First things first: Apollo is not a god of order and reason. This idea first began to take root in the Renaissance, when artists and thinkers were re-exposed to ancient texts, particularly Plato with his emphasis on harmony, order, and reason, and began to conflate that with the aesthetics
Musing on the superficial nature of language hits hard when you’re a suicidally in love 15-year-old. After all, “What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet” It loses its edge when you fathom the consequences
Professor Graham was an atheist who worshiped gods. I witnessed this contradiction because I signed up for his seminar on Evolutionary Biology. The topic held little interest for me, but it fulfilled my science credits and promoted itself as a class dedicated to the history and philosophy of science. As
The unhuman is the counter-weight to the human—and for nearly all modern men, the deficit of the former is mutating them into abominations. Today, 4 out of 5 Americans live in urban areas. In the 1970s, 1 in 20. This demographic shift, poorly studied, has been one of
My father-in-law is dying. A massive stroke left him vegetative six months ago, and my mother-in-law lacks the resolve to pull the plug—despite his explicit and repeated wishes otherwise and the pleading of their children. Last week, he barely pulled through another health emergency. The
A friend of mine (Sadnamadr) pushed back on my proposal for a Pagan-Christian alliance. Based on years of nasty experiences with online Christians, the prospect seemed impossible. “What,” he challenged, “would an Pagan-Christian alliance look like?” My answer: Donald Trump. The Donald is by no means perfect. I
“If you could be born at any other time in history,” the interviewer asked, “when would it be?” The SEAL’s response: “Vietnam—so I could run boat operations as a frogman.” The SEAL, Jocko Willink, wasn’t speaking as a wet-eared boy dazzled with the fantasies of war.
I have a very, very disgusting thing to admit: I watched the Triggernometry podcast. In my defense, it was only once and because, during a moment of weakness, I saw Dana White, the head of the UFC, was on and figured it would be interesting. Turns out, it was interesting,
Paganism is not a panacea. America will not be saved if we all started worshiping Thor or Lugh. The people who worshiped those gods were conquered and converted, induced by noble examples, the threat of death, or at the behest of their lord.
The perfected, swaggering bronze of Hercules was degenerate. So too were the other wax-cast gods and heroes from Classical Greece—a puritan’s grab at unalloyed beauty that presaged their downfall. What has survived, however, is sublime and offers among the purest aesthetics available today.
