Thank you for this. The imagined stuff that appears as most material to us - like clock time and money - are the most powerful and pernicious!
I'd forgotten all about that money burning scene in The Quiet Man.
Have you heard of the French anarchist Martial Bourdin who died trying to blow-up GMT in 1894. The story is in John Higgs' Stranger Than We Can Imagine where I think he conceptualizes GMT as an 'omphalos'.
No I hadn’t….but I will look it up! It’s the whole abstraction thing again, I’ve only touched on the surface of it but Swift saw it from the start, we would end up like Gulliver, tied down…
The money burning scene in the QM struck me as the most subversive thing in the whole film: it is shocking even now (even more than the ‘here’s a stick to beat the lovely lady with). It’s £750, about £22,000 that ends up in smoke. Should really write about it (unless you want to).
Swift also wrote about money saving scheme - eat the children of the poor. Should really write about that too…this was only supposed to be a hobby!
“The paradox, the surprise and the wonder are that the clock was invented by men [Benedictine monks] who wanted to devote themselves more rigorously to God; it ended as the technology of greatest use to men who wished to devote themselves to the accumulation of money [businessmen]. In the eternal struggle between God and Mammon, the clock quite unpredictably favored the latter.” (Postman, Technopoly, 1992, pp. 14-15)
The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.
I wonder if the Anti Christ means this? That things which were originally intended for good purposes get subverted?
It puts me in mind if Chesterton quote about how all the Christian virtues had been disconnected from each other and thus were running around unmoored…? Must find it…
Thank you for this. The imagined stuff that appears as most material to us - like clock time and money - are the most powerful and pernicious!
I'd forgotten all about that money burning scene in The Quiet Man.
Have you heard of the French anarchist Martial Bourdin who died trying to blow-up GMT in 1894. The story is in John Higgs' Stranger Than We Can Imagine where I think he conceptualizes GMT as an 'omphalos'.
No I hadn’t….but I will look it up! It’s the whole abstraction thing again, I’ve only touched on the surface of it but Swift saw it from the start, we would end up like Gulliver, tied down…
The money burning scene in the QM struck me as the most subversive thing in the whole film: it is shocking even now (even more than the ‘here’s a stick to beat the lovely lady with). It’s £750, about £22,000 that ends up in smoke. Should really write about it (unless you want to).
Swift also wrote about money saving scheme - eat the children of the poor. Should really write about that too…this was only supposed to be a hobby!
Ha! There's no escape now!
Struck me as relevant:
“The paradox, the surprise and the wonder are that the clock was invented by men [Benedictine monks] who wanted to devote themselves more rigorously to God; it ended as the technology of greatest use to men who wished to devote themselves to the accumulation of money [businessmen]. In the eternal struggle between God and Mammon, the clock quite unpredictably favored the latter.” (Postman, Technopoly, 1992, pp. 14-15)
The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.
I wonder if the Anti Christ means this? That things which were originally intended for good purposes get subverted?
It puts me in mind if Chesterton quote about how all the Christian virtues had been disconnected from each other and thus were running around unmoored…? Must find it…
And thank you for the Postman quote, if you don’t mind I might use it?