modern world
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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
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Afterword (by Georges Mathieu)
If the "misfortunes of France are exemplary," it will take us thirty years to recover from the last one: that of the laxity of the right combined with the sectarianism of the left. For nearly half a century, we have been suffering the terrorism of an intelligentsia successively gangrened by Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, socialism, social democracy, without Continue reading
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Antigone, rebellious and intimate (3/7. Destiny)
Part 3: Destiny Man descends from the tree. Man, like the tree, is defined by his roots as well as by his fruits. Man, like the tree, depends on external and internal elements to reach maturity. Man resembles this trunk sculpted by trials leaning on its roots and bearing fruits more or less Continue reading
Antigone , counter-revolution , ethics , history , intimacy , forgiveness , religion , revolution , totalitarianism , vulgarity -
Antigone, rebellious and intimate (2/7. The funeral)
Part 2: The Funeral — "My dearest Ismene. I came this morning to tell you that I took care of everything. I used the same funeral directors for our two brothers. I couldn't choose, and since our brothers didn't leave any last wishes, I took matters into my own hands to Continue reading
Antigone , counter-revolution , ethics , history , intimacy , death , forgiveness , priest , religion , revolution -
News from Louis-René des Forêts
On this rainy Sunday, rereading the notes taken in the margins of the marvelous Ostinato, this nugget among nuggets: Let us not veil our faces with our hands. There is no longer any place to venerate, no act of glory or intelligence to absolve a world seduced by force spreading its filth everywhere, and which Continue reading
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News from Hyppolite Taine
He is a pedant, the pedant is the hollow and inflated mind which because it is full of words believes itself to be full of ideas, enjoys its sentences and deceives itself to rule others. He is a hypocrite who believes himself to be sincere, a Cain who takes himself for Abel. In this shrinking brain, given over to abstraction, and Continue reading
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News from Nicolàs Gómez Davila
Let us call a totalitarian state the one that results from the attempt to replace social integration, destroyed by the liberal and democratic mentality, with state integration. Continue reading
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Antigone, rebellious and intimate (1/7. The family)
Part 1: The Family From the first reading of Antigone, an ambiguity sets in in the reader's mind. Does Antigone embody action or reaction? What moves Antigone? Reaction never exists by itself, whereas action needs no one; it legitimizes itself in the act. Action always inaugurates something. Unlike what is often Continue reading
Antigone , Charles Maurras , counter-revolution , ethics , history , intimacy , forgiveness , priest , religion , revolution -
Charlie's Fate
"The enemy limits you, therefore gives you your shape and founds you." This phrase from Saint-Exupéry expresses our condition quite well at the end of this first week of 2015. The enemy forces me to evolve according to his codes, within a space that he has circumscribed. I am first a prisoner. He chooses the terrain and forces me to Continue reading
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Two thousand and fourteen years ago...
Christmas can be summed up in four letters: fiat. Before being an industrial symbol, it is the word, Mary's acceptance of the angel. This acceptance precedes all reflection. It is docility and trust in the epiphany. Four little letters like a breath but also like a feverish expectation. Thy will be done! And may all our Continue reading
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Novena for France
What a wonderful initiative! A novena for France. A novena to express our love for the Blessed Virgin and ask her to watch over our beautiful country with all the saints. There's no point in belching on social media, on the Internet, or even in the street. Continue reading
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One day at Pôle Emploi in 2014
An edifying story that was told to me this week... A far cry from the grandstanding of our leaders on television sets. A day at the employment center for a young unemployed woman with a project quickly turned into an obstacle course. Continue reading
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The Humanity of Cheyenne Carron — Reflections on the Film The Apostle
What amazement came over me one recent morning as I listened to the voice of a young woman being examined by Louis Daufresne on his show, Le Grand Témoin, on Radio Notre-Dame. I was about to learn that this young woman's name is Cheyenne Carron. A Christian, she made a film, L'Apôtre1, the story of a Muslim touched by grace who decides to convert to Continue reading