Funny you should say that, as I feel the same. In film too: I am starting to understand Tarkovsky at last (at least as much as it is ever possible.) You're right: it feels like they know the score on what is coming, because at least in part it has come to them before.
Oswald Spengler, who I wrote about a while back, predicted that Russia would be the next great world civlisation after the West's collapse. Assuming there will be any, he might not be wrong.
It's great you're taking more of a look at Tarkovsky! I recently read a piece in the New Yorker (link below) where the writer tried to appear to celebrate Tarkovsky while simultaneously warning people away from considering the spiritual underpinnings of his work, falsely claiming Tarkovsky was "an agnostic", and reducing the significance of his films to the mere attractive framing of images. It was truly insidious. What I immediately thought of was your contention that we are in a kind of spiritual war:
Tarkovsky was an ardent admirer of another spiritual/Christian filmmaker, Robert Bresson. I you're not familiar with his work I'd highly recommend a look, particularly at 'Au Hasard Balthazar', 'Mouchette', and 'The Trial of Joan of Arc' (though all his films are excellent).
That would be really enjoyable benefit of subscription-membership. It's ironic, given that many of us want to affirm embodiedness in the midst of our gnostic technological society, but communities of the likeminded--at least until the renewal comes--will be found digitally as often as not.
As for the irony of Abbey of Misrule going cutting-edge tech hasn't that ship already sailed (or more apt perhaps: hasn't that interstellar rocket left the launchpad?). On the other hand, there is something concrete, human and useful to actually talk and hear each others' voices.
We live in mixed-up times. It is almost impossible to avoid the contradictions.
This is certainly something I'm considering. I don't know how many on here would be interested in podcast/type option, or indeed whether I have the time to make it work. But I'd be interested to hear thoughts.
I would definitely be interested. It has the potential, at least, to deepen the conversation. The time involved in making it happen is an important consideration.
I will probably be very much in the minority here, but I have to say that I loathe podcasts (along with Zoom, and all the other "talking head" technologies). One of the things that drew me to Substack in the first place, was the joy of having access to thoughtful and thought-provoking content presented in the written form.
Looking forwarded with baited breath to read your thoughts on the pandemic and where the machine is taking us with it. Find your spiritual journey writings encouraging, especially due to your eco activist background. It is my prayer that those in the those communities would be encouraged by your podcasts to understand that to know Christ is gain.
Paul, have you ever read Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins by Konrad Lorenz (written almost fifty years ago)? Lorenz was an expert in animal behavior and a Nobel Prize winner. That's one I might recommend for you.
Something that I read over the past month was the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, one of the best fantasy pieces I've ever stumbled across and it has a message that I think is extremely apt for this substack. Because Paksenarrion journeys as a paladin in complete dedication to the 'High Lord' of her world, but the parallel to God is easy to see. She fights a much needed conflict against nihilism, evil, and a bunch of other things and through redemption wins out in the end.
In winding down the time I spend on screens, I notice how grateful I am that it (technology) creates a pathway of connection to your thoughts, explorations and suggestions. Ever grateful for your sharing and the courage to do so in the face of such ceaseless roaring. My thanks, Paul.
In my mind the four horsemen of the apolalypse change with each near end. The first two have revealed themselves to be the Pandemic and the Climate System unleashing its fury on the world. What will the other two be?
Thanks for this reflection Paul! I've been reflecting on the idea of apocalypse as 'unveiling' for several years. This year I've been playing around with another layer to that meaning - 'unveiling' as the pulling away of the protective 'garments' of culture and nature that shelter the human psyche in more stable times. Now, with the 'unveiling', the human psyche is more raw and exposed. It helps me to understand why apocalyptic times are times of both increased fear (and potential psychosis), and of the potential for radical spiritual renewal....
I couldn't agree more about the need for a spiritual aspect of resistance to the Machine. Perhaps the only way to live well in the midst of a system so all-encompassing as the Machine is to have our awareness plugged into the vastly larger Reality of the spiritual world/the Kingdom of God.
Thanks for this! I share your sense of a quickening pace, and I'm eager to dig into those book recommendations. I was wondering if you might have any fiction to recommend for these times? I find that I can only take so much "state of the world today" work before I need narrative to ground and orient me. (By way of trade, "Father Elijah" by Michael D Obrien, "Redeployment" by Phil Klay, and "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K Leguin have been recent boons.)
