There are certain things that each of us can do personally to return to order. Our core denunciation is that of a reckless spirit of frenetic intemperance which is constantly throwing our economy out of balance by seeking to be rid of restraints and gratify disordered passions. We have likened this spirit to that of … Read more
So often it is heard that the public good is obtained when men look after their own interests. While there might be some degree of truth in the idea, the real change was one of focus. The modern view shifted the whole perception of the public good. It is no longer an end but merely … Read more
A very tragic aspect of modern life is the decline of music as a popular art form. We are not saying that there is a lack of music. There is certainly plenty of music in all of its many forms, whether it be classical, country or rock. We are not referring to the pop music … Read more
Everyone imagines that advertising has as its goal the satisfaction of the consumer’s desire. A person supposedly obtains happiness by buying the product. Free Book: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go However, the logic of such a supposition … Read more
Architecture leads to heaven or hell In our most recent article about Augustus Pugin, we saw how the famous architect converted from a strict brand of Calvinism to Roman Catholicism, due to his studies of medieval Catholic architecture when he was 19 years old. Free Book: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an … Read more
What is meant by “organic” or “inorganic” can be understood by comparing a living organism, such as a man or an animal, and a machine. A man and a machine have some things in common. Each is made up of different parts that form a single whole. In both, every part carries out a function … Read more
Josef Pieper explains how our modern world has suppressed the sense of wonder and marvelousness that should be part of our spiritual, cultural and intellectual life. He writes: Free Book: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go “Wonder does … Read more
When introducing the book, Return to Order, I present the picture of a “party” economy that is frenzied and out of balance. One of the questions I am often asked later is: What can we do to fight the present disorder? People want to know what concrete steps they can take right now. They want … Read more
It is Christmas time, and the world stops for a brief moment. It does not stop long because there are too many important things to be done to waste on festive and unproductive folly. It can only be a short pause on Christmas day before the world must almost immediately return to the frenetic intemperance … Read more
In a world where everything is so rationalistic and well-organized, it seems a contradiction that people would seek after things like drugs, alcohol abuse, promiscuity, violence, extreme sports, intense music, violent video games and other such pursuits that border on the irrational. Yet, as sociologist Richard Strivers notes, such behavior is actually a consequence of … Read more
