The Virtual Abbey

No real surprise, and probably coming soon to a Western democracy near you.

To paraphrase Churchill:

"The first sip, the first foretaste of the bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year . . ."

Posted by The Abbot at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Is the Catholic church.

I had considered putting the military in this category, but in the days that lie ahead, it will prove to be too small to matter. It will get smaller, too -- one cannot fund insane budget demands without looking for something to cut.

The Catholic church will survive because its needs are so few -- bread, wine, water, a few books, and apostolic succession. This is one of the reasons it survived the fall of Rome, and why it has proven to be impossible to eliminate, even under persecution. It may withdraw from sight -- given how the climate is changing, it may need to -- but it will never be stamped out.

It survived the fall of Rome and converted the barbarians. It will have the need to do so again.

Barbarians are in control of our culture and our state. We will be lucky to survive it. We must preserve what wealth we can by hiding it, because the state will come looking for it -- more fuel for the bonfire. We must preserve what learning we can. We must find places of refuge.

We survived Tiberias, we survived Caligula, we survived Nero. We will survive this.

Posted by The Abbot at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

That it all comes apart.

I think that there is a perfect storm brewing. We get an economic downturn, the adolescents are in power, traditional values are being driven from the public square, and half of the people do not pay taxes but are content to loot those who do.

I myself am preparing a retreat from society; saving what is good from our culture, and finding an isolated place where no one will look for me when Rome begins to burn.

I will mask my intentions, and will be cheerful to all, but make no mistake -- I think the social contract is coming apart and there is no force in our culture strong enough to put it back together. We head toward hard economic times, devaluation, inflation, and societal unrest. No one has taught the children in our society to be ready for these things, so they will become violent. Too many things rest on too many assumptions, all of which are founded on trust.

And no one trusts each other, so what holds society together, other than inertia? Nothing. One good strong wind and it all blows away.

Prepare a refuge. I estimate we have a year.

Posted by The Abbot at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)