Russell Kirk, “Professing the Forbidden Faith,” 1961.
SOURCE: Russell Kirk, “Professing the Forbidden Faith,” THE NEW GUARD (1961): 4.
Russell Kirk, “The Intemperate Educator” 1961
Source: Russell Kirk, “The Intemperate Educator,” AMERICAN OPINION (November 1962): 23-30.
Kirk on Robert Taft
Source: Russell Kirk, “Robert Taft of ‘The Great Tradition,'” RES PUBLICA 2 (January 1967): 25-28.
Kirk on the Ghostly Tale
Source: Russell Kirk, “A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale,” THE CRITIC 20 (April-May, 1962): 17-19.
Russell Kirk on David Hume, 1961
Source: Russell Kirk, “Hume and His Heirs,” NEW SALTIRE (November 1961).
Dickinson’s Letter 12: A Call for Virtue and Liberty
Yesterday, I had the great privilege of lecturing on John Dickinson’s response to the Townshend Acts of 1767. His response, to my mind, offers the perfect American patriotic understanding of two of the most fundamental of western concepts: virtue and free will. Virtue is the higher, but free will allows one–on a moment by moment basis–to move toward the good.
But this calamity is generally owing to the decay of virtue. A people is travelling fast to destruction, when individuals consider their interests as distinct from those of the public. Such notions are fatal to their country, and to themselves. Yet how many are there, so weak and sordid as to think they perform all the offices of life, if they earnestly endeavor to increase their own wealth, power, and credit, without the least regard for the society, under the protection of which they live; who, if they can make an immediate profit to themselves, by lending their assistance to those, whose projects plainly tend to the injury of their country, rejoice in their dexterity, and believe themselves entitled to the character of able politicians. Miserable men! Of whom it is hard to say, whether they ought to be most the objects of pity or contempt: But whose opinions are certainly as detestable, as their practices are destructive.
So beautiful. So Western. So American.
Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot
Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man’s gift and that man’s scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?
Because I do not hope to know again
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again
Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessed face
And renounce…
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Why Andy?
As you all know–after all, I’ve been bombarding this blog as well as various social networking outlets with the news for almost three weeks now–Andy Tillison will be speaking and performing this afternoon, 5:30-7, in the Old Main Chapel.
The first album by The Tangent (2003). Art by Ed Unitsky.
Why Andy?
In my time here (and what a glorious time I’ve had–thank you, CU and Colorado!!!), I’ve tried to bring in a real diversity of speakers. Last semester, CU CTP speakers lectured mostly about the liberal arts, philosophy, and education. In January, I had famed science-fiction master, Kevin J. Anderson and his lovely wife, Rebecca, to talk about writing, selling, and persevering. In March, we’ll hear from an economist and a philosopher.
For February, then, I wanted to bring in a musician, an artistic, and a cultural critic. Andy Tillison is all three–in spades.
Specifically, he is an English rock and jazz musician, a genius when it comes to the word as well as to the music, a far-more-than-proficient pianist, organist, and keyboardist. I’ve been listening intently to Tillison’s music for exactly a dozen years. To say that his art changed my life would not be too much of an exaggeration. When I listen to his music, I feel the inspiration of the muses and the spheres, and I find that his soul, mind, and heart inspire the equivalent in me. Whether I’m worthy of such inspiration is another matter. . . but, when I found out I would be holding this position this year, I knew with absolute certainty that I wanted Tillison to be a part of it. He and his lovely equal, Sally Collyer, readily and graciously agreed to leave their northern English home for a week to help us here in Colorado. What a gift for all of us.
They arrived last Saturday, and after spending a wonderful weekend with them, they took off to explore the Wyoming and Colorado rockies. Not surprisingly, they embraced every moment, every scene, and every encounter with the verve that appears in every word and every note of Andy’s music.
At 5:30, when I introduce Tillison to a CU audience, I will be introducing a man who is a hero to me. A man of immense talent, but, even more importantly, a man of immense integrity. I will be privileged to introduce a genius.
I hope you will join us in a celebration of all that is good, true, and beautiful in this post-modern world.
Steven Wilson sine ira et studio
I’m somewhat mystified by the accusations of arrogance and hubris against Steven Wilson. The remarks I read him making don’t strike me as being uttered in that spirit.
He strikes me, rather, as more of a Peartian “most endangered species”: viz., “the honest man.” The evidence brought forward against him, as evidence of his alleged ego, seems to me, rather, to be evidence for his lack of ego.
He frequently stresses how art holds up a mirror in which we can find a common experience. This seems to me to be the opposite of an egoist who insists on his own special uniqueness.
Here is Wilson’s spiritual apologetic for how he operates; I think he does quite well correcting the unfair misunderstandings about him with his own words:
With Grace for Drowning, I was moving into the next phase of my creativity, which is a balance between me as…
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Glass Hammer Breaks the World
Review: Glass Hammer, THE BREAKING OF THE WORLD (Sound Resources, 2015).
Tracks: Mythopoeia; Third Floor; Babylon; A Bird When it Sneezes; Sand; Bandwagon; Haunted; North Wind; and Nothing, Everything.
The band: Steve Babb; Fred Schendel; Kamran Alan Shikoh; Aaron Raulston; Carl Groves; and Susie Bogdanowicz.
Additional musicians: Steve Unruh and Michele Lynn. Produced by Schendel and Babb.
Birzer rating: 10/10
The cover art is as gorgeous as the music. Now, THIS is a real album cover.
A mortal yet strives in his fallen state
Blessed is he
Who hears yet the strains of the song eternal
–Mythopoeia
Just when you thought the greatest and most venerable American prog band could get “none more prog,” along comes THE BREAKING OF THE WORLD, the best work of Glass Hammer’s career and, in some related fashion, their most progressive album thus far. This is not just album number fifteen in a list…
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Stormfields 