Souls Adrift (2019)
The Barbarian is very certain that the exact reproduction in line or colour of a thing seen is beneath him, and that a drunken blur for line, a green sky, a red tree and a purple cow for colour, are the mark of great painting.
The Barbarian hopes — and that is the very mark of him — that he can have his cake and eat it too. He will consume what civilisation has slowly produced after generations of selection and effort but he will not be at the pains to replace such goods nor indeed has he a comprehension of the virtue that has brought them into being. Discipline seems to him irrational, on which account he is forever marvelling that civilisation should have offended him with priests and soldiers.
The Barbarian wonders what strange meaning may lurk in that ancient and solemn truth, ” Sine Auctoritate nulla vita.”
In a word, the Barbarian is discoverable everywhere in this that he cannot make; that he can befog or destroy, but that he cannot sustain; and of every Barbarian in the decline or peril of every civilisation exactly that has been true.
We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid.
We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us: we laugh. But as we laugh, we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.
We permit our jaded intellects to play with drugs of novelty for the fresh sensation they arouse, though we know well there is no good in them, but only wasting at the last.
Yet there is one real interest in watching the Barbarian and one that is profitable.
–Hillaire Belloc, This and That and the Other (1912)
Based on the first paragraph of this passage from his 1912 essay, The Barbarians, author Hillaire Belloc would have no doubt viewed me as being among the Barbarians as he saw them. My red trees and multicolored skies and fields, not to mention my distorted faces, would have certainly put me in that category.
In the essay, Belloc was writing about how traditional culture and Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, was being threatened to be overrun and obliterated by the changes being introduced by modern culture.
That first paragraph is a jab at the modernist art that was quickly blossoming at the time, art that veered wildly from the traditional painting that was once the sole province of Kings and Popes, a world Belloc seemed to pine for. Belloc was known to be a diehard believer in the absolute authority of the Catholic Church and monarchs. Evidence of this comes in the phrase he employs, sine auctoritate nulla vita, which translates as without authority there is no life.
In short, he felt that the world was going to hell in a handbasket as the world was quickly racing towards modernity.
Funny how the context of times changes how we perceive words such as those above from Belloc. I read this passage and all I could see was our current president and his corrupt and cruelly lethal administration.
It describes how he came to power as many just laughed at first at his clownish, childish antics like they were watching a dancing bear in the circus. Harmless and entertaining.
And when he began to exercise power many said it was refreshing to see the traditions and precedents that kept our nation afloat challenged and swept aside.
But it is that second paragraph here that damns him from my perspective. The president is a creature who wants to have his cake and eat it too. He will consume everything he sees. He has no respect for that which brought him to this point and has no concern at replacing in any way those things he consumes or throws on the trash heap.
History and tradition are nothing but a hindrance to his appetites and whims. He doesn’t give a damn about governing or reforming anything for the benefit of the citizens. The citizenry is not there to be helped or guided– they are there to be used and controlled. Any changes or actions are designed to benefit him first and foremost.
He is a barbarian in the truest sense of the word.
And as Belloc writes, there are those large and awful faces who watch him without smiling and laughter. They see in him an opportunity for profit, a way to ride his barbarism to more money and control.
Of course, that’s a fool’s gambit. A barbarian never shares his conquests for more than fleeting moment. Eventually, those who profit from him become fair game for his next conquest.
It’s been a while since I had a good rant. I’ve have been (and am) occupied with other things but I felt like I needed to write this, if only to get it out of my system. There’s no room for it in there at the moment.
One cancer is enough.
Try as I might, it is hard to block out the barbarity and lawlessness (along with an ample serving of stupidity and incompetence, thankfully) that is taking place as institutions are being damaged or destroyed while those who profit from it turn a blind eye.
I know a lot of you don’t want to be reminded, that you see this as a haven of some sort. I do, as well. But even havens are not spared from barbarians. At some point, truths as we know and perceive them, need to be spoken aloud.
I probably won’t serve up another rant for a while. It’s too taxing and I am trying to conserve energy these days. I need to focus on the haven part here. But be warned: I stand ready to speak up should the need arise.
Now, get back on your boat and get the hell off my island…
Redtree Times 