"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. "
Back when you wrote your article about the foolishness of assuming governments are benign, I quoted it in a comment under an article by Todd Hayen (psychologist) who writes Shrew Views (shrews being the opposite of sheep). He was immensely impressed and re-stacked it, and is now a subscriber. He saw a soulmate. So your articles go to all sorts of places and are greatly appreciated.
Your sentence has made me smile....you have no idea how often I have not only wanted to respond to pretty much every single post of yours but also had notes written in order to assist my own grateful and appreciative comments ! it is only because you and many of your readers are so erudite that I with held them ......(I even had to refresh myself on the meaning of 'erudite' due to lack of confidence ). Your essays never ever fail to 'resonate' and deeply so.
re this latest one the Bible reminds us to not fear those who can kill the body but He who can kill the soul as well...... I find that a most positive and encouraging scripture from which to take heart in the coming times. God is a rewarder of those who seek Him and stays true .
You are more than most welcome ! Lying in bed this morning it occurred to me that rather than wishing for the ability with words to offer comments of value I should just take the plunge on the basis that in these perilous times especially it is important to engage in communication; 'social intercourse '; encouragement etc as often as possible with like minded folk . We have been put through the proverbial wringer extensively over the past several years after all.
My attention to all of your essays was initially brought about when you wrote of Roman times and the cruelty entailed.......visiting the Roman Colosseum was one of the few things on my childhood bucket list and I was so excited at the prospect for decades...until a few years back when I not only set eyes on it but stayed in accommodation opposite the massive structure....and actively avoided entering as by then I had studied the topic more fully - and taught within the prison I worked in -and simply could not face the reminder of the horrors of it all.
Following your essay-writing after that post was, as they say, 'history' and automatic and I thank you again for your preparedness to share of your deep reflectiveness, knowledge and generosity with others such as myself.
I've been meaning to get back to you about this, so apologies for the delay, but isn't it wonderful how chance connections come into play, how my writing about the Romans catalysed your interest and the wonderful commentaries you now share: thank you so much, it is inspiring and we must all never cease to revel in the wonders of chance and openness which Life and life provide.
Thank you Emmanuel for this deeply thought provoking essay.
Reading it I think of the time when as a much younger and more naive man I had the great good fortune to go to a small church meeting hall in the north of England and listen to the gulag experiences of the late great Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. I went on to read his grand books - Cancer ward and Gulag archipelago. I'm haunted and inspired by him. I wish to die one day having displayed at least a fraction of his stoicism and sublime integrity.
I also think of the great psychoanalist Erik Erikson and his 8 life crises model of human development. The last crisis being integrity vs despair (at not having lived a successfully life).
Your essay reminds me to keep these 2 morals front and centre and strive to maintain freedom and dignity for myself and others.
Thank you kindly! I have read most of Solzhenitsyn's works ... He is an immense person. I recently re-read Cancer Ward and was sublimely shocked by its magnificence. His son Ignat, by the way, is a wonderful conductor and pianist.
I'd heard the name Solzhenitsyn and bought one of his books in an op-shop in Australia once. I was so surprised.
'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.'
This protagonist was on the bones of his backside, in a gulag, ratty mattress, freezing, starving, worn out, and through observation and repetition he had perfected every aspect of that experience over years to have a really good day when everything went right. A little like the film 'Groundhog Day' I suppose.
I read that book about forty years ago ... it is incredible, immense. Yes, look at how he endured under horrific conditions -- we can all take a leaf out of that book and remind ourselves never to give in to the tyrants.
"staying true to what is good makes us winners no matter what"
"It is tempting in any war to resort to lawlessness, it is tempting to justify destructive means by the ends they purport to reach, it is tempting to put our consciences in abeyance in the thick of the fight. But by doing so we therefore become the instruments of our own destruction."
"To become, by renouncing our fundamental principles, like the destructive and despicable enemy that persecutes us, is sure defeat. ... but only we can ensure that our souls are intact. Death, in the end, looms for us all. Preserving dignity is a choice we can make every step along the inevitable path."
"...so long as we oppose oppression without betraying ourselves, we will be victorious"
An excellent Newsletter. From March of 2020, that has been the biggest horror for me; that governments (a small handful of intellectually limited and morally compromised people) came up with and enforced policies that would definitely and deliberately harm, even onto death, many in order to possibly prevent harm to others. Murderous Cuomo with his "if we save even on life..." which completely ignores all the children he harmed, even onto death. Evil disguised, ever so thinly, as compassion.
and let's not forget the people in nursing homes that Cuomo consigned to an earlier than necessary death .... yes, we have been in the grip of psychopaths. Thank you for your kind words and comments.
