modern world
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Pius X at the beatification of Joan of Arc
On December 13, 1908, at the beatification of Joan of Arc, Pius X spoke these words which remain in the memory: "you will tell the French to make their treasure of the testaments of Saint-Rémy, of Charlemagne and of Saint-Louis which are summed up in these words so often repeated by the heroine of Orléans: long live Christ who Continue reading
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Paul Bourget on France since 1789
Paul Bourget wrote: "We must choose; either the people of 1789 were right and the whole ancient edifice must fall; or they were wrong and it is their work that must be destroyed to restore France." Continue reading
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Antigone, rebellious and intimate (4/7. Freedom)
Antigone did not come to life at dusk. Antigone is born with dawn. It is at daybreak that Antigone becomes anti, which means facing, not against. As the Argive army ebbs, Antigone emerges from the shadows where she might have resided all her life, not to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, as her Continue reading
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Bismarck against France and Catholicism
Bismarck wrote to Count Arnim on November 11, 1871: We must desire the maintenance of the republic in France for one last reason which is major. Monarchical France was and always will be Catholic. Its policy gave it great influence in Europe, in the East and even in the Far East. A means of counteracting its Continue reading
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Turn idea into feeling
Max Jacob to a student: Meditation is not about having ideas, on the contrary! It is about having one, transforming it into a feeling, into a conviction. A meditation is good when it results in a YES, pronounced by the whole body, a cry from the heart: joy or Continue reading
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The call of fate, the forgetting of vocation
To deny the origin, it is possible to assert that the existence of past events cannot be proven, or better, that it was an accident, an accident amplified by gossip. This is where mitigation often proves to be an effective subterfuge, because it does not require denial and relies on a degree of honesty, but if the deception allows Continue reading
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From sense to nonsense
The contemporary world is getting excited by using the phrase: faire sens, a perfect translation of the Anglo-Saxon expression, make sense. It is so comforting to repeat this expression to oneself without it actually having any... meaning, we thus pick up little things that make sense, but what are these mini-meanings found on the ground almost by chance? What are Continue reading
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Like robots facing death
There is no need to be afraid of these robots from Asia that seem ready to conquer our place, because the robot is in us and it is watching us; it is watching for that point of no return where man, stripped of all humanity, will exhibit his corpse, believing he has vanquished his worst enemy. The loss of know-how regarding death has Continue reading
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Antigone, rebellious and intimate (6/7. The vocation)
What a fuss about identity! The word appears neither in Greek epic nor in tragedy. Identity in Antigone's time was based on lineage and belonging to a city. Identity was imbued with roots. Family and city gathered under a virtual banner everything that others needed to know about themselves. Continue reading
Antigone , Catholicism , counter-revolution , ethics , intimacy , forgiveness , religion , revolution , totalitarianism -
Relativism is the horse dealer!
Relativism proves to be a gentle companion. Relativism is Abbé Donissan's horse dealer. One can travel in his company. He doesn't bore, he stays in his place, and he demonstrates unfailing empathy. However, he doesn't know compassion. Is this a problem? More of an advantage; he doesn't contradict, he agrees. Continue reading
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Become yourself...
Isn't becoming oneself always about becoming a little bit of someone else? What can someone become who doesn't move towards who they are? We must constantly bridge the gap between who we are and who we believe we are. What can someone who doesn't know who they are embody? Continue reading
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Based on the values
Authority has lost its nobility along with humility. Authority has become a synonym for implacable order, thoughtless force, and tyranny. What an inversion of values! Whereas, according to Antigone, authority prevented tyranny! The modern era has this impression of authority because it has been trampled underfoot by Continue reading
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Unamuno on his quixotic quest
My work – I was going to say my mission – is to break the faith of one and all, and even of a third party: faith in affirmation, faith in negation and faith in abstention; and this by faith in faith itself. It is to fight all those who resign themselves, Continue reading
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Unamuno on Don Quixote
I feel a medieval soul and I have the idea that the soul of my homeland is medieval, that, by force, it has passed through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Revolution, learning something from them, fine, but without letting its soul be touched, preserving the spiritual heritage of these times that we call foggy. And Quixotism is only Continue reading