{Nationalism [continued (4)]}[18th August 1990]

[Redbook7:219][19900818:0955f]{Nationalism [continued (4)]}[18th August 1990]

19900818.0955

[continued]

That is not to say that cultures and languages never need to be protected from destruction; but they do not need to be pickled in aspic either: cultures, like individuals [sic], evolve by change, sometimes by sudden, drastic and necessary change.

Cultures should not be forced out of existence, unless there are very good reasons for doing so (as with the ideological culture of the Third Reich, which is a special case); equally, cultures should never be forced on Individuals, [whether] adults or children. Cultural change in Individuals, or between the generations, is an evolutionary process, not a matter of ordination – that is, I[nner] C[ircle], not O[uter] C[ircle].

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{Nationalism [continued (3)]}[18th August 1990]

[Redbook7:218-219][19900818:0955e]{Nationalism [continued (3)]}[18th August 1990]

19900818.0955

[continued]

The reason for the unwillingness* to argue about nationalism** – of which patriotism can easily become a sublimation; as Dr Johnson*** said: ‘[Patriotism is] The last refuge of the scoundrel’**** – is, secondarily, that so far as it has a rational basis, this is not in accordance with currently accepted ethics, being basically motivated by selfish emotions; but primarily, because nationalism is not often rationally considered at all (except by those who manipulate it), being a strong tribal instinct arising presumably out of the urgent necessity for economic and physical self-preservation. 

This instinct, #| appropriate to earlier times when men [sic] were relatively powerless, is unnecessary given Man’s present economic potential; and, seeing his destructive power, must appear disastrous.|#

*[of nationalists]

**[See last previous entry but one]

***[Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English essayist, lexicographer, &c]

****[A statement that would in modern parlance better convey his meaning in its context if reversed: ‘The last refuge of the scoundrel is patriotism’.]

#|...|#(Interruptions from children....)

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{Nationalism [continued]}[18th August 1990]

[Redbook7:218][19900818:0955d]{Nationalism [continued]}[18th August 1990]

19900818.0955

[continued]

(A good example* is the row over Welsh- and English-medium education in Dyfed,** which is basically between State compulsion and parental choice: some of those who oppose the official line have been threatened specifically with arson attacks on their homes, and the brave Labour [Party] M[ember of] P[arliament] for Carmarthen, Dr. Alan Williams,*** is now facing deselection over the language education issue.)

*[See last previous entry]

**[Former administrative county 1974-1996 comprising the previous (and subsequent) counties of Cardiganshire/Ceredigion, Pambrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire, in which the writer then lived]

***[who took up the cause of those who opposed the official policy]

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{Nationalism}[18th August 1990]

[Redbook7:217-221][19900818:0955c]{Nationalism}[18th August 1990]

19900818.0955

[continued]

‘In essence, Ba’athism is little more than assertion and exhortation, the endless repetition of what are supposed to be self-evident truths. In common with all nationalisms,* it cannot engage in dialogue or compete for attention, since to admit that any other point of view can be considered or expressed only dilutes the indisputable nature of its own “eternal message” (risula khalida)’.**

How delighted I am to see this common feature of nationalisms set down so clearly, when no[-]one had seemed to notice. I have come across this so many times in relation to our local variety, Welsh nationalism, where any attempt to question the basic assumptions, or even [sic] the primary doctrines drawn from them, is met with outright hostility, blank incomprehension, or (in politer circumstances) evasion of the issue. Never, never, will a nationalist argue the point of nationalism itself.***

*(my emphasis)

**T[imes] L[iterary] S[upplement] 900817-23:865, ‘Accounting for a distorted vision’, Peter Sluglett, reviewing ‘Republic of Fear: Saddam’s Iraq’ by Samir al-Khalil.

***[Presumably ‘argue’ here implies rational argument: as opposed to (for example) abuse, or axioms presented as argument]

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{Love overcome by Faith [continued]}[18th August 1990]

[Redbook7:216-217][19900818:0955b]{Love overcome by Faith [continued]}[18th August 1990]

19900818.0955

[continued]

I wonder whether it would be possible, if one knew the actual date of commencement (which is not necessarily the foundation year, although presumably pretty close), and the date of this change,* to trace cycles in the life of the Ba’ath Party?

*[The change from Love to Faith as the basic creed of the Ba’ath Party – see last previous entry]

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{Love overcome by Faith}[18th August 1990]

[Redbook7:216-217][19900818:0955]{Love overcome by Faith}[18th August 1990]

19900818.0955

Michel ‘Aflaq, one of the founders in 1943 of the Arab Ba’ath party(now of Syria and Iraq), and its principal theoretician, set as its basic creed: ‘Love’. * Later this became ‘Faith’: ‘Faith’ before anything else.’  (This is described in the T[imes] L[iterary] S[upplement] as “‘Aflaq’s nationalism”, immediately after the para[graph] quoted on p217 below)**.  

