Diary of a Country Priest

July1, 20197:42am

Saturday, we ended up close to downtown in a neighborhood of blue-collar workers. It was very rough-looking. I’m not sure I’d want to be there after dark. We were there for an estate sale that claimed to have antiques. Surprisingly, there were some nice pieces!

There was also a left-handed acoustic guitar. I asked the skinny white woman about it and learned that she bought it for her”old man” along with an introductory lesson. When he got back from the lesson, he declared that he would never pick it up again. The woman had short-cropped hair and tattoos. She appeared to have lived a hard life. What happened to bring this 50-year-old woman to this neighborhood, at this time, in these circumstances? Was there ever any hope of anything better? Does she think she’s got it good? What horizons has she even glimpsed, or did she never raise her eyes beyond the ground beneath her feet? More importantly, what makes me think I’m able to question her life? Others, with more resources, connections, prospects see my life and ask the same questions – could he not raise himself a little further?

Last night, I watched a film based on the book “Diary of a Country Priest” by Georges Bernanos. I think he would turn over in his grave to see what they did to his story! In the film, the priest counsels a man who is obsessed with climate change and the morality of bringing a child into a world of dwindling resources and hardships. It might have worked if the director had used the climate change simply as a cause fo the man’s existential anxiety, but it became the main theme of the movie and lost me in the process. The future is fraught with all manner of dangers; that always has been and always will be….and one day, something will eliminate mankind from the universe. We will be eliminated from the story – this is without question and anyone who thinks about the future must accept it.

Collector of Wisdom

July 2, 2019

I am a collector of wisdom – to augment my own meager supply. This commonplace book is a repository of all the stories, excerpts, and ideas that I do not want to lose, and which may be the seed of something else one day. If you seek wisdom, you think first of our sacred texts; surely, they will explain everything we need to know about life, right? If you go beyond scripture, where do you start? What texts promise to show you the path to sanity or salvation? The classics? Name one that has altered the arc of human progress? How many people haver read or even heard of your choice? What percent of seven billion? 0.005%? So maybe not a significant impact? No?

Keynes on Money

July 3, 2019

Here is a truth about money….it is, at its foundation, the physical things and personal services that make our lives easier and/or more enjoyable. It is not paper, gems, or metal and it is certainly not digital – zeros and ones.

Many people do not consider the representational nature of currency and they conflate this with true value. What has value?…..that which makes life easer and/or more enjoyable.

During the depression, the economist John Maynard Keynes wrote: “A sentiment of trust in the legal money of the state is so deeply planted in the citizens of all countries that they cannot but believe someday this money must recover a part at least of its former value. To their minds, it appears that value is inherent in money as such, and they do not apprehend that the real wealth, which this money might have stood for, has been dissipated once and for all. This sentiment is supported by the various legal regulations with which the governments endeavor to control internal process, and so to preserve some purchasing power for their legal tender.

Thus, the force of law preserves a measure of immediate purchasing power over some commodities and the force of sentiment and custom maintains, especially among peasants, a willingness to hoard paper WHICH IS REALLY WORTHLESS” – John Maynard Keynes