« Greatest Invention in the Last 100 Years [Bumped] | Main | Diamond vise turns hydrogen into a metal, potentially ending 80-year quest »

January 29, 2017

Today is the past’s dream of the future.

What is a reactionary? He is to be distinguished from a “conservative” or “liberal” or “progressive.”

All three of those are trapped in the time series. So am I, as a matter of fact, physically compelled to ride along in a world where time’s arrow does not meander or take coffee breaks. And on a planet that rotates at an inconvenient speed, to those who wish the days were longer. And hurtles through space on a revolutionary course, round and round getting nowhere, indifferent to the passage of asteroids.The reactionary accepts this. He accepts the facts of change — birth, life, death, et cetera. When in good mood he doesn’t bother to whine. His criteria for what is good, true, and beautiful are however timeless: he actually seeks such criteria in the welter of our world. He does not judge something to be better, or worse, because of its place in the time series, assuming it is “better” because it comes later, or came before. Nor can he place any hope in “progress” for, as Don Colacho dryly notes, today is the past’s dream of the future.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 29, 2017 6:27 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

"Nor can he (the Reactionary) place any hope in 'progress' for, as Don Colacho dryly notes, today is the past's dream of the future."
What a moronic mentation unworthy even of a well-meaning philosopher.
Might as well say we only know what's Now; the past is only a dream or what is called a memory -- both occurring only Now.
Does Don C. believe his clean undershorts is not in some true sense progress from previously soiled, irritating diapers?

Posted by: Howard Nelson at January 29, 2017 7:42 AM

Don Colacho is wrong on another point -- he has apparently missed the reality of "surprise" awarenesses which have no antecedents, no past, occurring only in the Now.
Persistence and perspiration of effort may occur in the so-called past but the explosion of insight, the grandeur of the new perceived gestalt is only in the Now.

As the Trappist monk would say

Posted by: Howard Nelson at January 29, 2017 8:02 AM

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
G-wan out there an gitcha sum.

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 29, 2017 10:01 AM

Maybe Don Colacho concentrates on the eternal verities which stand "outside" of time.

Posted by: Bunny at January 29, 2017 4:12 PM

Interestingly, my father was a reactionary, just as I am a reactionary ... and we couldn't agree on sh#t. How is that?

Maybe generations react to different things?

Lemme know.

Posted by: edaddy at January 29, 2017 6:33 PM

"...I am a reactionary..."
==========================

Is anybody surprised by this confession?

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 29, 2017 7:34 PM

Nope. Not a soul.

Just remember, Jesus loves you, Ghostsnapper.

Posted by: edaddy at January 29, 2017 8:27 PM

edaddy makes a good point. If at anytime, I were to stand in a rank of like-minded voters, and check the 3 on my right, and three to the left, I would note that by the time I get to number 3 either way, they hold viewpoints so repugnant, unhinged and bizarre, that I would not wish their company when the talk becomes political.

Posted by: Casey Klahn at January 30, 2017 6:08 AM

You went awry when you said "like minded".

Ask each of the 3 on either side and they will say what you said.

Strange universe.

Posted by: ghostsniper at January 30, 2017 7:48 AM

Post a comment




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)