PULL-QUOTE: "Being the last one standing and holding onto a deep commitment to integrity and the truth is winning."— David Martin
1:03:50
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: I'm optimistic that we have the ability, if we keep the message in a respectful and and honoring-the-integrity-of-the-process kind of mode, I actually think we're going to prevail. I just think this is a slow process and most of us want rather instant successes and this is one that's going to take some time.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Well one more question. Where does this leave you, David Martin? You have been very active in the most recondite regions of this legal battle. And what are you going to be doing around this battle?
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yes.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Really this battle for the soul of the country.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah. What we're doing is a couple things. One is we have been working directly with sheriffs and district attorneys as well as large groups of injured parties to bring felony, both negligent homicide and premeditated murder and reckless endangerment charges against doctors, hospital groups, managed care groups, etcetera, for the deaths of the injected and the deaths of those treated with remdesivir.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: I'm very glad to hear that something's happening at that level.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Because they have been —
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: We have 25 sheriffs and DAs who are willing to take criminal prosecutions forward. We are cross-referencing those with over 3,000 deaths that we have accumulated and by the way, anybody who has those deaths can go to prosecutenow.io which is the website where we're collecting all this information. It's prosecutenow.io . And what we're doing there is just matching sheriffs and DAs that have the commitment to do the prosecution with cases that match the criteria, which is people who died after receiving one or more injection and were treated with remdesivir. Because that gives us premeditation, it gives us reckless and negligent homicide, and it also gives us murder. Those cases are the ones that we're pursuing. And you know, as macabre as this sounds, thankfully we now have patients who died in jurisdictions where we have sheriffs with the appetite. So after a nearly 9 month process of educating sheriffs we finally have a couple matches.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Must have been hard on, must have been hard on you, all this.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: It is because you listen, you hear this, stories of people who, I mean thousands of people, James, who have lost loved ones who, you know, their loved ones had to die alone on remdesivir being poisoned by a hospital who was going to get 250,000 dollars as an incentive to kill them. I mean it's hard to hear that story once. It's harder to hear it 3,000 times.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Yeah.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: And then what you're trying to do is offer a modicum of decency for the person who's telling you the story, whose loved one is the person who died, and you need to tell them, by the way, right now, in your area, our, you know, our conversation with your sheriff, said they're not willing to pursue this case. And so their heart is broken again. And so I've had to develop a little bit of a thick skin on this one because we're fighting for the macro cause. But each one of the micro experiences is its own tragedy.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Yeah. It's hard to really imagine the amount of suffering and woe that this episode has caused.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Not just in this country but, you know, throughout the world, and especially, you know, the rest of western civ.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: OK. Well. Yeah—
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Listen, we're making progress. And I know that sometimes listeners, many people, may be going, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? And the answer is yes. I mean, this is one where, this, I've characterized this many times as a war of attrition. Being the last one standing and holding onto a deep commitment to integrity and the truth is winning. You know we've gotten massive admissions of the frauds of science. We've got the massive admissions of the frauds of the public statements about effectiveness and safety. We've gotten the admissions that there really were fatalities that were, you know, not one or two but, but on, on the official filings we have nearly 8 and a half thousand, 9,000 you know countermeasures injuries, federal cases filed of people dying from these things. More than the sum of all medical countermeasures else combined. We have these things that are starting to percolate up. And once again we simply will prevail if the resolve is there to stomach some of the difficult conversations that have to be had where we have to confront some realities that are maybe a little awkward to confront, but the fact is that we do have the capacity to prevail and all it takes is persistence. And persistence is not in short supply if people understand what's at stake. And what's at stake is the future of not only our country but it's also the future of what we call civilization.
1:09:13
[END OF EXCERPT]
# # #
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
"Dr. David E. Martin is "the Founder and Chairman of M·CAM Inc., the international leader in innovation finance, trade, and intangible asset finance. He’s been among a select band of international thought-leaders investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the relationships between US public health officials, the pharmaceutical companies, and a number of shadowy organizations behind the development of hugely profitable vaccines with a poor record of safety and viability. He was the founding CEO of Mosaic Technologies Inc., a company that developed and commercialized advanced computational linguistics technologies, dynamic data compression and encryption technologies, electrical field transmission technology, medical diagnostics, and stealth/anechoic technology, and launched many other ventures here and overseas."-- from the show notes.
