“The lofty mind of man can be imprisoned by the artifices of its own making. If there are damned souls in Hell, it is because men blind themselves.”
E.A. Bucchianeri, Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World
“There are only two kinds of people in the end— those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.”
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1945
"In the storm the tree strikes deeper roots in the soil; in the hurricane the inhabitants of the house abide within, and rejoice in its shelter. So by suffering the Father would lead us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ.
Our hearts are continually prone to wander from Him; prosperity and enjoyment all too easily satisfy us, dull our spiritual perception, and unfit us for full communion with Himself. It is an unspeakable mercy that the Father comes with His chastisement, makes the world round us all dark and unattractive, leads us to feel more deeply our sinfulness, and for a time lose our joy in what was becoming so dangerous.
Though He has indeed no pleasure in afflicting us, He will not keep back even the most painful chastisement if He can but thereby guide His beloved child to come home."
Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ, 1895
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace. But with disgrace comes humility, and with humility comes wisdom. The humility of the righteous will guide them, but the deceitfulness of the proud will destroy them."
Proverbs 11:2-3
"To enter heaven is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being on earth; to enter hell is to be banished from humanity. What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is 'remains.' To be a complete man means to have the passions obedient to the will and the will offered to God: to have been a man – to be an ex-man or 'damned ghost' – would presumably mean to consist of a will utterly centered in its self and passions utterly uncontrolled by the will."
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 1940
"The more a thing may disappoint them, the more it may be proven false, the more readily it is debunked and shown to be a falsehood, or even evil, the more strongly some will embrace it, as if by sacrificing their own integrity, and perhaps even their souls, for something so unworthy will silence the criticisms and redeem it.
For to admit that the Reich was a lie, and a mistake, that they were fanatical fools, and Hitler an incompetent creature of evil would be to admit that one was wrong, a failure, and worse, had become an accomplice to an unimaginable evil.
To accept that guilt, to admit one's complicity in such a horrendous assault on justice, to humble oneself and ask for forgiveness, would have taken a heroic act of self-awareness, humility and repentance. And worse, for these fanatics, it would diminish their pride, which was at the foundation of the most fervent supporters of such flamboyant excess.
That, and a desire to become beasts, to lose themselves in their mindless fanaticism, and escape the pain of being men. And so they struck out, and killed everything that held up a mirror to their darkened souls, and showed them their pride was based on a lie.
Pride is the mother of all sin. This is the descent into hell. This is the unwillingness to let go of the lie, for the sake of pride and its power, and cling to evil as it draws one into the abyss."
Jesse, Seth the Arbiter of Chaos, 15 May 2018
Stocks were cheered by the weaker than expected JOLTS jobs number this morning, taking it as a portent for the Non-Farm Payrolls number this Friday, and its potential implications for interest rates.
And so they rallied, going out near the highs.
In concert with the drop in Treasury yields the Dollar rather briskly and stayed there.
Gold and silver thereby rose, going out near the highs as well.
How quickly this new optimism can turn on a single number.
We will get the ADP employment number and the second estimate of GDP tomorrow morning.
The ADP number is often out of sync with the Non-Farm Payrolls so it is difficult to estimate how markets might react to a hit or miss. However, they may take note of something of unexpected proportions, if for no other reason than a wash and rinse, if the market speculators are leaning one way or another.
Below is a piece based on Bonhoeffer's 'Theory of Stupidity.' You may recall that when I quote it here I use 'foolishness' rather than 'stupidity.' In English the two words signify a willful and voluntary impairment of intellect, or a natural lack of intellect respectively. It seems that Bonhoeffer is referring to the former given the context of what he is writing and what was happening.
A foolishness so profoundly stubborn that it damns itself into the abyss. It's odd how history rhymes.
It is reminiscent of what G. K. Chesterton called 'national madness' in What Is Wrong With the World, written in 1910.
Fitting for us, in our time of hysteria, audacious oligarchy, exceptional arrogance, delusional meritocracy, and general willful goofiness.
Have a pleasant evening.