I hear you on this. Attempting to face up to our current situation can be overwhelming. Particularly, as many don't have a deep community to ground us in something more real and life-enhancing. I am in the midst of taking a break from the news and too much commentary.
Micheal D. O'Brien's "Voyage to Alpha Centauri" is a story about the current state of the Machine in many ways. Particularly the surveillance state and social engineering. And that it is a very good thing to strictly limit our scientific manipulation of the world. It is interesting to see his solution at the end of the novel. If only it were so...
I read O’Brien’s book earlier this year, and I agree the ending was an interesting attempt to place scientific advancement within the context of spiritual understanding. I too found myself wishing it could be so in our world.
I've been telling anyone who will listen about Eugene Vodolazkin's novel 'Laurus.' Set in the Russian middle ages. Very excellent. Also, 'A Canticle for Leibowitz', which is old but I only recently discovered. Strangely timely.
I just finished reading Mark Boyle's "The Way Home"--which I discovered in one of your earlier posts--this week. This is a wonderful book, and I am grateful for the recommendation.
Now I feel guilty reading and writing this on my laptop.
Does Mark read your stuff on Abbey? I reckon you take him hard copies (printed or handwritten?) when you meet for chess at the pub?
How is ol' Mark? I wonder if he has even heard of the Pandemic. Reminds me of a story a Fr. at my parish told about talking to his friend, who is a monk on Mt. Athos. When they spoke late last spring, his friend was like "what pandemic?"
Tell him Neal from County Shelby, Alabama says hello. Lord willing, my wife and I may look up his town and drop in sometime to visit. Assuming I can figure out how to get from Alabama to Ireland on a sailboat.
Mark is well. We played chess only this week (I lost.) I occasionally print him an essay, but it's not really necessary. He is pretty well shielded from the madness, but you can only retreat so far.
Athos is the place to be! But few of us will get there or want to. Lots of smaller variants, for women and men, all over the world, would be a way to go for those so inclined.
We do need some Autonomous Monastic Republics of our own across the West. And some Autonomous Lay "Monastic" Republics, if that even makes sense, while we are at it. A Cultural Refuge from the Machine. An opt-out.
Right now, I'm reading 'Life Is A Miracle' by Wendell Berry (after repetead mention of his name by Paul). It's a welcome antidote to another book I read recently by Carl Sagan, called 'The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark'. Sagan is a really nice person, and I felt I owed it to him to read the book. I had bought it years ago after watching the Cosmos series with my homeschooling daughter.
It was a hard read, partly because it's repetitive (science is the best thing we have, despite its flaws, and people are stupid) and a lot is about the misguided belief in UFOs. But I've also moved past this phase of being in awe of science and technology. In 'Life Is A Miracle', Wendell Berry does me the great service of putting my visceral reaction when reading Sagan's book, into words.
And there's this wonderful quote in the middle of the book that - to me- explains much of what is going on with the pandemic, both at the top and on the bottom:
"The next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines."
I felt like I'd read it before, maybe it's earlier in the book, or maybe Paul or someone else had already mentioned it somewhere. Either way, I might have to get that tattooed somewhere so I never forget it. ;-)
Another great quote from 'Life Is A Miracle' that seems so prescient and pertinent to the current situation:
"Wes Jackson of the Land Institute said once, thinking of the nuclear power and genetic engineering industries, "We ought to stay out of the nuclei." I remember that because I felt that he was voicing...a wise instinct: an intuition, common enough among human beings, that some things are and ought to be forbidden to us, off-limits, unthinkable, foreign, properly strange....One can hardly find a better example of modern science as a public predicament. For modern scientists work with everybody's proxy, whether or not that proxy has been given. A good many people, presumably, would have chosen to "stay out of the nuclei," but that was a choice they did not have. When a few scientists decided to go in, they decided for everybody. This "freedom of scientific inquiry" was immediately transformed into the freedom of corporate and/or governmental exploitation. And so the freedom of the originators and exploiters has become, in effect, the abduction and imprisonment of all the rest of us. Adam was the first, but not the last, to choose for the whole human race."
excellent!l thanks for sharing. I, too, picked up Wendell Berry after hearing Paul Kingsnorth mention him and couldn't believe I had never read his work before. I've stumbled over quotes and mentions without realizing... His life and message have made such a difference to me.