I remember this transcript, this line stuck with me:
"[...] Because you listen, you hear this, stories of people who, I mean thousands of people, James, who have lost loved ones who, you know, their loved ones had to die alone on remdesivir being poisoned by a hospital who was going to get 250,000 dollars as an incentive to kill them. I mean it's hard to hear that story once. It's harder to hear it 3,000 times."
What makes it chilling is your most recent post on the lack of outrage from those whose family members have been killed by the vax.
Absolutely agree. When I act badly towards others it poisons me. I gave it up in college. The only way to proceed on a personal level is to lead by example. We need to reject bad behavior on the part of others. How much we can do in groups I don’t know. I hope it is a lot, as long as they sre people we know and trust.
Superb article, Dr G. I don't know if, outside of the UK, the term 'Dutch courage' is used much (it probably isn't over here either, as much as it was). It just means (false) courage derived from alcohol. When you write articles like this, they impart 'New Zealand courage', of an altogether more genuine kind. Never underestimate the importance of helping, with all the others doing the same, impart that courage to those of us who are pretty much alone, since none of our friends (and sometimes not even any of our families) will give our recent discoveries the time of day. So, thank you , and please keep going!
My God, through His Son's death & resurrection, has already won the victory over evil (sin). and death. His is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever, It is so.
This is a most poignant essay, containing an exposition on the virtues of honour, righteousness, and fair-minded justice. I congratulate you for your analytical insight, and I thank you and congratulate you for writing such an essay! Might I add that it's time we all read 1984 once again!!!
In circumstances similar to the interrogation of Orwell's characters by O'Brien, how should one respond? As I was reading the passages you quoted and your analysis of them, I thought of Socrates. Accused of corruption and impiety (I interpret it as Socrates not respecting common wisdom and the dictates of a corrupt state), he stood firm in his beliefs, accepting the inevitability of his execution. He refused both exile and escape: Better to remain a patriot who loved the original foundations of the state, rather than run to places where nothing was different from his present-day Athens. He accepted the wrath of the state instead of participating in the crimes of the state.
From personal experience, I would say that wisdom is incomplete and, at times, it escapes us altogether. But nevertheless, we must remain standing and endeavour not to betray ourselves. We must exercise logic as we strive for what is best, what is good, loving, and beneficial to the community.
Thank you! I found your analysis of 1984 to be brilliant. And it was your analysis that prompted my thoughts of Socrates. His ultimate sacrifice was defiance with honour.
But both with Socrates and with Orwell's two protagonists in "1984," we are discussing how humanity's wonders can turn into ashes. My heart is breaking as I consider this. Hopefully, there is a phoenix stirring somewhere in the ashes, hopefully. With hope and faith, I ask for a phoenix.
Perhaps I was never destined to be a great ruler, general or other powerful leader of sorts for I never wished to be placed in such a position where breaking a few eggs was necessary or conducive towards achieving my goals.
I place value first and foremost on personal integrity. On being the best and most authentic version of myself.
And perhaps the two are not at odds with one another. Perhaps we have been conditioned to assume you must do one to achieve the other.
Time will tell.
But never the less.
Integrity and spirit.
Those are more precious than any material possessions and once they are lost. The void left can never be filled again.
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. "
Friedrich Nietzsche
What a great quotation, thank you!
Dr. Garcia, you have hit the nail on the head.
Thank you very much! I wonder how these essays resonate ... I am glad to hear this.
This particular essay will make people contemplate which of us has the courage to stand strong, no matter the cost.
Thank you!
This article resonates like a bell, many thanks.
That's really wonderful to hear, thank you!
thank you so much
Back when you wrote your article about the foolishness of assuming governments are benign, I quoted it in a comment under an article by Todd Hayen (psychologist) who writes Shrew Views (shrews being the opposite of sheep). He was immensely impressed and re-stacked it, and is now a subscriber. He saw a soulmate. So your articles go to all sorts of places and are greatly appreciated.
that is great to hear and so very kind of you. Thank you!
