Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
On a couple of podcasts recently, I've found myself stumbling about to make a point. And it's a very good point, I've felt convinced, even if I've been putting it badly.
Whereas Barack Obama seems to prefer the abstract America he carries in his head--the America he's been trying to turn this country into--he takes little pleasure in America as it is. Ronald Reagan, by contrast, loved the country--the real country, the actual America. You could see it every time he got into the limousine. Instead of listening to whatever briefing some high-ranking advisor, seated on the jumpseat across from him, was trying to give him, Reagan would keep peering out the window, grinning and waving at spectators.
Reading Matthew Scully's superb appreciation of the late Joe Sobran earlier today, I came across a passage in which Matthew quoted a passage Joe wrote back in 1985. Joe got it--he just got it:
Nothing is easier than to imagine some notionally “ideal” state. But we give too much credit to this debased kind of imagination, which is so ruthless when it takes itself seriously. To appreciate, on the other hand, is to imagine the real, to discover use, value, beauty, order, purpose in what already exists; and this is the kind of imagination most appropriate to creatures, who shouldn’t confuse themselves with the Creator.
Ronald Reagan, riding in a limousine--and Ursula's little girl, playing in the leaves. Use, value, beauty, order and purpose in what already exists.
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Aug '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
It's hard for many to accept that the "ideal" too often springs from debased imagination, imagination incapable of the subtleties of real existence and yes, too often ruthless in its self-importance. The very word "ideal" seems to blind them.
For this reason, I sometimes get an uneasy feeling around modern, abstract art. Not that abstract art always fails to appreciate (sometimes it does so unusually well), only that it's easier for it to fail to appreciate.
To cop some polemic from Pope,
All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;
Edited on Oct 17, 2010 at 12:32amAll chance, direction, which thou canst not see
All discord, harmony not understood,
All partial evil, universal good:
And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.
Jun '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
I remember reading about an artist, a painter, I wish I could remember the name, that would intentionally smudge a tiny patch of each realist painting, out of humility. It wasn't obvious to the viewer, but it was his private message to Earth and Heaven, that he wasn't trying to compete with the Creator. His own creation would always be a flawed imitation of the original.
May '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Peter, I know exactly what you're talking about. I listen to some of my liberal friends and relatives, and when I hear them describe the country they live in, I know they look around and only see hardship, despair, injustice, unfairness, exploitation, etc. and compare it to an imaginary place in their heads that has never existed. I always try to put them in a better mood by pointing out just how great it is here. Sometimes they are receptive, but I never feel like they really get it.
Oct '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
I believe Dennis Prager referred to Obama's affliction--and that shared by many intellectuals--as an "intellectual bubble."
No environment is as controlled as the inside of someone's mind, and no part of a man so easily disconnected from the world around him.
Aug '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Genuine love is unconditional, and this is where so many 'progressives' fail. They're essentially saying, "We'll love America when it... (fill in the blank)".
Have you noticed that they're never content? Woody Allen once said, "I can never be happy as long as I know there's some guy who's miserable in the world". Spoken like a true Liberal/Statist/Progressive/Crypto-Marxist.
For this reason they must reform the world; which is of course pure hubris.
Oct '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
I think this is one of the many reasons why the political and media elite never understood Ronald Reagan. If you have a view that America is something that is supposed to support and follow the elite, Reagan's love of the country as it was is going to be a very alien thing.
Peter, do you remember the media's coverage of Reagan's funeral and the events leading up to it? The confusion on the part of the TV media figures was palpable. They just couldn't understand the outpouring of love for Ronald Reagan.
Because they could not understand us, they could not understand him.
May '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Pick a subject--the environment, healthcare, capitalism, America, whatever--and the liberal argument for radical change is forever in essence, "It is not perfect; therefore it is bad."
May '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Next time you bump into VDH, ask him about the mos maiorum. Seems to me that if you only love something when it conforms to your ideal, you don't actually love it.
Jul '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Some men see things as they are and ask why.
I dream things that never were and ask why not.
..... Robert F. Kennedy.
.
Some people see things as they are and ask why.
I dream things that never were (but should have been) and ask why not force everyone to accept my vision.