I've finished the book, and on one of the last pages I found yet another quote that seems pertinent to today's number 1 subject:
"An idea of health that does not generously and gracefully accommodate the fact of death, is obviously incomplete. The crudest manifestation of modern medicine is its routine, stubborn, and finally cruel resistance to death. This comes of the refusal to accept death, not only as a part of health, which it demonstrably is, but also as a great mystery, both in itself and as a part of the mystery that surrounds us all our lives. The medical industry's resistance is only sometimes an instance of scientific heroism; sometimes it is the fear of what we don't know anything about."
Isn't the fear of death, and hence the unwillingness to accept death, one of the elements in the human psyche that are most easy to hack and exploit?
Going to check out At the End of the World, sounds good. I am finishing the book A Land So Strange, which is fitting as it describes a time pre Apocalypse for the native Americans. I personally dont think this time in the world is the Biblical apocalypse beginning, just the cyclical rise and fall of mans hubris. When God reveals His end everyones life and nature itself will be torn apart. Things are bad now but this is not the worst its ever been worldwide. Many positive changes are happening, for one there is a huge appetite now for people to know the truth about God, and an opportunity for Christians to demonstrate the power and Love of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the Millman recommendation, Paul. I finished it last week and loved it. He's got a great wit in his writing and I laughed out loud several times. I also watched some of the "Nanook of the North" documentary on Youtube. I am going to try and get my library to order, Hyperreality to read next.
I don't know if you are familiar with Ken Myers and Mars Hill Audio Journal, maybe Rod Dreher has mentioned it to you, but if not I came across this on his addenda page and immediately thought of you. I think you'd enjoy Mars Hill Audio Journal as well. It's wonderful and deep.
Funny you should say that, as I feel the same. In film too: I am starting to understand Tarkovsky at last (at least as much as it is ever possible.) You're right: it feels like they know the score on what is coming, because at least in part it has come to them before.
Oswald Spengler, who I wrote about a while back, predicted that Russia would be the next great world civlisation after the West's collapse. Assuming there will be any, he might not be wrong.
It's great you're taking more of a look at Tarkovsky! I recently read a piece in the New Yorker (link below) where the writer tried to appear to celebrate Tarkovsky while simultaneously warning people away from considering the spiritual underpinnings of his work, falsely claiming Tarkovsky was "an agnostic", and reducing the significance of his films to the mere attractive framing of images. It was truly insidious. What I immediately thought of was your contention that we are in a kind of spiritual war:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/15/the-drenching-richness-of-andrei-tarkovsky
Tarkovsky was an ardent admirer of another spiritual/Christian filmmaker, Robert Bresson. I you're not familiar with his work I'd highly recommend a look, particularly at 'Au Hasard Balthazar', 'Mouchette', and 'The Trial of Joan of Arc' (though all his films are excellent).
That reminds me to watch 'Stalker', which has been on my hard drive for ages.
Paul, do you have events on zoom where topics can be discussed?
I've never done that; not yet, anyway.
That would be really enjoyable benefit of subscription-membership. It's ironic, given that many of us want to affirm embodiedness in the midst of our gnostic technological society, but communities of the likeminded--at least until the renewal comes--will be found digitally as often as not.
I see other substack writers starting to use the "social podcasting" app "callin".
https://www.callin.com/
As for the irony of Abbey of Misrule going cutting-edge tech hasn't that ship already sailed (or more apt perhaps: hasn't that interstellar rocket left the launchpad?). On the other hand, there is something concrete, human and useful to actually talk and hear each others' voices.
We live in mixed-up times. It is almost impossible to avoid the contradictions.
This is certainly something I'm considering. I don't know how many on here would be interested in podcast/type option, or indeed whether I have the time to make it work. But I'd be interested to hear thoughts.
I would definitely be interested. It has the potential, at least, to deepen the conversation. The time involved in making it happen is an important consideration.
I will probably be very much in the minority here, but I have to say that I loathe podcasts (along with Zoom, and all the other "talking head" technologies). One of the things that drew me to Substack in the first place, was the joy of having access to thoughtful and thought-provoking content presented in the written form.
I hear you. That's certainly why I write rather than talk. I find some good podcasts out there sometimes, but they are fairly rare. Lots of blabbing.
Absolutely interested!
Looking forwarded with baited breath to read your thoughts on the pandemic and where the machine is taking us with it. Find your spiritual journey writings encouraging, especially due to your eco activist background. It is my prayer that those in the those communities would be encouraged by your podcasts to understand that to know Christ is gain.
