-
Clarification
I got a bit lost in my explorations in the previous post and feel like I didn’t fully explain what Jünger was getting at with his talk of automatons. The point is that in sin, in vice, man illegitimately subordinates the higher to the lower, disrupts the cosmic order. We desire some thing, some good which […]
-
Why We Fight
Before continuing my now-continuously delayed exploration of The Failure of Technology, I wanted to take a moment to delve into the quote from Ernst Jünger I cited in the last post: During World War I we confronted the question of whether man was more powerful than machines. In the meantime, things have gotten more complex. We […]
-
The Failure of Technology, Pt. 1
The original German title is Die Perfektion der Technik, or The Perfection of Technology. “Perfection” here carries with it the sense of “fulfillment,” without the positive connotations we associate with the perfection in English, hence why the translator substituted failure. And failure is justified because, Jünger argues, it is in its perfection that technology fails, though […]
-
Book Notes V
The Grand Strategy of the Habsburg Empire by A. Wess Mitchell (B) – Pretty much exactly what it says in the title. An interesting book, though assuredly far, far more interesting for someone who was more into strategy in general or had more basic familiarity with 18th and 19th century European politics than I, who […]
-
Be Humble
We ought to judge the infinite power of Nature with more reverence and a greater recognition of our own ignorance and weakness. How many improbable things there are which have been testified to by people worth of our trust: if we cannot be convinced we should at least remain in suspense. To condemn them as […]
-
An Additional Consideration on the Death of the Author
There is a distinction between a classic a work that is merely very good. The classic unfolds. It offers us a glimpse into the inexhaustible depths of Being. Concretely, every time you turn to the Iliad or Dante or Emma you find something new, and it is the exhilaration of that discovery, the sense of it unfolding within […]
-
Creation and Literary Form
Scripture and Creation are the pre-eminent revelations of God, or rather the pre-eminent revelations that aren’t confined to a historical moment, i.e. the Incarnation and the various theophanies that have occurred throughout time. Creation can thus be understood as a sort of book in its own right. As such, there is a surface level of […]
-
Death of the Author
The death of the author is akin to the rejection of God’s immanent role in creation, of the nature of creation as a reflection of its Author. How can we say that it is not the hand of the creator that guides the work? Choosing our own interpretation without reference to the Creator is sin, placing […]
-
Book Notes IV
The Failure of Technology by Friedrich Georg Jünger (A) – An excellent and prescient critique of technology, or more accurately the technological mindset, but the less famous brother of the below-mentioned Ernst. I’m planning a series of posts exploring the ideas therein, for the near future. A Month in the Country by JL Carr (C) […]
-
Distraction
Apologies for skipping last week. I have too many posts in too-protean a form. Working to rectify the situation. Human beings are torn between wretchedness and greatness. Great because we contain within us terrific potential, a mind that can encompass the whole of the cosmos. Wretched because we are mired in sin and death. Great […]
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Dan Yingst 