Chesterton and his Tremendous Trifles

a tremendous trifle

 G.K. Chesterton could write about almost everything and make it... entertaining...amusing... profound,,,.mysterious...and, yes, sometimes a little weird. In one essay, he imagined lying in bed and drawing on the ceiling. In another, he filled his pockets with colored chalk, got some brown paper from the old woman in the kitchen, and went out walking and drawing. Speaking of pockets, he once wrote an entire essay on the contents of his pockets. Once he was challenged by the police as he stopped in the woods and practiced knife throwing at a tree. He mostly missed. And then there was the weird tale of his ride on a train carrying a dead body. His book of essays, Tremendouos Trifles, is filled with essays about nothing and everything and is, indeed, "tremendous" and one of my favorites!

How Many Heretics with Wrong-Headed Philosophies Do You Know?

Anyone who's read the blog for a time knows I'm a great fan of G. K. Chesterton. Our Chesterton book club just read Heretics, a rather surprising title for a book that has absolutely nothing to do with religious heretics like Martin Luther or Arius, etc. In Heretics, Chesterton criticizes his contemporaries for their wrong-headed philosophies. Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, etc. all get the sting of Chesterton's barbed wit. He also takes on groups, like the yellow press and those who make science their god. It's a fascinating group of essays.

Thought for Thursday: Embrace "Courageous Happiness and Inner Peace"

I'm reading The Tumbler of God: Chesterton as Mystic. I've barely begun, but even in the introduction there are gems to be mined. This caught my attention this morning:

One of the tests of sanctity is said to be a contagious happiness and inner peace. Chesterton had his share of sorrows and of illness and his darker moments; but more than most people he was imbued with a kind of unpretentious beatitude that tended to convey itself to those around him. The writer Franz Kafka said of Chesterton, "He is so happy one might almost think he had discovered God." Indeed he had, and he was doing his best to live in the light of that discovery. What was his "secret"? It was to love the splendor of the real, and to live in adulthood the innocence and wonder of the child who sees everything for the first time. The Gospel tells us we must become again like little children in order to enter the kingdom. Chesterton shows us how.

Another Storm, Another Round of Hysteria...

 I will take away the stony heart
 out of your flesh, and
 I will give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26

...about Global Warming Climate Change. Folks, don't listen to the hysterics. It's Nature, not Man! And it's nothing new.

I do agree with the hysterical Chicken Littles in one respect, however. Yes, these storms are a warning, but not about global warming or climate change. They warn us that we need to change our hearts.

Just as Noah's building project was commissioned because of sin and Jonah's mission was a warning to repent and the Star of Bethlehem announced God's intervention in human history, and Jesus performed signs and wonders -- these attention-grabbing events are for our good. "Hey, people, pay attention. I'm God and you're not! Get with the program."

Actually, every single glory of nature should get our attention:

Mark Shea: The Internet's Donald Trump

More G.K. Chesterton, less Mark Shea

 Dave Griffey makes the case that Mark Shea is simply an internet version of Donald Trump, a man he routinely castigates. I don't usually point people to Patheos, but this article is so on target about Mark Shea, I had to link.

How can I be so heartless and judgmental to compare Mark to Trump? Or compare others on Social Media to Trump? Easy. I read. I listen to Trump and what people criticize him for, and then visit various Facebook pages, including Mark’s, and I see no difference. Trump, beyond the policies he advocates – when we can figure them out – is brash, crude, rude, vulgar, sinful, mean spirited, ill-informed and simply a lousy person because of how he interacts with others and treats others who dare disagree with him.

So how is that different than Mark, or even Mark’s own followers? Or the followers on any one of a million sites?