tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post5222259054014327446..comments2024-03-28T00:17:55.823+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The decline of institutional loyaltyBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-71070137019241676492019-03-05T11:45:01.253+00:002019-03-05T11:45:01.253+00:00Yes, I quite agree. We've shown ourselves almo...Yes, I quite agree. We've shown ourselves almost absurdly obtuse to common sense let alone intuition. Perhaps because we are too attached to our worldly pleasures or perhaps because we are too wrapped up in our egos.William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-29932849276166411302019-03-05T11:38:05.823+00:002019-03-05T11:38:05.823+00:00@E - I'd say that was a symbol of a spiritual ...@E - I'd say that was a symbol of a spiritual reality, which reinforced that reality.<br /><br />@William - I'm sure you're right. However, we'd probably agree that nowadays no imaginable external stimulus will *make* people take the decision to move-on from spiritual adolescence - Western Man has shown himself capable of absorbing almost anything without being awoken to the deficiencies of his belief system. External stimuli must be met by an inward active spirit: the inner divine acknowledged as well as God. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-66559392885754509082019-03-05T11:18:35.626+00:002019-03-05T11:18:35.626+00:00Is there something 'off' about congregatio...Is there something 'off' about congregations in pews? There they are, all neatly regimented in rows and columns...Epimetheusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-17624832182845100432019-03-05T11:15:00.289+00:002019-03-05T11:15:00.289+00:00This rather supports the idea that humanity has re...This rather supports the idea that humanity has reached a kind of adolescence in terms of its development. It has thrown off parental authority and started to determine its own course based on its own understanding. But unfortunately like a know it all teenager it thinks it knows better than its elders and is currently making all the worst mistakes an adolescent can make. What makes a teenager grow up is the need to earn a living and the responsibility of raising a family. What would the spiritual equivalent be? Perhaps an awakening to the reality of the spiritual self and the need to act responsibly towards that? Perhaps an understanding that the greatest loyalty, the one on which all others are based, is our loyalty to God?<br /><br />We can't go back to old ways of being but we must build on the law and the prophets not simply reject themWilliam Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-89694163832611547122019-03-05T09:27:52.079+00:002019-03-05T09:27:52.079+00:00Great comment John, thanks.
My understanding is ...Great comment John, thanks. <br /><br />My understanding is that the traditional orders would only work for a short while - indeed I expect that their day is already past. Loyalty must be mutual. The group must have authority, the individual must acknowledge that authority.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-26994432381764690842019-03-05T08:41:01.896+00:002019-03-05T08:41:01.896+00:00This situation leaves us with an interregnum - the...This situation leaves us with an interregnum - the gap between the era of institutional loyalty and whatever comes next. It's not an easy place to be. It's hard to sit with the tension. As a Roman Catholic, for instance, I'm often tempted to take refuge from creeping LIberalism (that's my word for what William and yourself call Leftism) in the arms of one of the Traditional orders - SSPX, FSSP, ICKSP, etc. But these are exactly the kind of institutions that will subsume the individual within a group/tribal mentality which will indeed support and nurture the individual but at the price, it sometimes seems to me, of that induvidial's own unique and God-given singularity and potential. So one is left oscillating between Scylla and Charybdis and, as I say and as many of you will know, it's an uneasy place to be. Which is why I for one, without renouncing my Catholicism - far from it - agree with you that Romantic Christianity is the best and only way forward and out. I see it as my vocation, for jnstance, to convey something of Romantic Christianity's essence in my writing in the hope that it will help light the spark of renewal and remaissance which is so badly needed in our time.John Fitzgeraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13951246561259007162noreply@blogger.com