Your sentence has made me smile....you have no idea how often I have not only wanted to respond to pretty much every single post of yours but also had notes written in order to assist my own grateful and appreciative comments ! it is only because you and many of your readers are so erudite that I with held them ......(I even had to refresh myself on the meaning of 'erudite' due to lack of confidence ). Your essays never ever fail to 'resonate' and deeply so.
re this latest one the Bible reminds us to not fear those who can kill the body but He who can kill the soul as well...... I find that a most positive and encouraging scripture from which to take heart in the coming times. God is a rewarder of those who seek Him and stays true .
What a beautiful comment, thank you
You are more than most welcome ! Lying in bed this morning it occurred to me that rather than wishing for the ability with words to offer comments of value I should just take the plunge on the basis that in these perilous times especially it is important to engage in communication; 'social intercourse '; encouragement etc as often as possible with like minded folk . We have been put through the proverbial wringer extensively over the past several years after all.
My attention to all of your essays was initially brought about when you wrote of Roman times and the cruelty entailed.......visiting the Roman Colosseum was one of the few things on my childhood bucket list and I was so excited at the prospect for decades...until a few years back when I not only set eyes on it but stayed in accommodation opposite the massive structure....and actively avoided entering as by then I had studied the topic more fully - and taught within the prison I worked in -and simply could not face the reminder of the horrors of it all.
Following your essay-writing after that post was, as they say, 'history' and automatic and I thank you again for your preparedness to share of your deep reflectiveness, knowledge and generosity with others such as myself.
I've been meaning to get back to you about this, so apologies for the delay, but isn't it wonderful how chance connections come into play, how my writing about the Romans catalysed your interest and the wonderful commentaries you now share: thank you so much, it is inspiring and we must all never cease to revel in the wonders of chance and openness which Life and life provide.
Thank you Emmanuel for this deeply thought provoking essay.
Reading it I think of the time when as a much younger and more naive man I had the great good fortune to go to a small church meeting hall in the north of England and listen to the gulag experiences of the late great Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. I went on to read his grand books - Cancer ward and Gulag archipelago. I'm haunted and inspired by him. I wish to die one day having displayed at least a fraction of his stoicism and sublime integrity.
I also think of the great psychoanalist Erik Erikson and his 8 life crises model of human development. The last crisis being integrity vs despair (at not having lived a successfully life).
Your essay reminds me to keep these 2 morals front and centre and strive to maintain freedom and dignity for myself and others.
Keep up the wonderful work.
Thank you kindly! I have read most of Solzhenitsyn's works ... He is an immense person. I recently re-read Cancer Ward and was sublimely shocked by its magnificence. His son Ignat, by the way, is a wonderful conductor and pianist.
I'd heard the name Solzhenitsyn and bought one of his books in an op-shop in Australia once. I was so surprised.
'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.'
This protagonist was on the bones of his backside, in a gulag, ratty mattress, freezing, starving, worn out, and through observation and repetition he had perfected every aspect of that experience over years to have a really good day when everything went right. A little like the film 'Groundhog Day' I suppose.
I read that book about forty years ago ... it is incredible, immense. Yes, look at how he endured under horrific conditions -- we can all take a leaf out of that book and remind ourselves never to give in to the tyrants.
These sentiments really resonated with me.
"staying true to what is good makes us winners no matter what"
"It is tempting in any war to resort to lawlessness, it is tempting to justify destructive means by the ends they purport to reach, it is tempting to put our consciences in abeyance in the thick of the fight. But by doing so we therefore become the instruments of our own destruction."
"To become, by renouncing our fundamental principles, like the destructive and despicable enemy that persecutes us, is sure defeat. ... but only we can ensure that our souls are intact. Death, in the end, looms for us all. Preserving dignity is a choice we can make every step along the inevitable path."
"...so long as we oppose oppression without betraying ourselves, we will be victorious"
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much, that is lovely to hear
Having been banned from Twitter for "wrongspeak", your words resonate loudly. Love your work.
Thank you ... you have earned a badge of courage from Twitter -- your kind words are very much appreciated!
That was so good! and so true... and reflective of what just happened to me this week:
https://drtenpenny.substack.com/p/the-ohio-medical-board-hearing
thank you so much and
please know that we are in your corner!
An excellent Newsletter. From March of 2020, that has been the biggest horror for me; that governments (a small handful of intellectually limited and morally compromised people) came up with and enforced policies that would definitely and deliberately harm, even onto death, many in order to possibly prevent harm to others. Murderous Cuomo with his "if we save even on life..." which completely ignores all the children he harmed, even onto death. Evil disguised, ever so thinly, as compassion.
and let's not forget the people in nursing homes that Cuomo consigned to an earlier than necessary death .... yes, we have been in the grip of psychopaths. Thank you for your kind words and comments.
