When we suppose the world of daily life to be invaded by something other, we are subjecting either our conception of daily life or our conception of that other, or both, to a new test. We put them together to see how they will react. If it succeeds, we shall come to think, feel, and imagine more accurately, more richly, more attentively either about the world which is invaded or about that which invades it, or about both.
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In Memoriam — Luci Shaw
What held the browning leaf to its stem so long—a link that lasted a summer’s life time?
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Orwell on the Decline and Restoration of the English Language
A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible.
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Yuval Levin on Liberal Society
The liberal society — that is, a society organized to safeguard equal rights and limit the powers of both governments and majorities through institutions of law and consent — has never been best understood as a utopian proposition. It is much better understood as a coping mechanism for those seeking virtue in a fallen world. It calls on us to constrain our expectations of politics, so that we might reach higher in every other facet of our lives.
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“The Pause”
Original Poetry from Paul Hostovsky
