! (Don't forget to soak oatmeal!)
Dinner: grilled steaks, roasted cauliflower and baked acorn squash, mashed potatoes
Monday:
Breakfast:
oatmeal and fruit
Lunch:
Chik-fil-e????
Dinner:
beef fajitas, leftover veggies, corn
Tuesday:
eggs, breakfast ham, fruit
applegate hotdogs plus whatever veggies I can put out
Chicken coq e vin, brown rice, salad, applesauce
Wednesday:
smoothies, scones (I have to use up the package!)
leftovers, peanut butter and fruit (don't forget to start the chicken broth after lunch!)
Easy mac and cheese, salad, apple sauce
Thursday:
breakfast sandwiches for the road
packed sandwiches, fruit, veggies (don't forget to soak oatmeal when you get home!)
pizza
Friday:
oatmeal and fruit
fish sticks, sweet potato fries, veggies (don't forget to start the bread after lunch!)
potato cheese soup, home made bread, veggie platter
Fruit for week: clementines, pears, apples, raisins, blueberries, frozen strawberries, bananas, jar of peaches, applesauce.
Veggies: potatoes, acorn squash, raw and roasted cauliflower, sugar snap peas, celery, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers.
Snacks: yogurt with honey, trail mix, homemade cheesy popcorn, cheese and crackers, choco milk
Sunday:
(I didn't make pancakes last Sunday, so I think I will this time.)
Breakfast:
Sprouted multigrain pancakes
eggs
bacon
Lunch: come and get it yourself! (Don't forget to soak oatmeal!)
Dinner: grilled steaks, roasted cauliflower and baked acorn squash, mashed potatoes
Monday:
Breakfast:
oatmeal and fruit
Lunch:
Chik-fil-e????
Dinner:
beef fajitas, leftover veggies, corn
Tuesday:
eggs, breakfast ham, fruit
applegate hotdogs plus whatever veggies I can put out
Chicken coq e vin, brown rice, salad, applesauce
Wednesday:
smoothies, scones (I have to use up the package!)
leftovers, peanut butter and fruit (don't forget to start the chicken broth after lunch!)
Easy mac and cheese, salad, apple sauce
Thursday:
breakfast sandwiches for the road
packed sandwiches, fruit, veggies (don't forget to soak oatmeal when you get home!)
pizza
Friday:
oatmeal and fruit
fish sticks, sweet potato fries, veggies (don't forget to start the bread after lunch!)
potato cheese soup, home made bread, veggie platter
Fruit for week: clementines, pears, apples, raisins, blueberries, frozen strawberries, bananas, jar of peaches, applesauce.
Veggies: potatoes, acorn squash, raw and roasted cauliflower, sugar snap peas, celery, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers.
Snacks: yogurt with honey, trail mix, homemade cheesy popcorn, cheese and crackers, choco milk
Friday, January 27, 2012
7 Quick Takes - 1/27/12
1. I've been reading a great little book of meditations based on the writing of St. John Henry Newman, most mornings. It is called Take Five and it's by Mike Aquilina and Fr. Juan R. Velez. I am really enjoying the pithy but thought provoking meditations. I read while I'm waiting for my kettle to boil for my first cup of coffee. Usually they address something that's been floating around in my life somehow and I get a little moment of crystallization. This morning's meditation was especially on target for me and my state of mind. Newman was giving advice to a new convert (of which I am not, but I always seem to be in the state of permanent conversion!):
"She should give herself to the contemplation of obedience and holiness, and reading of the lives of the saints; and set herself deliberately to the business of self-government, of changing herself where she most requires it, of gaining perfect resignation to God's Will, of unlearning worldly opinions, motives and principles, and living as if in sight of the things invisible - and that without impatience at apparent failure or apparent slow advance."
I bolded the last part, because that's the part that really rang true as a message I needed to hear this a.m. Thank you St. John Henry Newman!
2. Another prayer help I've been utilizing this week is one that send novenas to your email so you remember to pray them. You can find it here at www.praymorenovenas.com. I think I found out about this on the Unschooling Catholics yahoolist.