Thank You sir. 100%.
Thank you so much
Beautifully written, thank you.
and thank you for these encouraging words
Thank you for this.
Relatedly:
KunstlerCast 372 — A Conversation with Dr. David E. Martin — Prosecuting Covid Crimes
March 12, 2023
https://kunstler.com/podcast/kunstlercast-372-a-conversation-with-dr-david-e-martin-prosecuting-covid-crimes/
TRANSCRIPT - BRIEF EXCERPT
PULL-QUOTE: "Being the last one standing and holding onto a deep commitment to integrity and the truth is winning."— David Martin
1:03:50
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: I'm optimistic that we have the ability, if we keep the message in a respectful and and honoring-the-integrity-of-the-process kind of mode, I actually think we're going to prevail. I just think this is a slow process and most of us want rather instant successes and this is one that's going to take some time.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Well one more question. Where does this leave you, David Martin? You have been very active in the most recondite regions of this legal battle. And what are you going to be doing around this battle?
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yes.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Really this battle for the soul of the country.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah. What we're doing is a couple things. One is we have been working directly with sheriffs and district attorneys as well as large groups of injured parties to bring felony, both negligent homicide and premeditated murder and reckless endangerment charges against doctors, hospital groups, managed care groups, etcetera, for the deaths of the injected and the deaths of those treated with remdesivir.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: I'm very glad to hear that something's happening at that level.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Because they have been —
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: We have 25 sheriffs and DAs who are willing to take criminal prosecutions forward. We are cross-referencing those with over 3,000 deaths that we have accumulated and by the way, anybody who has those deaths can go to prosecutenow.io which is the website where we're collecting all this information. It's prosecutenow.io . And what we're doing there is just matching sheriffs and DAs that have the commitment to do the prosecution with cases that match the criteria, which is people who died after receiving one or more injection and were treated with remdesivir. Because that gives us premeditation, it gives us reckless and negligent homicide, and it also gives us murder. Those cases are the ones that we're pursuing. And you know, as macabre as this sounds, thankfully we now have patients who died in jurisdictions where we have sheriffs with the appetite. So after a nearly 9 month process of educating sheriffs we finally have a couple matches.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Must have been hard on, must have been hard on you, all this.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: It is because you listen, you hear this, stories of people who, I mean thousands of people, James, who have lost loved ones who, you know, their loved ones had to die alone on remdesivir being poisoned by a hospital who was going to get 250,000 dollars as an incentive to kill them. I mean it's hard to hear that story once. It's harder to hear it 3,000 times.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Yeah.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: And then what you're trying to do is offer a modicum of decency for the person who's telling you the story, whose loved one is the person who died, and you need to tell them, by the way, right now, in your area, our, you know, our conversation with your sheriff, said they're not willing to pursue this case. And so their heart is broken again. And so I've had to develop a little bit of a thick skin on this one because we're fighting for the macro cause. But each one of the micro experiences is its own tragedy.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Yeah. It's hard to really imagine the amount of suffering and woe that this episode has caused.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: Not just in this country but, you know, throughout the world, and especially, you know, the rest of western civ.
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Yeah.
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER: OK. Well. Yeah—
DR. DAVID E. MARTIN: Listen, we're making progress. And I know that sometimes listeners, many people, may be going, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? And the answer is yes. I mean, this is one where, this, I've characterized this many times as a war of attrition. Being the last one standing and holding onto a deep commitment to integrity and the truth is winning. You know we've gotten massive admissions of the frauds of science. We've got the massive admissions of the frauds of the public statements about effectiveness and safety. We've gotten the admissions that there really were fatalities that were, you know, not one or two but, but on, on the official filings we have nearly 8 and a half thousand, 9,000 you know countermeasures injuries, federal cases filed of people dying from these things. More than the sum of all medical countermeasures else combined. We have these things that are starting to percolate up. And once again we simply will prevail if the resolve is there to stomach some of the difficult conversations that have to be had where we have to confront some realities that are maybe a little awkward to confront, but the fact is that we do have the capacity to prevail and all it takes is persistence. And persistence is not in short supply if people understand what's at stake. And what's at stake is the future of not only our country but it's also the future of what we call civilization.