Good to see Lawrence Millman mentioned, author of one of my all time favorites, Last Places.
Thanks for these great book recommendations, just in time for Christmas shopping!
Paul, have you ever read Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins by Konrad Lorenz (written almost fifty years ago)? Lorenz was an expert in animal behavior and a Nobel Prize winner. That's one I might recommend for you.
Thank Paul for these fantastic essays! I wish I had something more insightful to say but that's my lot...
*you
Something that I read over the past month was the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, one of the best fantasy pieces I've ever stumbled across and it has a message that I think is extremely apt for this substack. Because Paksenarrion journeys as a paladin in complete dedication to the 'High Lord' of her world, but the parallel to God is easy to see. She fights a much needed conflict against nihilism, evil, and a bunch of other things and through redemption wins out in the end.
In winding down the time I spend on screens, I notice how grateful I am that it (technology) creates a pathway of connection to your thoughts, explorations and suggestions. Ever grateful for your sharing and the courage to do so in the face of such ceaseless roaring. My thanks, Paul.
In my mind the four horsemen of the apolalypse change with each near end. The first two have revealed themselves to be the Pandemic and the Climate System unleashing its fury on the world. What will the other two be?
Tech and antinomianism, I'd say. Or maybe tech weighs a dozen horsemen's sinister worth.
Thanks for this reflection Paul! I've been reflecting on the idea of apocalypse as 'unveiling' for several years. This year I've been playing around with another layer to that meaning - 'unveiling' as the pulling away of the protective 'garments' of culture and nature that shelter the human psyche in more stable times. Now, with the 'unveiling', the human psyche is more raw and exposed. It helps me to understand why apocalyptic times are times of both increased fear (and potential psychosis), and of the potential for radical spiritual renewal....
I couldn't agree more about the need for a spiritual aspect of resistance to the Machine. Perhaps the only way to live well in the midst of a system so all-encompassing as the Machine is to have our awareness plugged into the vastly larger Reality of the spiritual world/the Kingdom of God.
Thanks for this! I share your sense of a quickening pace, and I'm eager to dig into those book recommendations. I was wondering if you might have any fiction to recommend for these times? I find that I can only take so much "state of the world today" work before I need narrative to ground and orient me. (By way of trade, "Father Elijah" by Michael D Obrien, "Redeployment" by Phil Klay, and "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K Leguin have been recent boons.)
I hear you on this. Attempting to face up to our current situation can be overwhelming. Particularly, as many don't have a deep community to ground us in something more real and life-enhancing. I am in the midst of taking a break from the news and too much commentary.
Micheal D. O'Brien's "Voyage to Alpha Centauri" is a story about the current state of the Machine in many ways. Particularly the surveillance state and social engineering. And that it is a very good thing to strictly limit our scientific manipulation of the world. It is interesting to see his solution at the end of the novel. If only it were so...
I read O’Brien’s book earlier this year, and I agree the ending was an interesting attempt to place scientific advancement within the context of spiritual understanding. I too found myself wishing it could be so in our world.
I've been telling anyone who will listen about Eugene Vodolazkin's novel 'Laurus.' Set in the Russian middle ages. Very excellent. Also, 'A Canticle for Leibowitz', which is old but I only recently discovered. Strangely timely.
And then I just peeked at your own Substack page and saw that you had reviewed Laurus yourself. Great minds ...
Haha yes I loved that book, clearly. Even so, thanks for the response!
I just finished reading Mark Boyle's "The Way Home"--which I discovered in one of your earlier posts--this week. This is a wonderful book, and I am grateful for the recommendation.
Now I feel guilty reading and writing this on my laptop.
Does Mark read your stuff on Abbey? I reckon you take him hard copies (printed or handwritten?) when you meet for chess at the pub?
How is ol' Mark? I wonder if he has even heard of the Pandemic. Reminds me of a story a Fr. at my parish told about talking to his friend, who is a monk on Mt. Athos. When they spoke late last spring, his friend was like "what pandemic?"
Tell him Neal from County Shelby, Alabama says hello. Lord willing, my wife and I may look up his town and drop in sometime to visit. Assuming I can figure out how to get from Alabama to Ireland on a sailboat.
