The enlightenment and opposition: Men against other men.

 I spent the better part of the evening last night doing some light reading, you know, on Perrault and his light but arousing and politically motivated treatise on the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. I can honestly say that I have never read an article on Wikipedia in its entirety, let alone enjoyed it very much. But this one I did. It was kind of a proof of my own understanding of things. And to this I owe my latest discovery.

I haven't really poked fun at myself in a while, please remember that much of what I say is in jest. Not that I am a genius, though.

Okay, so where do I begin my little thesis here. Well, I have always liked to try to psychologically map out the course of history. I do so, er, metaphysically also, but I try not to brag about that or say too much in the way of, "I have a passion for trying to untangle the mysteries of our age." I just find the idea of being certain about things that are impossible to be certain about unsettling. So, as I would like to say this, and as just yesterday I uncovered the story of the Hopi, they being just like the Jews of Exodus, learning that God does not like those who live greedily and selfishly, so the time following the slaying and disbanding of the Knights Templar seems conspicuously to bear the markings of, "If that's how you feel about that ... ". The great Black Plague happened only thirty-something odd years later. It is even more profound that many of the good clergy lost their lives during that ferocious natural disaster. 

In the article, I was sort of overcome at the man Perrault, who was a strong willed Catholic, but in all the wrong ways. Any time there is tyranny, there is possibility of revolt. It isn't as divine as a plague, no siree. It is simple karmic law.  It was a terrible farce of a community there in France at that time, due to the crisis in understanding one's place in the world.  Many intellectuals as well as those who supposedly stood for the cross felt a sense of self-importance beyond the usual. It was insulting to the intelligence. I was not surprised that soon enough there would be heads rolling.

But before we bloody our hands, let me say this; That men of all the ages, faced with powerful opposition, are at once sharpened by the one, and made the greater other. It was true for the Age of Enlightenment, that by the indomitable grace of God, or by something like providence, destiny, or fate, we come to this sort of crossroads. The mind is freed of the bonds of tyrannical misguidance. It is inspired to strengthen itself in the face of its opposition. When, in the past, there was a true and blatant disregard for things of the highest order, there rose to the occasion a great force, decidedly certain at the law of right and morality, no matter whose camp they did regard.

The great men of France were among the first to enter into this age of Enlightenment, as there the King made the grievous error of asking its people to blindly believe they, the collective France of King Louis the XIV, were the greatest of all time, which is plainly impossible. Great people are great for doing things, not because they are. It is a shameful embarrassment. It hurts those with the greatest minds, because to actually stand on the shoulders of giants is a great honor, a lot like when the victorious carry their trophy in the fog of a great showering of celebratory stuff. 

This has been an important concept tonight. I was reflecting on what would bring back the good in a time of mirky and fallacious leadership. Perhaps the way things work out, without perception, the one sharpens the other. The perpetrator by his arrogance produces the way in his victims. It is as natural a law as, oh sure, gravity.

I really enjoyed the article. Again, like I said, the thought of these French literary giants being silenced and dismissed made one man, Boileau, infuriatingly angry. He was forced to have an ongoing feud with the man who was the pet of his King. Glad he did though. It was a lovely thing to see him make the call that his favorite artists would be, by being of the enduring quality of those timeless, remembered in posterity. Lovely to make the distinction that time would be the only true test for the victor in matters such as these.