Monday, November 28, 2005

Monday's Meditation

I came across a couple of quotes this week and thought I'd share them both with you. Here they are!

"Men are so accustomed to establish and defend their existence by violence, by bayonets, bullets, prisons, and gallows, that it seems to them as if such an arrangement of life were not only normal, but were the only one possible. Yet it is just this arrangement and maintenance of the commonwealrth by violence, that does most to hinder people from comprehending the causes of the sufferings, and consequently from being able to establish a true order."
-- Leo Tolstoy

I thought this to be a relevant quote in light of the ongoing discussion between Expat and Guru regarding the "War on Terror."

"The barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time. And it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament. We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another - doubtless very different - St. Benedict."
-- Alastair Macintyre


This quote caught my attention on several levels. First, I thought it a funny image to think of GW Bush as a "barbarian" in the style of Conan. But more importantly, I think it leads us to another idea more powerful altogether, and that is the invitation to escape the rat race of the world and enter a different sort of life. What are the barbarians of our lives and what are we being called to?

|