The following lines were found nailed to a tree on Hindhead
Common by an escaped gorilla of no fixed abode. The gorilla, which was carrying
a bottle of blackcurrant cordial and searching for a large barrel of cider to
mix it with, was kind enough to pass his find to a Concerned Citizen.
A Blog for all Seasons
Spring has returned to the Northern Hemisphere – one of the
two best hemispheres there is, in my view – blithely bringing with it reminders
of what a good time it is to start new ventures and restart old ones. The grey
chill days of February have slithered damply out of sight at last; the
celestial blues and brilliant-butter yellows of the summer are on their way; it
is such a relief to see the seasons change.
Although, of course, as
right-thinking people know very well, all change is bad, up to and perhaps even
including underwear.
Leaving underwear aside for the
time being, if we may, it has occurred to me of late that, given the propitious
nature of the season, now might be the perfect time to re-open the lines of
communication. Again. Should you have passed this way before – though heaven
knows why you would remember – you may be aware that I first rebooted this blog
and re-opened the lines of communication two years ago. Then, I was inspired by
finding myself deep in the Irish countryside, surrounded by sheep and hills,
and faced by a telecommunications industry that wouldn’t have looked out of
place in the 14th Century. I felt the need to reach out. Barely a
year later, however, that fruit had withered on the vine.
Back on the British side of that
‘scrotum-tightening sea,’ great grey-green Mother, with the dullthudding of
Guinness’s barrels faded into distant memory, now seemed as good a time to start
again as any other. Better, given recent history, when ‘us’ and ‘them’ has
become the dominant motif. The ability to overcome, to heal, such damaging
divisions is one of the most vital and most powerful aspects of Personalist
thought, howsoever broadly construed.
For, in seeking to place persons at the heart of epistemology, of
metaphysics, and every kind of thought about our selves and our world,
Personalism insists upon the dignity, the fundamental moral value, not only of
individuals, but of all that connects them. Those connections are precious;
they make us who and what we are.
This is because there is a
pragmatic psychology built into Personalist thought, one which is as essential
to philosophy and theology as it is to all the social, political, and physical
sciences; essential, that is, to their healthier, ineluctably inclusivist
modalities. Essential too, to both the form and content of this blog.
Philosophically speaking, that psychology is an antidote to the debilitating
dualisms that continue to cripple so much Western thought. Mind and body,
individual and society, subject and object, and, most frightening of all, us
and them: such antediluvian oppositions are reintegrated in a Personalist
framework in which we are intimately reconnected to one another.
Such, once again, or perhaps more
accurately, still, is the point and purpose of these dispatches: to consider
the questions with which personalist thinkers ought to – and, in fact,
frequently do – concern themselves. In so doing, dialogue, conversation, is
surely the ultimate goal. So we follow Jonas Mortensen’s most excellent example
and strive to drag our philosophy – kicking and screaming if need be – from the
old cold cloisters of academe out into the agora.
After all, practitioners of Personalism stake their claim to real insight into
all the richness and complexity of the human condition; that is where it
belongs.
That, then, is my aim; or rather,
I should say, our aim. This time I have not come alone. For your edification
and entertainment, I have gathered about me a company of fine scholars and
remarkable writers, deep thinkers all; also the usual gang of ne’er-do-wells,
layabouts, and bums. Long did I search to find, if I may paraphrase the ‘Swan
of Lichfield’, the shiftless, the senile, the drunken, the lunatic, and the
unhygienic. Such is the range of perspectives and interests purveyed by this
rabble, that I feel entirely confident in declaring readers will be endlessly
fascinated, absorbed, and excited by their every invitation to dialogue. There
will be, as they say, something for everyone. It will be grand, I can promise
you that.
This, then is our grand
reopening, our return to the universe of intelligent discourse, thoughtful
comment, and expert analysis that is the modren
internet. Not, perhaps, with a bang, nor exactly a whimper; at the very
least, with a stifled yawn and a soft burp – we’re back! Third time’s the charm, as the
saying goes. And this time, should we avoid Armageddon, swift-approaching from
the United States, it will be the greatest thing the world has ever known, as
voted for by at least 51.9% in my household. With such overwhelming support,
how can we fail?
Tune
in again next time for another spine-tingling episode of Tales from the BPF Blog!
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