“Sense and Sensibility” is a profound achievement of romantic realism. Jane Austen demonstrates that to surrender oneself to romantic sensibility is the highway to ruin, but that the unity of logos and eros is beautiful and wholesome. Jane Austen, to my mind, was the preeminent romantic realist writer. Born into a modest clerical family, she [...]
Though written before COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the agitated lead-up to the 2020 election, Daniel Goodman’s novel, “A Single Life,” resonates with the pain of increased isolation, racial tension, and alienation as Eli Newman treads the arduous road to romance and struggles with his observant Jewish life. A Single Life, by Daniel [...]
The Marxists advocate Pride and don’t believe in loving their neighbors but in destroying their enemies. They insist that without justice, there will be no peace, but they forget that there will be no justice without love. Without love we have nothing but the systemic pride which rules the world with the spirit of “might [...]
The Judeo-Christian heritage of America can be felt in her sociocultural being. Our moral laws were drawn with respect to protecting our rights, and our faith inspires us to be proactive with respect for others. This is where love counts—the ultimate expression of individualism, the greatest act of human free will. One of the perennial [...]
Dante’s “Divine Comedy” conveys timeless wisdom about the human person and the ugly reality of sin. This magnificent poem can help many of us overcome the sin of lust and escape the dark forest that in one way or another ensnares us all. “Midway along the journey of our life / I woke to find [...]
In the midst of a dream, Orual’s doubts are finally answered by the gods. Once Psyche gives her the gift of beauty, and the God of the mountain appears and speaks to her, her ugliness is washed away. It takes all of Orual’s life to come to this point of faith and cleansing, and now [...]
The art of loving might look like a bard’s Familiar ballad, playful yet precise— All fingers dancing, never strained by self Or hesitation, fret to joyful fret, A perfect, reckless, troubadour’s delight, Like friends who wonder at the firmament’s Vast steadiness, how it remains the same, Yet never ceases to draw our eyes up. [...]
In “Till We Have Faces,” the story of Orual and Psyche which Lewis weaves is so powerful because it presents us with the hope that even the greatest cruelty perpetrated by selfish love can be forgiven by true love. Picture the scene, cliché as it is: A young teenager’s parents have just refused her permission to [...]
Every man is his own pope and philosopher-king on the Internet, where our semi-formed and semi-informed opinions are cast as absolutes. Convinced of our perfect knowledge and infallible righteousness, we denounce and demean in harsh, uncharitable terms the arguments of others, and even their very persons. “Minds are conquered not by arms, but by love [...]
Reading poems about home and community is well and good, but this does not itself build community. Drinking a few glasses of wine and reciting a poem in good company, however, can. Community is simply home more broadly understood. And, although home is not always a location, its psychological contours can be, and indeed must [...]
There are none so blind as those who can only see themselves. This is the tragedy of narcissism or what the psychologist Paul Vitz has called selfism. The modern narcissist no longer looks at himself in a pool of water, or even in the mirror; he sees himself in countless selfies, the icons of his [...]
The victory of Christ on the Cross was not a victory of sunshine, happy thoughts, and rainbows. Nay, it was a victory of sublime splendor. It was horrifying. It was total. It was—and remains—through the eyes of faith, also beautiful. St. Paul says that he is determined to know, and preach, nothing but “Christ and [...]
Everything is going well, until it isn’t. Then it is the end of the world, until it isn’t. Unbridled confidence and unfounded panic are the poles we traverse, A jagged, looping path along which we cry beseechingly and grasp breathlessly. […]
The most important question a person can ask is the philosophical question, “Who am I?”, because without knowing who we truly are, we will not be sure that what we seek is good for us and what we try to avoid is bad. […]