Meaning in the Universe

“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”

C. S. Lewis

Mystical, Living Tradition

Tradition, which some have called a dead thing, is really a thing far more living than the intellect. There is a dark kinship and brotherhood of all mankind which is much too deep to be called heredity or to be in any way explained in scientific formulae.

G. K. Chesterton “Christmas Books” <em>Appreciations</em>

The Swing of the Pendulum

“The whole curse of the last century has been what is called the Swing of the Pendulum; that is, the idea that Man must go alternately from one extreme to the other. It is a shameful and even shocking fancy; it is the denial of the whole dignity of mankind. When Man is alive he stands still. It is only when he is dead that he swings.”

G. K. Chesterton, “The New House” Alarms and Discursions

He who seeks . . .

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord Of The Ring

. . . of True Worth

“All that is gold does not glitter,
not all those who wander are lost;
the old that is strong does not wither,
deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
a light from the shadows shall spring;
renenwed shall be blade that was broken,
the crownless again shall be king.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord Of The Ring

The True Meaning of Christmas

“The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why.”

G. K. Chesterton “On Christmas,” Generally Speaking

Reason and Imagination

“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.”

C.S. Lewis