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| Democritus in Meditation, c. 1650, oil on canvas, Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) |
"What is needed is not a revolution in the opposite direction, but the opposite of a revolution." ~ Joseph de Maistre
For some time now, I have seen no shortage of people lamenting the state of the country. Some call for activism, others for outrage, demonstrations, or political crusades. Yet much of it remains trapped in the same exhausted patterns of spectacle and reaction.
Our struggle is not the theatrical rebellion of earlier generations. Unlike the protest movements of the old beats and hippies—many of whom eventually sold out and settled comfortably into the bourgeois order—I feel little desire to take to the streets alongside their modern successors to fight whatever the “current thing” happens to be. The conflict before us runs deeper than party-approved slogans and demonstrations.
Most people drift with the spirit of their time. Some cling to outdated narratives of rebellion, while others embrace ideologies they scarcely understand. Each camp believes itself enlightened, yet both often display the same arrogance, hypocrisy, and lack of self-awareness.
The real issue is character. What matters is whether a person cultivates discipline, self-mastery, and independence of mind, or merely conforms to the passions and fashions of the crowd.
What is needed today is not more noise or spectacle, but individuals capable of inward struggle. Rather than surrendering themselves to ideological movements, such people must cultivate clarity, seriousness, and personal nobility grounded in self-discipline and the effort to overcome themselves.
The crisis before us will not be solved by performance or outrage. It will be resolved, if at all, through the quiet work of individuals who step outside the theater of politics and undertake the harder task of shaping themselves. Only from such a disciplined few can anything resembling renewal emerge, for no lasting order can exist without self-mastery.
~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 2nd, Feast of Saint Erasmo
Our struggle is not the theatrical rebellion of earlier generations. Unlike the protest movements of the old beats and hippies—many of whom eventually sold out and settled comfortably into the bourgeois order—I feel little desire to take to the streets alongside their modern successors to fight whatever the “current thing” happens to be. The conflict before us runs deeper than party-approved slogans and demonstrations.
Most people drift with the spirit of their time. Some cling to outdated narratives of rebellion, while others embrace ideologies they scarcely understand. Each camp believes itself enlightened, yet both often display the same arrogance, hypocrisy, and lack of self-awareness.
The real issue is character. What matters is whether a person cultivates discipline, self-mastery, and independence of mind, or merely conforms to the passions and fashions of the crowd.
What is needed today is not more noise or spectacle, but individuals capable of inward struggle. Rather than surrendering themselves to ideological movements, such people must cultivate clarity, seriousness, and personal nobility grounded in self-discipline and the effort to overcome themselves.
The crisis before us will not be solved by performance or outrage. It will be resolved, if at all, through the quiet work of individuals who step outside the theater of politics and undertake the harder task of shaping themselves. Only from such a disciplined few can anything resembling renewal emerge, for no lasting order can exist without self-mastery.
~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 2nd, Feast of Saint Erasmo
