The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.

I’ve never read Calvino, only seen this quoted in Christian Wiman’s Home anthology, but I keep thinking of this quote.

I’m not saying I agree with all of it, but at the risk of some offense, and as someone who thinks the extreme shame of this election was nothing short an 11, I will say this: If Democrats are serious about understanding the why, they will need to find a way to hear what Peggy Noonan is saying. (And do keep in mind that Noonan is not soft on the clowns.)

“Socrates has scored! The Greeks are going mad! The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics… and Marx is claiming it was offsides!”

How have I never seen this?!

Dingo daydreams

Finished reading: Love’s Braided Dance by Norman Wirzba 📚

The introductory essay was excellent.

The way of hope is inspired by an acknowledgment of what can be called the miracle or grace of life itself, the realization that your own life and the lives of others are the never-again-to-be-repeated embodied expressions of life’s primordial, gifted goodness. Affirmation of the love-worthiness of this world is the spark that ignites a hopeful way of being because it calls people to give their love to the world in return. When love is given, the prospect, but not the guarantee, of a better future emerges.

The book mostly dropped off after that, at least for me. But Wirzba does bring it back toward the end of the book. If I get a chance, I may try to say some more about the final chapter. But don’t hold your breath. I’m easily distracted, and lately have the attention span of a

Martin Bucer:

[Every child] should be encouraged to enter the best profession, and the best profession is the one which brings most profit to neighbors.

Best friends

Reading the last line of Dispatch Politics, I get some seriously ominous chills down my spine:

But at the top of the ticket, it wasn’t particularly close in the Tar Heel State, with Trump appearing to win by a larger margin there than he did in 2020 or 2016. And in that example was the story of the election: Trump and the GOP have come back, stronger than ever.

“Dont worry, I’ll keep your chair warm for me.”

“As silly and as wise” — My first exhortation for the coming years is pretty well summed up by my reflection on Meacham’s And There Was Light, which is about ourselves long before it’s about elected officials.