Beda modernus

Let me speak plainly. Philosophy, aesthetics, politics, all these things only have point or meaning to them if they are rooted in God. There is nothing worse than the bourgeois "appreciation of culture" that is an end in itself, or the chatter of self-regarding philosophers: an entertainment no better or worse than playing computer games or scratching your head. They are all pastimes, no more or less.

There is thus only one end that could bring about a just society, a moral art and a noble philosophy. Only, indeed, a God can save us.

That is the teleology of the situation, but what about the route to this epiphanic and ecstatic vision? That is what we must search for, diligently, urgently, prudently. We must lay aside our own imperfections and not be sidetracked by them. We must look for the thread of hidden pain and, grasping it firmly, follow it hand over hand. And, though the thread cut deeply, we must follow it to the end.