1:09:13
[END OF EXCERPT]
# # #
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
"Dr. David E. Martin is "the Founder and Chairman of M·CAM Inc., the international leader in innovation finance, trade, and intangible asset finance. He’s been among a select band of international thought-leaders investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the relationships between US public health officials, the pharmaceutical companies, and a number of shadowy organizations behind the development of hugely profitable vaccines with a poor record of safety and viability. He was the founding CEO of Mosaic Technologies Inc., a company that developed and commercialized advanced computational linguistics technologies, dynamic data compression and encryption technologies, electrical field transmission technology, medical diagnostics, and stealth/anechoic technology, and launched many other ventures here and overseas."-- from the show notes.
Dr. David Martin's website is http://www.davidmartin.world/about/
James Howard Kunstler's blog and podcast can be found at www.kunstler.com
thank you for that, wonderful!
I remember this transcript, this line stuck with me:
"[...] Because you listen, you hear this, stories of people who, I mean thousands of people, James, who have lost loved ones who, you know, their loved ones had to die alone on remdesivir being poisoned by a hospital who was going to get 250,000 dollars as an incentive to kill them. I mean it's hard to hear that story once. It's harder to hear it 3,000 times."
What makes it chilling is your most recent post on the lack of outrage from those whose family members have been killed by the vax.
Thanks for reading, Aria Veritas.
Absolutely agree. When I act badly towards others it poisons me. I gave it up in college. The only way to proceed on a personal level is to lead by example. We need to reject bad behavior on the part of others. How much we can do in groups I don’t know. I hope it is a lot, as long as they sre people we know and trust.
a wonderful commentary, thank you
A great reckoning is now upon us all, but our responses will ultimately be an individual matter.
Superb article, Dr G. I don't know if, outside of the UK, the term 'Dutch courage' is used much (it probably isn't over here either, as much as it was). It just means (false) courage derived from alcohol. When you write articles like this, they impart 'New Zealand courage', of an altogether more genuine kind. Never underestimate the importance of helping, with all the others doing the same, impart that courage to those of us who are pretty much alone, since none of our friends (and sometimes not even any of our families) will give our recent discoveries the time of day. So, thank you , and please keep going!
My God, through His Son's death & resurrection, has already won the victory over evil (sin). and death. His is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever, It is so.
This is a most poignant essay, containing an exposition on the virtues of honour, righteousness, and fair-minded justice. I congratulate you for your analytical insight, and I thank you and congratulate you for writing such an essay! Might I add that it's time we all read 1984 once again!!!
In circumstances similar to the interrogation of Orwell's characters by O'Brien, how should one respond? As I was reading the passages you quoted and your analysis of them, I thought of Socrates. Accused of corruption and impiety (I interpret it as Socrates not respecting common wisdom and the dictates of a corrupt state), he stood firm in his beliefs, accepting the inevitability of his execution. He refused both exile and escape: Better to remain a patriot who loved the original foundations of the state, rather than run to places where nothing was different from his present-day Athens. He accepted the wrath of the state instead of participating in the crimes of the state.
From personal experience, I would say that wisdom is incomplete and, at times, it escapes us altogether. But nevertheless, we must remain standing and endeavour not to betray ourselves. We must exercise logic as we strive for what is best, what is good, loving, and beneficial to the community.
What a wonderful commentary, and the immense example of Socrates is beautiful -- thank you so very much for this, it is beautiful and apt!
Thank you! I found your analysis of 1984 to be brilliant. And it was your analysis that prompted my thoughts of Socrates. His ultimate sacrifice was defiance with honour.
But both with Socrates and with Orwell's two protagonists in "1984," we are discussing how humanity's wonders can turn into ashes. My heart is breaking as I consider this. Hopefully, there is a phoenix stirring somewhere in the ashes, hopefully. With hope and faith, I ask for a phoenix.
Very powerful essay.
It resonates well.
Perhaps I was never destined to be a great ruler, general or other powerful leader of sorts for I never wished to be placed in such a position where breaking a few eggs was necessary or conducive towards achieving my goals.
I place value first and foremost on personal integrity. On being the best and most authentic version of myself.
And perhaps the two are not at odds with one another. Perhaps we have been conditioned to assume you must do one to achieve the other.
Time will tell.
But never the less.
Integrity and spirit.
Those are more precious than any material possessions and once they are lost. The void left can never be filled again.