3. I've started reading Don Quixote! I've never read it before. I haven't gotten far though. In fact, I haven't gotten past the Prelude. The Prelude is 167 pages long but it is wonderful. It is written by the translator, Walter Starkie. I was so charmed by his writing style that I looked him up. What a lovely man! You can read his wikipedia article here. I love stumbling on obscure (at least to me) literary history. This version of Don Quixote sat on my parents shelf for decades. It's an old edition but it is missing the page that has the copyright so I don't know the year.
4. We went to the March for Life on Monday and I've been trying to recover all week. It was rainy and cold and the conditions seemed pretty miserable at first, but once you got into the enormous crowd and started walking, things got much more comfortable. I haven't been to the march personally in about 25 years I think. It has grown incredibly. It reminded me of those photos of MLK's speech, where you just see a sea of people. Really, really huge. The minute we started marching everyone got separated. This proved to be a bit stressful, to say the least. However, we finally managed to meet up again in front of the Supreme Court. The staging wasn't set up due to some snafu, so we couldn't really see anybody speaking and we only got to hear a few minutes before we were told we had to get back to the bus. We got stuck in the crowd right before some counter protestors. We saw this women there. It was disturbing and baffling to us. But I must say they are courageous to speak out when there were at least a quarter of million people there, maybe more, I am horrible at estimating numbers (who were directly opposed to them). I wonder if they'd be so bold for any other movement. Instead people apparently were approaching them in good will to engage them in conversation. The whole mood of the crowd is one of love and peace. Everyone is praying, singing, or chanting slogans (like: we love babies, yes we do. We love babies, how about you!). I think that says something wonderful about the pro-life movement and our country. That we can be so peaceful.
5. But the March really bothered me, just because of my own personality. I am not meant to be political. It truly upsets me and makes me lose sleep and hope! I was particularly upset at the lack of coverage by both the New York Times (who I hear hasn't covered this enormous annual event in 5 years! Anybody who trusts news from that paper has their head buried in the sand!) and the Washington Post (which almost to a ludicrous level, underreported the event. No integrity there at all. Deliberate manipulation of the facts!). I was having an discussion with a staunchly liberal relative. When I dared to criticize the objectivity of these two institutions I was heartily scoffed at. The Crescat also talks about the duplicitous coverage of the March by mainstream media.
6. Update on changing to a Nourishing Traditions style of cooking! Well, the one thing I've really stuck to is the soaking and slow cooking oatmeal; it is great! Today we made popcorn on the stove with olive oil, butter, cheddar cheese and sea salt. The kids loved it. A good, but sugarless snack. I think I did pretty well with dinners this week, except for Thursday when we got carry out pizza. But Monday we had scallops wrapped in bacon, Tuesday we had tacos, Wednesday we had roast chicken. Tonight we are having wild salmon, corn, sweet potato fries, sauteed mushrooms and then some sliced cucumbers. The problem, though with all these meals is that the kids don't eat much of them at all. But we are working on it. Becky has refused to eat oatmeal for the past three weeks but this a.m. she had a couple of spoonfuls after she witnessed Sean exclaiming over how good it was. So there's something! And I'm thinking if I get rid of my own negative attitude (which can only be done by the Holy Spirit because I know I'll never change on my own!) and just keep steadily presenting food as attractively as I can while at the same time educating them on what is healthy and why so many bad carbs and sugars are so awful for them (I mean they are living with a woman who had to get her leg amputated due to complications from diabetes!) that we can make progress. I have to remember to sign and send in my contract with a farm where we can get fresh meat, milk and veggies delivered once a week to our town. I wonder when the pick up is though.....
7. Speaking of leg problems (bad segue there!) for some reason Tillie, our Sheltie, keeps limping. This has been going on since June! She'll just start limping very badly and then the next day or two it will go away. The vet had given me some medicine for her, but it got used up over the months. Everyone kept chiding me for not taking her to the vet to get it checked out again. I made an appointment a couple weeks ago but then she mysteriously stopped limping, so I cancelled. This week she started limping really badly on Monday, I mean she was only walking on three legs. I had a crazy busy week and I just couldn't make time to take her in until Thursday. She limped on Tuesday, on Wednesday and on Thursday up until the point of taking her into the vet. Then she didn't limp at all. AT ALL!!!! The vet checked out her paw very thoroughly anyway, and could find nothing wrong with her. She gave us more of the same medicine. The visit cost $110. I took Tillie home and 1/2 hour after she got home she was back to walking on only three legs again!!!!! What is up with that???
