It is a great relief to find Anaximander's wheels in Ezekiel. The bible at once becomes a book of the human race instead of being a corked up bottle of 'inspiration'. And so it is a relief to find the four Creatures of the four quarters of the heavens, winged and starry. Immediately we are out in the great Chaldean star spaces, instead of being pinched up in a Jewish tabernacle.
D.H. Lawrence, Apocalypse (1931), 36
For Anaximander's wheels, here, but it's not important
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Monday, 30 January 2012
Religion is the most dangerous thing in the world
'Exactly. Religion is the most dangerous thing in the world. It is not little girls in their communion frocks and silly holy pictures and the Children of Mary. It is,' he said, 'high explosive, dynamite, the,' he smiled at the conceit, 'splitting of the atom.'
...
'Your church,' I said, 'anticipated Carlo's reforms.'
'My church knew what it was doing,. It knew it would turn into a club for upperclass Englishmen. You may laugh at it, but it's a safe church, not like yours. It's tepid, because it knows that fire burns. It thinks fire should be imprisoned in an Adam fireplace, not held in the hand. Never despise tepidity,'
A. Burgess, Earthly Powers (1982), 345 and 629
I've paired these two, because I think they summarise Burgess' view of religion, which threatens to be true. The first is spoken by the catholic priest who later becomes pope; the latter by an English poet. This juxtaposition is as telling as the words, and it's the great glory of Anglicanism that it's almost true, but, just, not quite.
...
'Your church,' I said, 'anticipated Carlo's reforms.'
'My church knew what it was doing,. It knew it would turn into a club for upperclass Englishmen. You may laugh at it, but it's a safe church, not like yours. It's tepid, because it knows that fire burns. It thinks fire should be imprisoned in an Adam fireplace, not held in the hand. Never despise tepidity,'
A. Burgess, Earthly Powers (1982), 345 and 629
I've paired these two, because I think they summarise Burgess' view of religion, which threatens to be true. The first is spoken by the catholic priest who later becomes pope; the latter by an English poet. This juxtaposition is as telling as the words, and it's the great glory of Anglicanism that it's almost true, but, just, not quite.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Get off Comparative Literature: it doesn't help you to cope with life
I looked at him and very nearly said: Here are you teaching comparative literature, the big subtle stuff crammed with ambiguities, and you've been put in the situation of melodrama, very simple and crude, a teenage daughter turned into an unmarried mother and a wife distraught with the shame of it, yourself a sorrowing father. Get off Comparative Literature: it doesn't help you to cope with life
A. Burgess, Earthly Powers (1980), 593
Thursday, 26 January 2012
There are bad men and good men, it's as simple as that
'Divine mysteries, all nonsense,' she said. 'There are bad men and good men, it's as simple as that. Greed and malevolence face moderation and decency. Carlo always wants to bring theology into things, blame everything on the devil.'
'That's his trade.'
'Yes, his trade. Evil's necessary to his trade. Without evil he'd have nothing to do.'
A. Burgess, Earthly Powers (1980), 300
'That's his trade.'
'Yes, his trade. Evil's necessary to his trade. Without evil he'd have nothing to do.'
A. Burgess, Earthly Powers (1980), 300
Friday, 20 January 2012
It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday
It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.
A. Burgess, Earthly Powers (1980), 1
Monday, 16 January 2012
Can you explain the Trinity to me?
[Mayor] 'Can you explain the Trinity to me? It was more than they could do in Salamanca.'
[Monsignor Quixote] 'I can try.''Try then.'
'You see these bottles?'
'Of course.'
'Two bottles equal in size. The wine they contained was of the same substance and it was born at the same time. There you have God the Father and God the Son and there, in the half bottle, God the Holy Ghost. Same substance. Same birth. They’re inseparable. Whoever partakes of one partakes of all three.'
'I was never even in Salamanca able to see the point of the Holy Ghost. He has always seemed to me a bit redundant.'
'We were not satisfied with two bottles, were we? That half bottle gave us the extra spark of life we both needed. We wouldn’t have been so happy without it.'
....
'May God forgive me,' Father Quixote said, 'for I have sinned.'
'It was only a joke, father. Surely your God does understand a joke.'
'I have been guilty of heresy,' Father Quixote replied. 'I think - perhaps - I am unworthy to be a priest.'
'What have you done?'
'I have given wrong instruction. The Holy Ghost is equal in all respect to the Father and the Son, and I have represented Him by this half bottle.'
'Is that a serious error, father?'
'It is anathema. It was condemned expressly at I forget which Council. A very early Council. Perhaps it was Nicaea.'
'Don’t worry, father. The matter is easily put right. We will throw away and forget this half bottle and I will bring a whole bottle from the car.'
'It was only a joke, father. Surely your God does understand a joke.'
'I have been guilty of heresy,' Father Quixote replied. 'I think - perhaps - I am unworthy to be a priest.'
'What have you done?'
'I have given wrong instruction. The Holy Ghost is equal in all respect to the Father and the Son, and I have represented Him by this half bottle.'
'Is that a serious error, father?'
'It is anathema. It was condemned expressly at I forget which Council. A very early Council. Perhaps it was Nicaea.'
'Don’t worry, father. The matter is easily put right. We will throw away and forget this half bottle and I will bring a whole bottle from the car.'
G. Greene, Monisgnor Quixote (1982), 51-53
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