Absolute certainty

Absolute certainty is a rare possibility. Yet, in the realm of spirituality there are at least ten such cases. I may have to clarify this statement: by the realm of spirituality I mean that of the everlasting truths that sustain mankind as a contemplative, thinking species. I will mention the ones that preoccupy me at present, some being historical, but nonetheless as part of this spiritual outlook.

Jesus Christ is our saviour

1 Jesus Christ is our saviour, son of God our Creator, and one of the holy Trinity. This is the foundational certainty.

“Trinity, in Christian doctrine, the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine of the Trinity is considered to be one of the central Christian affirmations about God. It is rooted in the fact that God came to meet Christians in a threefold figure: (1) as Creator, Lord of the history of salvation, Father, and Judge, as revealed in the Old Testament; (2) as the Lord who, in the incarnated figure of Jesus Christ, lived among human beings and was present in their midst as the “Resurrected One”; and (3) as the Holy Spirit, whom they experienced as the helper or intercessor in the power of the new life.”

(Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Trinity.” Encyclopedia Britannica, June 20, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity.)

Evil is ever present

2 Evil is ever present, in a conscious or unconscious state, as part of the fragility of the human mind, and must be resisted, if necessary by force (Ivan Ilyin). A corollary of Ilyin’s determination is that pacifism in the face of militant evil is a sin.

There is no salvation away from the Spirit

3 There is no salvation away from the Spirit. The spiritual decadence of the West has led not only to the practical decline, of the real economy, of influence in the wider world and military power, but to the self destruction of these societies, and finally their defenceless against evil.

History

4 History is tentatively being rewritten, precisely to mask the reality of that decline. An example of this is the falsehood of the history of the war in the East, in WWII.

zombies

5 Modern western politics is populated by zombies, puppets willing to serve the vested interests of corporations and the rentier class (Hudson) whatever the consequences. This has been the case since 1815 (Congress of Vienna).

Beauty

6 Beauty exists and must be defended, a task for the faithful and committed.

“Everything great in art is born of service. It is a free and willing bondage, for it is born of inspiration. Not from servitude or slavishly “catering to the market.” And not from any base servility before today’s bored neurotics who fill the salons, restaurants, dance clubs, and the columns of the “literati.” Not servility, but service.”

― Ivan Ilyin, Foundations of Christian Culture

Solace

7 Solace is to be found in reading:

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

Love

8 Love is the engine of any human creation, in science, art or literature. This is to be understood as both spiritual and physical love, both expressions of loyalty to the Creation.

Fear

9 Fear is the instrument of the devil. A certainty to bear in mind in these days of anxiety.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

Writing

10 Writing: for some of us the best way to adhere to all of these truths, and commenting on them for others, or just ourselves:

“You should date a girl who reads.

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

― Rosemarie Urquico