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The long goodbye

Reader comment on item: Conservatism's Hidden History
in response to reader comment: "Unseen", but very tangible

Submitted by Martin J. Malliet (Belgium), Sep 7, 2018 at 17:46

I had said goodbye and didn't want to take more space in this discussion. But I must thank you for your answer, which isn't bad, at all, even if a bit long. I cannot refrain from pointing out to you that it contradicts somewhat the things you said before, about reason, and about experience. Because what your answer shows is how the spirit works through reason from experience!

"As in David's case, everything I have received of God, I have heard twice: the first time was when I read or heard it from the Bible; and the second time was, after applying it, in seeing it work in my life."

In one word: you're much more of a Voegelinian (or Platonist, or transcendentalist - of the kind Poe did not dislike) than you care to acknowledge. Therefore one last link to explain what I mean.

https://voegelinview.com/testing-the-truth-of-the-in-between/

PS: For other readers who are interested in Eric Voegelin: start with his 1964 lectures on 'Hitler and the Germans'. In my opinion, it's still the best explanation ever written on the subject. His sarcasm is pronounced when he discusses the grotesqueness of the whole thing, and it will make you laugh. Just one quote: "The first concept is the concept of the unmastered past, about which, as you well know, there has been an extraordinary amount of discussion. When we hear the expression "the unmastered past," a series of questions immediately crops up: What does that really mean, in the first place? For whom is this past unmastered, assuming that we know at all what "mastering" means: for all, or for only a few people? Because it indeed was mastered by very many while it was still the present, since by no means did all the people who experienced the period of National Socialism cheerfully cooperate with it. Some were against it instinctively, because of tradition, etc. But some also knew precisely what was going on. That is to say, what is today the unmastered past, for people at the level of a Schramm or an Augstein, was a completely masterable present for the people who lived at that time. I mastered Hitler even before he came to power, and many others did too. So for whom is that an unmastered past? And if it is not mastered, what does that really mean—that it is not mastered as past? Again one can ask, Why should it be mastered? For it has indeed passed. And consequently if there is somehow the feeling that there is still something to master in the past, then we are coming to what I have continually pointed toward in all these examples, that we live in an unmastered present. Here is the first thesis for our analysis of the problem of the unmastered past: It really is an unmastered present."

Submitting....