It’s quite possible to conclude from this that ideologies of Love are just as dangerous as ideologies of Faith.  In C[ircles] A[nalysis &] S[ynthesis] terms, however[,] it represents in a clear form the tendency for systems which are supposed to be I[nner] C[ircle] becoming [sic] quickly O[uter] C[ircle]: 

*ref T[imes] L[iterary] S[upplement] 900817-23:865

[‘Accounting for a distorted vision’, Peter Sluglett, reviewing ‘Republic of Fear: Saddam’s Iraq’ by Samir al-Khalil**]

**[See next entry but one, [Redbook7:217-221][19900818:0955c]{Nationalism}[18th August 1990]]

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{‘Dare to despise wealth....’}[16th August 1990]

[Redbook7:216][19900816:1247]{‘Dare to despise wealth....’}[16th August 1990]

19900816.1247

‘Aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum finge deo[,] rebusque veni non asper egenis.’*

‘Dare, my friend,** to despise wealth, and make yourself worthy of the god, and come not harshly to needy circumstances.’***

– Virgil, Aeneid, VIII, 364f (quoted in T[each] Y[ourself] Latin, Betts.

– Taken out of context!

*{Take it easy!}

**(guest)

***[Another translation (for example) reads: ‘Have the courage, my guest, to scorn riches; make yourself, too worthy of deity, and come not disdainful of our poverty’ (Loeb Classics, www.loebclassics.com)]

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{Inches and Centimetres}[15th August 1990]

[Redbook7:215][19900815:1433]{Inches and Centimetres}[15th August 1990]

19900815.1433

It’s a remarkable co-incidence – and nothing but a co-incidence – that 1 inch is almost exactly 2.5 centimetres (actually 1 inch = 25.400mm, 1cm = 0.3937 inches); so that if you draw a linear scale of years of {e.g.} up to 512 years, in which 1 inch represents 64 years, on the same scale the centuries may be drawn for reference so that each century is represented by 4cm.

Perhaps this should be warning against drawing too many and wide conclusions from co-incidences. But I am incorrigible.

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{A little girl lost and found}[14th August 1990]

[Redbook7:215][19900814:1420]{A little girl lost and found}[14th August 1990]

19900814.1420

Along with, I imagine, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people in Britain, I prayed for [...] – in the way which comes naturally to me, as I have described it* – for her safety, and for the power of the Holy Spirit to influence the man who snatched the little girl from her holiday-caraven bedroom, as she slept. And again along with countless others, I am in tears of joy today that she has been found and recovered, alive and apparently not visibly harmed.**

*ref [[Redbook7:201-202][19900807:2304]{In the midst of Death....}[7th August 1990],] 201

**{But what of the poor little boy taken from a park in Hemel Hempstead? – many days ago, now.}

– He was, I believe, found some weeks later, in his kidnapper’s hostel room. <920920>

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{Studies (1) [continued]}[13th August 1990]

[Redbook7:214][19900813:2258b]{Studies (1) [continued]}[13th August 1990]

19900813.2258

[continued]

This* may seem an extraordinarily wide-ranging list; but it is not inconceivable that I may complete the major part of it (ie by reaching ‘Advanced’ status) within the next decade or so.**

*[See last previous entry]

**{See [[Redbook7:221-222][19900818:1407]{Studies (2)}[18th August 1990],] 221,

[[Redbook7:252][19900826:1728]{Studies (3)}[26th August 1990],] 252,

[[Redbook7:283][19900911:2033]{Studies (4)}[11^th September 1990],] 283}

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{Studies (1) }[13th August 1990]

[Redbook7:213-214][19900813:2258]{Studies (1) }[13th August 1990]

19900813.2258

There is a method emerging in my studying madness, and it can be rationalised more-or-less like this:

There are three categories of learning and two ‘cultures’ in which I am interested; study of the second ‘culture’ is, from my point of view, a long way in the future. There is, inevitably, some overlap.

‘Cultures’		Western (ex-European)		‘World’
			Personal Status		Personal Status
Categories of study
(1) For its own sake		Philosophy	(Begun)	Philosophy	Nil
		Religion	(Advanced)	Religion	Begun
		Mathematics (& Higher Science)	(Begun)
		High Art (Musical, Literary, Visual)	(Begun)	Art	Nil
(2) As a means to (1)		Languages:
	(A) (Essential)	English(ITU)* √	(Advanced)	Arabic**	Nil
		French(ITU) √	(Advanced)(?)	Hindi?	Nil
		Latin √	(Advanced)(?)	(Mandarin) Chinese(ITU)	Nil
		Greek √	(In progress)	Turkish?	Nil
		German	(Begun)	...
	(B) (Optional)	Italian	(Nil)
		Hebrew	(Nil)
		Spanish(ITU)	(Nil)
		Russian(ITU)	(Nil)
		(Welsh) √***	(In progress)
		(Scots-Gaelic – a personal bug!)	(Nil)
(3) Subsidiary –	to follow-through (1)
	Any others, eg	Applied Science	(Begun)
		History**** + Economics	(In progress)
		Applied Arts	(Begun)
		Psychology #	(Begun)
		etc.

*(ITU – The 5 official languages of the International Telecommunications Union) <900822>

**(Arabic may also be regarded as an option for Western culture, as may Islam)

***[√ (tick) is hatched, indicating uncertainty/partial]

****<900821>+

#<900814>

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