Mark is well. We played chess only this week (I lost.) I occasionally print him an essay, but it's not really necessary. He is pretty well shielded from the madness, but you can only retreat so far.
Athos is the place to be! But few of us will get there or want to. Lots of smaller variants, for women and men, all over the world, would be a way to go for those so inclined.
We do need some Autonomous Monastic Republics of our own across the West. And some Autonomous Lay "Monastic" Republics, if that even makes sense, while we are at it. A Cultural Refuge from the Machine. An opt-out.
Right now, I'm reading 'Life Is A Miracle' by Wendell Berry (after repetead mention of his name by Paul). It's a welcome antidote to another book I read recently by Carl Sagan, called 'The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark'. Sagan is a really nice person, and I felt I owed it to him to read the book. I had bought it years ago after watching the Cosmos series with my homeschooling daughter.
It was a hard read, partly because it's repetitive (science is the best thing we have, despite its flaws, and people are stupid) and a lot is about the misguided belief in UFOs. But I've also moved past this phase of being in awe of science and technology. In 'Life Is A Miracle', Wendell Berry does me the great service of putting my visceral reaction when reading Sagan's book, into words.
And there's this wonderful quote in the middle of the book that - to me- explains much of what is going on with the pandemic, both at the top and on the bottom:
"The next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines."
I felt like I'd read it before, maybe it's earlier in the book, or maybe Paul or someone else had already mentioned it somewhere. Either way, I might have to get that tattooed somewhere so I never forget it. ;-)
Another great quote from 'Life Is A Miracle' that seems so prescient and pertinent to the current situation:
"Wes Jackson of the Land Institute said once, thinking of the nuclear power and genetic engineering industries, "We ought to stay out of the nuclei." I remember that because I felt that he was voicing...a wise instinct: an intuition, common enough among human beings, that some things are and ought to be forbidden to us, off-limits, unthinkable, foreign, properly strange....One can hardly find a better example of modern science as a public predicament. For modern scientists work with everybody's proxy, whether or not that proxy has been given. A good many people, presumably, would have chosen to "stay out of the nuclei," but that was a choice they did not have. When a few scientists decided to go in, they decided for everybody. This "freedom of scientific inquiry" was immediately transformed into the freedom of corporate and/or governmental exploitation. And so the freedom of the originators and exploiters has become, in effect, the abduction and imprisonment of all the rest of us. Adam was the first, but not the last, to choose for the whole human race."
excellent!l thanks for sharing. I, too, picked up Wendell Berry after hearing Paul Kingsnorth mention him and couldn't believe I had never read his work before. I've stumbled over quotes and mentions without realizing... His life and message have made such a difference to me.
I've finished the book, and on one of the last pages I found yet another quote that seems pertinent to today's number 1 subject:
"An idea of health that does not generously and gracefully accommodate the fact of death, is obviously incomplete. The crudest manifestation of modern medicine is its routine, stubborn, and finally cruel resistance to death. This comes of the refusal to accept death, not only as a part of health, which it demonstrably is, but also as a great mystery, both in itself and as a part of the mystery that surrounds us all our lives. The medical industry's resistance is only sometimes an instance of scientific heroism; sometimes it is the fear of what we don't know anything about."
Isn't the fear of death, and hence the unwillingness to accept death, one of the elements in the human psyche that are most easy to hack and exploit?
Going to check out At the End of the World, sounds good. I am finishing the book A Land So Strange, which is fitting as it describes a time pre Apocalypse for the native Americans. I personally dont think this time in the world is the Biblical apocalypse beginning, just the cyclical rise and fall of mans hubris. When God reveals His end everyones life and nature itself will be torn apart. Things are bad now but this is not the worst its ever been worldwide. Many positive changes are happening, for one there is a huge appetite now for people to know the truth about God, and an opportunity for Christians to demonstrate the power and Love of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the Millman recommendation, Paul. I finished it last week and loved it. He's got a great wit in his writing and I laughed out loud several times. I also watched some of the "Nanook of the North" documentary on Youtube. I am going to try and get my library to order, Hyperreality to read next.
I don't know if you are familiar with Ken Myers and Mars Hill Audio Journal, maybe Rod Dreher has mentioned it to you, but if not I came across this on his addenda page and immediately thought of you. I think you'd enjoy Mars Hill Audio Journal as well. It's wonderful and deep.
https://marshillaudio.org/addenda/what-happens-when-machine-stops