For more quick takes please visit Jennifer Fulwiler's blog, Conversion Diary.
"She should give herself to the contemplation of obedience and holiness, and reading of the lives of the saints; and set herself deliberately to the business of self-government, of changing herself where she most requires it, of gaining perfect resignation to God's Will, of unlearning worldly opinions, motives and principles, and living as if in sight of the things invisible - and that without impatience at apparent failure or apparent slow advance."
I bolded the last part, because that's the part that really rang true as a message I needed to hear this a.m. Thank you St. John Henry Newman!
2. Another prayer help I've been utilizing this week is one that send novenas to your email so you remember to pray them. You can find it here at www.praymorenovenas.com. I think I found out about this on the Unschooling Catholics yahoolist.
3. I've started reading Don Quixote! I've never read it before. I haven't gotten far though. In fact, I haven't gotten past the Prelude. The Prelude is 167 pages long but it is wonderful. It is written by the translator, Walter Starkie. I was so charmed by his writing style that I looked him up. What a lovely man! You can read his wikipedia article here. I love stumbling on obscure (at least to me) literary history. This version of Don Quixote sat on my parents shelf for decades. It's an old edition but it is missing the page that has the copyright so I don't know the year.
4. We went to the March for Life on Monday and I've been trying to recover all week. It was rainy and cold and the conditions seemed pretty miserable at first, but once you got into the enormous crowd and started walking, things got much more comfortable. I haven't been to the march personally in about 25 years I think. It has grown incredibly. It reminded me of those photos of MLK's speech, where you just see a sea of people. Really, really huge. The minute we started marching everyone got separated. This proved to be a bit stressful, to say the least. However, we finally managed to meet up again in front of the Supreme Court. The staging wasn't set up due to some snafu, so we couldn't really see anybody speaking and we only got to hear a few minutes before we were told we had to get back to the bus. We got stuck in the crowd right before some counter protestors. We saw this women there. It was disturbing and baffling to us. But I must say they are courageous to speak out when there were at least a quarter of million people there, maybe more, I am horrible at estimating numbers (who were directly opposed to them). I wonder if they'd be so bold for any other movement. Instead people apparently were approaching them in good will to engage them in conversation. The whole mood of the crowd is one of love and peace. Everyone is praying, singing, or chanting slogans (like: we love babies, yes we do. We love babies, how about you!). I think that says something wonderful about the pro-life movement and our country. That we can be so peaceful.
5. But the March really bothered me, just because of my own personality. I am not meant to be political. It truly upsets me and makes me lose sleep and hope! I was particularly upset at the lack of coverage by both the New York Times (who I hear hasn't covered this enormous annual event in 5 years! Anybody who trusts news from that paper has their head buried in the sand!) and the Washington Post (which almost to a ludicrous level, underreported the event. No integrity there at all. Deliberate manipulation of the facts!). I was having an discussion with a staunchly liberal relative. When I dared to criticize the objectivity of these two institutions I was heartily scoffed at. The Crescat also talks about the duplicitous coverage of the March by mainstream media.
6. Update on changing to a Nourishing Traditions style of cooking! Well, the one thing I've really stuck to is the soaking and slow cooking oatmeal; it is great! Today we made popcorn on the stove with olive oil, butter, cheddar cheese and sea salt. The kids loved it. A good, but sugarless snack. I think I did pretty well with dinners this week, except for Thursday when we got carry out pizza. But Monday we had scallops wrapped in bacon, Tuesday we had tacos, Wednesday we had roast chicken. Tonight we are having wild salmon, corn, sweet potato fries, sauteed mushrooms and then some sliced cucumbers. The problem, though with all these meals is that the kids don't eat much of them at all. But we are working on it. Becky has refused to eat oatmeal for the past three weeks but this a.m. she had a couple of spoonfuls after she witnessed Sean exclaiming over how good it was. So there's something! And I'm thinking if I get rid of my own negative attitude (which can only be done by the Holy Spirit because I know I'll never change on my own!) and just keep steadily presenting food as attractively as I can while at the same time educating them on what is healthy and why so many bad carbs and sugars are so awful for them (I mean they are living with a woman who had to get her leg amputated due to complications from diabetes!) that we can make progress. I have to remember to sign and send in my contract with a farm where we can get fresh meat, milk and veggies delivered once a week to our town. I wonder when the pick up is though.....
