“Imagination rules the world,” Russell Kirk used to say.[1] He meant that imagination is a force that molds the clay of our sentiments and understanding.[2] It is not chiefly through calculations, formulas, and syllogisms, but by means of images, myths, and stories that we comprehend our relation to God, to nature, to others, and to the self. [...]
Berry’s economic program, what he calls the “little economy,” is a smaller wheel in the larger motion of the “Great Economy.” To understand the former, it is vital to grasp the latter. In the following, then, Berry’s vision of the broader drama of human action is set forth, followed by a presentation of his narrower [...]
I love it when New Scientist tackles the big questions. This week it is “What is Reality?” There is a new humility in science, it seems. Many scientists will now admit that we just don’t know the answer to the question. Scientific Reductionism is no longer convincing. You can examine ever smaller components of the material [...]
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter The History of The Lord of the Rings edited by Christopher Tolkien If considered at all, Oxford philologist and novelist J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) remains a perplexing twentieth-century figure for most academics, conservative or otherwise. Most famous academically for his insightful and seminal 1936 essay on Beowulf, [...]
The purpose of this essay is to elucidate the importance of Plato’s commitment to rational discourse in the Apology and Gorgias. Both dialogues chronicle the transfer of authority from the destructive world of Athens to the philosophers. The organization of politics and society, according to Plato, is determined by the orderliness of the souls of its citizens. The central [...]
“The ideal classroom is a student driving an automobile with Russell Kirk in the passenger seat.” —Stephen Masty (I made that up, but it’s what he would say) The EarthBOX is a marvelous invention. In a small, controlled environment one can grow vegetables and flowers in great splendor with very little effort. It’s a plastic container equipped [...]
Odd though it sounds, a crisis faced by Thai monks, experiments on London cabbies, and a beautiful Russian-émigré scholar on Sherlock Holmes tell us what not to expect from the modern world, but show how we can become more effectively imaginative conservatives nevertheless. Put together, these three truths may suggest something of a personal agenda, [...]
Mark Malvasi Did we think we would get away with it? In the coming days and weeks we will hear much discussion about how video games, television shows, and the movies have contributed to the rising tide of violence that seems to be engulfing American society. Such talk has already begun. I have [...]
Last week, two of my Twitter friends (and friends of The Imaginative Conservative: @hencole and @Sir_Geechie) were happily discussing the 1965 Russell Kirk piece on Malcolm X; the one Winston graciously posted. After @henrole called it a birthday gift of sorts, @Sir_Geechie replied, “You know folks want narrative not knowledge.” I have found each of [...]
On Friday, November 22, 1963, at about the same time as President John F. Kennedy prepared to enter the black limousine that would take him through downtown Dallas to his violent death, another life was coming to a far less dramatic close across the Atlantic in England. It was late afternoon in the village of [...]
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb, Now leaves His well-belov'd imprisonment, There He hath made Himself to His intent Weak enough, now into the world to come; But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room? Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient, Stars and wise men will travel to [...]
The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again And lamp-oil light across the night Has caught the streaks of winter rain. In many a stained-glass window sheen From Crimson Lake to Hooker’s Green. The holly in the windy hedge And round the Manor House the yew Will soon be stripped to [...]
The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap, His hair was like a light. (O weary, weary were the world, But here is all aright.) The Christ-child lay on Mary's breast His hair was like a star. (O stern and cunning are the kings, But here the true hearts are.) The Christ-child lay on Mary's heart, His [...]
A saint, Romain, cut off our father’s head And nailed it on a Rouen church, they said, For he was evil (so the saint did swear; I would not know, I simply was not there). For fifteen hundred years thereafter we Are banished from all churches, the Gargouilles Or gargoyles; made of unforgiving stone, Condemned [...]