..... B.H.O.
Edited on Oct 17, 2010 at 6:56amAug '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Can't find VDH, but could find the Wikipedia page. Interesting. And how did the plural become mores (I never actually took Latin)?
You're on a perceptive streak this morning. Fish for breakfast?
May '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Can't find VDH, but could find the Wikipedia page. Interesting. And how did the plural become mores (I never actually took Latin)?
You're on a perceptive streak this morning. Fish for breakfast? · Oct 17 at 8:00am
And my head is bulging out at the back (Bertie's description of Jeeves). Naw, usually I just make a joke cause all the good points have been taken. So my streak of perspicacity consists of missing River's reply, which said the exact same thing, sans mos maiorum.
Oct '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Peter Robinson:
...Whereas Barack Obama seems to prefer the abstract America he carries in his head--the America he's been trying to turn this country into--he takes little pleasure in America as it is. Ronald Reagan, by contrast, loved the country--the real country, the actual America. You could see it every time he got into the limousine. Instead of listening to whatever briefing some high-ranking advisor, seated on the jumpseat across from him, was trying to give him, Reagan would keep peering out the window, grinning and waving at spectators. ·
Wouldn't you agree, Peter, that the utopian urge is not confined to the left? Conservatives tend to romanticize the past. It is the rare person who is able to hold to ideals, look at the circumstances of the present and appreciate "the moment", without becoming frustrated and bitter. If you are telling me that was one of Reagan's gifts, I believe you.
Aug '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
This is where religion - or at least faith in the Judeo-Christian God - helps enormously, and brings peace of mind. The Western Tradition says, 'This world and its people are imperfect and fallen, so don't lose sleep over its myriad imperfections or the failures and frailties of others. Do the best you can, trust Providence, and connect with God, until your life ends, or Kingdom Come. God will take care of everything in season'.
The false religion of Utopianism brings its practitioners heartache, strife, anxiety, and even madness.
Oct '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
River: This is where religion - or at least faith in the Judeo-Christian God - helps enormously, and brings peace of mind. The Western Tradition says, 'This world and its people are imperfect and fallen, so don't lose sleep over its myriad imperfections or the failures and frailties of others. Do the best you can, trust Providence, and connect with God, until your life ends, or Kingdom Come. God will take care of everything in season'.
The false religion of Utopianism brings its practitioners heartache, strife, anxiety, and even madness. · Oct 17 at 10:22am
...and over 100 million dead in the 20th century, killed in the name of utopian idealogies. To paraphrase Theodore Dalrymple, (because I lent the particular book to a friend and can't look it up): "At the beginning of the 20th century humanity found that it had been freed from religious dogma and superstition only to confront its own heart of darkness."
And how dark it can be.
Jul '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Peter, thank you for nailing it. As usual.
As a side note, I also read and loved the Scully tribute to Sobran. The man was in many ways a genius. A goofball in many ways, but a truly gifted observer and writer.
That sense of "appreciation" is vital to so many good things in life. Another poster referenced Dennis Prager, who really gets this. If we cannot appreciate the good things in the dull lives we are given then we cannot hope to change the world for the better. Our President seems to lack an appreciation for ordinary American life.
Is that due to his lack of roots in this country and culture, as some have suggested? Or is it a result of marinating in the left wing stew of progessive Chicago politics?
Don't know, but at some deep level, that is what the Tea Party folks are reacting to. The perverse policy is just proof that their instincts are correct.
Oct '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
From Matthew Scully's piece on Joe Sobran:
I understand exactly what Joe meant. It's too bad that such a talented writer suffered so miserably.
Edited on Oct 18, 2010 at 4:32pmOct '10
Re: Appreciation--Real Appreciation--And Not Mere Imagination
Progressive elites--for all their talk of democracy--seem to believe they are entitled to rule.
The more I examine their emotions, I'm struck with images of European nobility. Their certificates of learned thinking entitles them to rule; those below them have no standing to disagree.
They mouth democratic platitudes, but their hearts are far from the principles of democratic republican governance. The idea that rights come from God (or nature) and not from elites or government infuriates them.