7. Speaking of leg problems (bad segue there!) for some reason Tillie, our Sheltie, keeps limping. This has been going on since June! She'll just start limping very badly and then the next day or two it will go away. The vet had given me some medicine for her, but it got used up over the months. Everyone kept chiding me for not taking her to the vet to get it checked out again. I made an appointment a couple weeks ago but then she mysteriously stopped limping, so I cancelled. This week she started limping really badly on Monday, I mean she was only walking on three legs. I had a crazy busy week and I just couldn't make time to take her in until Thursday. She limped on Tuesday, on Wednesday and on Thursday up until the point of taking her into the vet. Then she didn't limp at all. AT ALL!!!! The vet checked out her paw very thoroughly anyway, and could find nothing wrong with her. She gave us more of the same medicine. The visit cost $110. I took Tillie home and 1/2 hour after she got home she was back to walking on only three legs again!!!!! What is up with that???
For more quick takes please visit Jennifer Fulwiler's blog, Conversion Diary.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Strewsday Tuesday - 1/24/12
Let's see, what's strewing around here?
Becky has been using the Apple computer's video capability to play newscaster. She stood a gymnastic mat we have on its side and put it behind her while she sits at the computer. That's so you can't see the rest of the room. I guess it gives a more official looking background while she's reporting! I think she was inspired by this because we've been watching the caucuses and primaries in the news. (We don't watch the news much around here). Also we watched Keenan Kampa being interviewed (Becky is friendly with her little sister). In Becky's own newscasts, she's reported on both the primaries (where she keeps pronouncing Gingrich as Gringidge LOL!) and Keenan as well as things going on in our family, the weather and silly things like interviewing our cat. She's been playing newscaster every day for the past several days. It's her new, very absorbing game.
I've been reading A Tale of Two Cities out loud to everyone. During the chapter with the courtroom scene where we first meet the characters of Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay, Becky drew s great picture of a courtroom on our whiteboard, complete with judge, jury and audience. Wish I knew how to upload a photo of it to this blog! Grrr.
Sean has started playing Minecraft and his vocabulary is suddenly full of words like ore, smelting and resources. He's really into it and it is leading into a lot of discussion, especially with Josh about all sorts of things geological as well as basic economics principles. Pretty neat game!
Yesterday, we all went to the March for Life which inspired many a discussion all day long. Before the March we attended a Mass at the parish the bus was leaving from. Becky and Sean got to carry up the offertory gifts. I realized that they have never gotten to do this before! My older kids all have done this several times, at one time or another. They were a bit pleased to be asked.
That's all I can think of right now. It was cold and damp at the March yesterday and I fear I have come down with a cold as a result. So it is taking a while for the fog to clear in my head this a.m.
Will left us yesterday right after the March to fly back to Berklee in Boston. He called when he arrived safely and he sounded very glad to be back. I think his winter break was just about a week too long for him. He really was ready to go back. He's made some good friends there already and he loves studying music! He got all A's and one B in his classes. He's very excited to start the new semester. I find coming home for breaks is very hard on my college students! They've made their own lives on campus where they feel more independent and then they come home and feel like a high schooler again. I think it is a bit of a strain for them, until they work out how to balance these aspects of their lives. We will miss William heartily until spring break!
So what's strewing in your home?