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Title Commenter Date Thread
Yes, there *are* universities devoted to examining the conservative tradition! [103 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Dan SchwartzDec 31, 2018 19:50246915
1"The Conservatives" (2009) by Patrick Allitt (Yale University Press) [357 words]RobertSep 26, 2018 15:25245072
11669 The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina & Antidisestablishmentarianism [806 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
RobertSep 14, 2018 11:14244863
1"The Virtue of Nationalism" by Yoram Hazony [224 words]RobertSep 10, 2018 11:23244798
2From "The Common Law" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1881) [442 words]RobertSep 4, 2018 13:20244635
Empiricism is not the same as "Human Experience" [325 words]Michael SSep 4, 2018 20:07244635
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) [511 words]RobertSep 5, 2018 14:39244635
Who are the "great" philosophers? [158 words]Michael SSep 5, 2018 17:05244635
2The Six Philosophers: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume [287 words]RobertSep 5, 2018 21:10244635
1Πλάτων, Σωκρατης, Αριστοτέλης? No? [103 words]dhimmi no moreSep 6, 2018 07:56244635
Greek Philosophy? It's all Greek to me; but Job, Jesus and Shakespeare have given words to live by through the ages [583 words]Michael SSep 6, 2018 18:46244635
Are you a liberal, Robert? I assume you are. [109 words]Michael SSep 7, 2018 02:04244635
Footnote: The etymology of the word Europe [161 words]dhimmi no moreSep 7, 2018 08:28244635
1"The Chemistryb of the Bible" by Michael S. [313 words]RobertSep 7, 2018 15:42244635
1Yes, Greek Philosophy and the West! [96 words]dhimmi no moreSep 7, 2018 16:21244635
Plato, Athanasius and Western Society [457 words]Michael SSep 7, 2018 18:16244635
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1Today's Arianism! [204 words]dhimmi no moreSep 11, 2018 14:01244635
2In Memory of the victims of the 9/11 and we will "Never Forget" [204 words]dhimmi no moreSep 11, 2018 16:45244635
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2Conservative Liberals vs. Liberal Conservatives [354 words]RobertOct 1, 2018 14:18244635
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1Patriot (American Revolution) [Whigs & Tories] [282 words]RobertOct 1, 2018 21:56244635
Micheal: Maraya Khad Hu! The Peshitta, the Coptic Sahidic Bible, The Christian Arabic Bible and even the Qur'an [231 words]dhimmi no moreOct 2, 2018 07:22244635
Trinitarian excuse [181 words]Michael SOct 3, 2018 01:32244635
Conservatives and Liberals haven't really changed much through time. [819 words]Michael SOct 3, 2018 03:24244635
Michael: Nothing is ever simple and the Syriac word ܨܶܡܕܳܐ [300 words]dhimmi no moreOct 3, 2018 17:56244635
1Michael: Nothing is ever simple and the Syriac word ܨܶܡܕܳܐ Part two [267 words]dhimmi no moreOct 4, 2018 06:44244635
I want your opinion of the Sh'ma [93 words]Michael SOct 5, 2018 01:41244635
2The Yazidi woman Nadia Murad Basi awarded the Nobel Prize [339 words]dhimmi no moreOct 5, 2018 06:27244635
5Michael: ܫܡܥ (Syro-Aramaic) שמע (Hebrew) اسمع (Arabic) Or To Hear [595 words]dhimmi no moreOct 5, 2018 18:10244635
1Non-Simple, but Informative :-) [10 words]Michael SOct 5, 2018 19:57244635
Footnote: The Quranic word al-Samad [301 words]dhimmi no moreOct 6, 2018 07:58244635
Michael: Extant fragments of the NT and OT from the Syriac Peshitta ܦܫܝܛܬܐ or بسيطة in Arabic [26 words]dhimmi no moreOct 7, 2018 13:56244635
Confusion [220 words]Michael SOct 9, 2018 00:20244635
Michael: Nothing is simple! Echad, Khad, Wahid means one as in number one! Samad(a) means Bundle [326 words]dhimmi no moreOct 9, 2018 16:09244635
Muslim, Jewish and Christian views of God, all vs. the Bible. [649 words]Michael SOct 10, 2018 00:30244635
Michael: Ethnocentrism and the religions from the East (Levant, Mesopotamia and Israel/Palestine) [683 words]dhimmi no moreOct 10, 2018 14:25244635
1Who is really جمال خاشقجي or Jamal Khashoqji? Libya, Islamism, the Muslim Brotherhood and US politicians! [245 words]dhimmi no moreOct 12, 2018 06:40244635
1Who is really جمال خاشقجي or Jamal Khashoqji? Was he an Islamist? It seems that he was indeed an Islamist and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood [215 words]dhimmi no moreOct 13, 2018 11:19244635
Who was really جمال خاشقجي or Jamal Khashoqji? And what next? [162 words]dhimmi no moreOct 16, 2018 07:25244635
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2Yoram Hazony: Israeli Philosopher, Bible Scholar, Political Theorist, Modern Orthodox Jew [176 words]RobertAug 30, 2018 21:30244497
21567 "A learned commendation of the politique lawes of Englande / newly translated into Englishe by Robert Mulcaster." [332 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
RobertAug 29, 2018 23:07244479
2"On the Nature of Natural Law" by Sir John Fortescue [495 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
RobertAug 28, 2018 08:53244454
1Revolution [642 words]RobertAug 23, 2018 08:34244362
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w/response from Daniel Pipes
BorisAug 11, 2018 14:19244185
The Relationship between Conservatism and Liberalism: It's Complicated! [170 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Martin J. MallietAug 11, 2018 09:03244178
Liberalism is doomed to failure [148 words]Michael SAug 21, 2018 21:38244178
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The Word of God, vs. Human Reason, as the sustainer of reality [826 words]Michael SAug 25, 2018 07:56244178
Frogpondians and the Tower of Babel [104 words]Martin J. MallietAug 31, 2018 18:52244178
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The long goodbye [471 words]Martin J. MallietSep 7, 2018 17:46244178
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w/response from Daniel Pipes
Michael SAug 7, 2018 01:14244122
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Sharia Courts. [55 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
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w/response from Daniel Pipes
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Personal Experience [354 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Dennis MiddlebrooksJul 31, 2018 12:49244000
1What happened to liberalism? [595 words]JeffAug 2, 2018 17:11244000
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1Dennis: Your understanding is skewed. [434 words]Michael S.Aug 8, 2018 18:35244000
No, your Comments Are Skewed [296 words]Dennis MiddlebrooksAug 9, 2018 15:33244000
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James Madison [91 words]JeffAug 12, 2018 10:05244000
2What about the article cited? [317 words]LudvikusAug 24, 2018 23:25244000
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Conservatism's Structural Defect [286 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
John W HowardJul 31, 2018 12:03243999
1SOME conservatives definitely have "an idea what to do" -- and a good idea, at that [417 words]Michael SAug 8, 2018 13:58243999
the study of history [123 words]rwJul 31, 2018 06:17243992
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Atta boy ! [45 words]Christopher GameJul 31, 2018 02:56243985
Conservatism v. Liberalism: A Case Humanity Will Never Fully Adjudicate [373 words]M ToveyJul 30, 2018 19:20243978
Liberal democracy leads to inefficient governance. Societies with inefficient governance do not survive. [3 words]Phil MondAug 1, 2018 08:32243978
The most survivable society: Central Africa [226 words]Michael SAug 11, 2018 08:25243978

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