Becky has been using the Apple computer's video capability to play newscaster. She stood a gymnastic mat we have on its side and put it behind her while she sits at the computer. That's so you can't see the rest of the room. I guess it gives a more official looking background while she's reporting! I think she was inspired by this because we've been watching the caucuses and primaries in the news. (We don't watch the news much around here). Also we watched Keenan Kampa being interviewed (Becky is friendly with her little sister). In Becky's own newscasts, she's reported on both the primaries (where she keeps pronouncing Gingrich as Gringidge LOL!) and Keenan as well as things going on in our family, the weather and silly things like interviewing our cat. She's been playing newscaster every day for the past several days. It's her new, very absorbing game.
I've been reading A Tale of Two Cities out loud to everyone. During the chapter with the courtroom scene where we first meet the characters of Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay, Becky drew s great picture of a courtroom on our whiteboard, complete with judge, jury and audience. Wish I knew how to upload a photo of it to this blog! Grrr.
Sean has started playing Minecraft and his vocabulary is suddenly full of words like ore, smelting and resources. He's really into it and it is leading into a lot of discussion, especially with Josh about all sorts of things geological as well as basic economics principles. Pretty neat game!
Yesterday, we all went to the March for Life which inspired many a discussion all day long. Before the March we attended a Mass at the parish the bus was leaving from. Becky and Sean got to carry up the offertory gifts. I realized that they have never gotten to do this before! My older kids all have done this several times, at one time or another. They were a bit pleased to be asked.
That's all I can think of right now. It was cold and damp at the March yesterday and I fear I have come down with a cold as a result. So it is taking a while for the fog to clear in my head this a.m.
Will left us yesterday right after the March to fly back to Berklee in Boston. He called when he arrived safely and he sounded very glad to be back. I think his winter break was just about a week too long for him. He really was ready to go back. He's made some good friends there already and he loves studying music! He got all A's and one B in his classes. He's very excited to start the new semester. I find coming home for breaks is very hard on my college students! They've made their own lives on campus where they feel more independent and then they come home and feel like a high schooler again. I think it is a bit of a strain for them, until they work out how to balance these aspects of their lives. We will miss William heartily until spring break!
So what's strewing in your home?
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Abolition of Man - Book 6
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis is really a collection of two essays or lectures and an appendix. It is a fairly quick read. I read this on my Kindle.
In this book, Lewis addresses the purpose of education and the dangerous impact modern thinking has on true education. He begins by criticizing a grammar book that was sent to him for review. He finds that the authors of the textbook, thinking that are teaching the student skepticism about being unduly influenced by propaganda and advertisements, really have taught the students to fear or dismiss what is good, true and beautiful. The textbook authors do this by reducing human response to beauty or anything deeply appealing as something that is mere subjective feeling and has nothing to do with the truth of the thing being considered. The textbook authors, probably without even realizing it, have bought into the modern view of relativism and this is the gospel they preached in between the lines of teaching grammar and rhetoric.
Lewis then sets out to show that there are self-evident core values that every human culture has acknowledged. He looks at all different Ancient traditions from Babylonian, to Lao Tzu to the Ancient Greeks, the Old Testament, Buddhism and Christianity to show that humankind, independent of each other's societies, have each come to a realization of the Tao, as Lewis terms it. He uses this term because he is not particularly interested in converting anyone to his own faith, but rather is trying to show the universality of ethics, so he chooses a non-western word to convey his idea. In Christian terminology we would call the Tao, natural law.
Lewis' further point, once he establishes that there are these universal, self-evident standards of good and evil, is that the modern viewpoint wants to deconstruct these truths in the name of progress. Scientifically, the west has excelled because it has embraced the scientific approach of deconstruction and analysis, but morally we suffer from this because modern thinking wants to debunk everything! Lewis talks about how we want now to 'see through' everything. We think this will get us to the truth, but if even self-evident truths are 'seen through,' we will eventually see nothing. If everything is transparent the world is invisible! There's nothing there to guide us anymore.
Lewis paints a very dark picture of what becomes of man when he wants to 'progress' past natural law, or Nature. When mankind wants to become the final arbiter, the social engineer, the eugenic designer; when those few who gain that sort of power begin to manipulate the rest of society, because they concoct their own ad hoc law based on temporary things instead of following the natural law, they actually will cease to let humankind be human. Instead we will become pawns and less than human. That is the meaning of the ironic title of this book. This relativistic, scientific worldview which promises so much progress and freedom, will actually be the "freeing" of man from being human. Humankind will be diminished not elevated. He'll become less because he does not live by the Tao that allows him to be what he was created to be.
Of course, Lewis is much better at building an argument and conveying it than I am at summarizing it! As I read the book, I felt I needed a little guidance. I googled around and found this very helpful study guide. I know also that the blog Ordo Armoris had a book study not too long ago though I did not follow it.
The appendix to this book is very interesting. Lewis compiled quotes from ancient writings from all over the world to illustrate his point about the Tao. This collection reminded me of an exhibit that I saw several years ago at the John Paul II Cultural Institute in Washington DC. The exhibit was a collection of art work and quotes that showed how natural law existed in all different cultures. I found the exhibit so intriguing and ultimately comforting, for I think that though our world might go through periods of confusion where powerful but unwise people make decisions that guide us down that dark road towards Lewis' prophecy, because God's law is written on the heart of His children, that Tao can never be extinguished forever. It will always rear its surly head!
This gives me hope in our own time when abortion on demand has become such a precept of our culture, control over reproduction and our bodies to an unhealthy and ultimately destructive degree is seen as a right, and the fact that our government and all the politicos seem to buy into the very worldview Lewis warns against in this book. It is a dismal world out there, but as time passes, these things will pass too and once again the universal will somehow reassert itself. Eternal truths never die.
For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
In this book, Lewis addresses the purpose of education and the dangerous impact modern thinking has on true education. He begins by criticizing a grammar book that was sent to him for review. He finds that the authors of the textbook, thinking that are teaching the student skepticism about being unduly influenced by propaganda and advertisements, really have taught the students to fear or dismiss what is good, true and beautiful. The textbook authors do this by reducing human response to beauty or anything deeply appealing as something that is mere subjective feeling and has nothing to do with the truth of the thing being considered. The textbook authors, probably without even realizing it, have bought into the modern view of relativism and this is the gospel they preached in between the lines of teaching grammar and rhetoric.
Lewis then sets out to show that there are self-evident core values that every human culture has acknowledged. He looks at all different Ancient traditions from Babylonian, to Lao Tzu to the Ancient Greeks, the Old Testament, Buddhism and Christianity to show that humankind, independent of each other's societies, have each come to a realization of the Tao, as Lewis terms it. He uses this term because he is not particularly interested in converting anyone to his own faith, but rather is trying to show the universality of ethics, so he chooses a non-western word to convey his idea. In Christian terminology we would call the Tao, natural law.
Lewis' further point, once he establishes that there are these universal, self-evident standards of good and evil, is that the modern viewpoint wants to deconstruct these truths in the name of progress. Scientifically, the west has excelled because it has embraced the scientific approach of deconstruction and analysis, but morally we suffer from this because modern thinking wants to debunk everything! Lewis talks about how we want now to 'see through' everything. We think this will get us to the truth, but if even self-evident truths are 'seen through,' we will eventually see nothing. If everything is transparent the world is invisible! There's nothing there to guide us anymore.
Lewis paints a very dark picture of what becomes of man when he wants to 'progress' past natural law, or Nature. When mankind wants to become the final arbiter, the social engineer, the eugenic designer; when those few who gain that sort of power begin to manipulate the rest of society, because they concoct their own ad hoc law based on temporary things instead of following the natural law, they actually will cease to let humankind be human. Instead we will become pawns and less than human. That is the meaning of the ironic title of this book. This relativistic, scientific worldview which promises so much progress and freedom, will actually be the "freeing" of man from being human. Humankind will be diminished not elevated. He'll become less because he does not live by the Tao that allows him to be what he was created to be.
Of course, Lewis is much better at building an argument and conveying it than I am at summarizing it! As I read the book, I felt I needed a little guidance. I googled around and found this very helpful study guide. I know also that the blog Ordo Armoris had a book study not too long ago though I did not follow it.
The appendix to this book is very interesting. Lewis compiled quotes from ancient writings from all over the world to illustrate his point about the Tao. This collection reminded me of an exhibit that I saw several years ago at the John Paul II Cultural Institute in Washington DC. The exhibit was a collection of art work and quotes that showed how natural law existed in all different cultures. I found the exhibit so intriguing and ultimately comforting, for I think that though our world might go through periods of confusion where powerful but unwise people make decisions that guide us down that dark road towards Lewis' prophecy, because God's law is written on the heart of His children, that Tao can never be extinguished forever. It will always rear its surly head!
This gives me hope in our own time when abortion on demand has become such a precept of our culture, control over reproduction and our bodies to an unhealthy and ultimately destructive degree is seen as a right, and the fact that our government and all the politicos seem to buy into the very worldview Lewis warns against in this book. It is a dismal world out there, but as time passes, these things will pass too and once again the universal will somehow reassert itself. Eternal truths never die.
For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The Little World of Don Camillo - Book 5
This collection of humorous and touching stories was first published in Italy post World War II. The two main characters are Don Camillo, the feisty village priest and Peppone, the equally feisty Communist mayor. These two men, who apparently have a long history of partisan fighting together in the hills during the Nazi occupation, love to hate each other. Their constant one-upmanship is the fodder for these highly enjoyable stories. Don Camillo's first instinct is always to fight and then think later. This gets him into lots of ticklish situations. The tension in post World War II Italy is palpable. The violence and scars of the war are everywhere and though the characters of Don Camillo and Peppone are lovable and entertaining there is a dark, brutal undercurrent that is always present. Don Camillo tries to be a good priest but he has to deal with Peppone who can't quite be an atheist (He wants Don Camillo to baptize his baby with the name Lenin). The third main character in the book is Christ. The Christ up on the crucifix in Don Camillo's church talks to him. Christ is by turns encouraging, sympathetic, stern, chiding, tongue in cheek; always wise and always affectionate.
The characters of Don Camillo and Peppone are based on a real life priest and mayor the author knew. Giovanni Guareschi was a magazine editor, writer and cartoonist who spent time in concentration camps before being freed and returning to his native Po Valley. These stories were published in magazines at first but proved so popular they were collected into books. Three books were published in the author's lifetime but after his death five more volumes came out. The first book, The Little World of Don Camillo, was made into a very popular movie. Here's a clip from it.
The edition I read was printed by Benediction Classics. It is a slim paperback volume, pricey at $20.99 and there are numerous typos in it. It looks like something that was transcribed and then printed from a Pdf file. It has a Lulu publishing look to it. I guess the original book went out of print at some point and no big publisher has offered to reprint it. It Italy apparently this book is in its 7th edition. Someone started a webpage, www.doncamillo.net but frustratingly, it seems incomplete.
I had heard about these stories for years. I can see why people recall them fondly and treasure them. Guareschi was a delightful story-teller with memorable characters and whose writing was intelligent, insightful, clever and wise. The presentation of Christ is especially wonderful.
For more book reviews, go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The characters of Don Camillo and Peppone are based on a real life priest and mayor the author knew. Giovanni Guareschi was a magazine editor, writer and cartoonist who spent time in concentration camps before being freed and returning to his native Po Valley. These stories were published in magazines at first but proved so popular they were collected into books. Three books were published in the author's lifetime but after his death five more volumes came out. The first book, The Little World of Don Camillo, was made into a very popular movie. Here's a clip from it.
The edition I read was printed by Benediction Classics. It is a slim paperback volume, pricey at $20.99 and there are numerous typos in it. It looks like something that was transcribed and then printed from a Pdf file. It has a Lulu publishing look to it. I guess the original book went out of print at some point and no big publisher has offered to reprint it. It Italy apparently this book is in its 7th edition. Someone started a webpage, www.doncamillo.net but frustratingly, it seems incomplete.
I had heard about these stories for years. I can see why people recall them fondly and treasure them. Guareschi was a delightful story-teller with memorable characters and whose writing was intelligent, insightful, clever and wise. The presentation of Christ is especially wonderful.
For more book reviews, go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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