Culture – Breakaway Consciousness

…And There Was A Fire Near The Dome Of The Rock, Too…

GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
May 1, 2019

One of this website’s regular readers sent along this article, and in case you hadn’t yet heard about it, I decided I needed to blog about it. On the same day that Notre Dame de Paris was burning, there was also a fire at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

That’s near the Dome of the Rock, folks:

Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Fire Burns at the Same Time As Flames Engulf Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Like Notre Dame, the Dome of the Rock is, architecturally, a beautiful and sublime building, and like Notre Dame is for the Christian world, the site is one of the most revered in the Islamic world…

… and it was burning not only on the same day as Notre Dame, but at the same time:

A fire broke out at the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem just as flames ravaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Footage showing smoke and fire emerging from the roof of a structure known as the Marwani Prayer Room, or Solomon’s Stables, could be seen on social media. The Palestine News Agency, the official outlet of the Palestinian National Authority, cited a guard as saying Monday that “the fire broke out in the guard’s room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully.”

No injuries or damage was reported during the short blaze.

News of the incident at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam and central to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, was largely overshadowed by a much larger blaze engulfing the Notre Dame Cathedral at the same time. There was no evidence of any link between the two fires.

…

The Marwani Prayer Room is located underneath the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, which contains both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, told Jordan’s Al-Mamlaka TV that the fire broke out in the courtyard and preliminary information suggested that it may have been caused by children tampering in the area. (Emphasis added)

Ok… I admit it: as soon as I read this story, I wasn’t buying, and I’m still not buying, and one reason I’m still not buying is that there hasn’t been much else coming out about this story. But consider just two points from this article: (1) the fire was reported by an actual guard at the site as having broken out “in the guard’s room outside the Marwani Prayer room,” but then we are told that the director general of the site stated that (2) the fire “broke out in the courtyard” and (3) that is may have been caused by children tampering in the area,” in other words, it was all a childish prank of some sort, gone horribly wrong, or an accident of play that got out of hand.

There’s so much here that sends my suspicion meter straight into the red zone that I don’t even know where to begin, but I suppose we could begin with that business about “children tampering in the area.” I’m calling hogwash on that one, for what set of parents – or for that matter, the children themselves – are going to think that a fun prank would be to set fire near the mosque? For Christian or Jewish children, one can’t imagine parents raising their children to think it’s ok to play pranks at the mosque, and for Muslim children it would be similarly – though for very different reasons – unthinkable.

But then there’s the outright contradiction of where the fire started: was it outside in the courtyard, or inside in the guards’ room? What strikes me here is that we have “an official story” (it started in the courtyard) versus an actual witness’s story which contradicts the official story, in this case, the witness being a guard, who said it started in the guard room. That I can wrap my head around, for if the intention was to severely damage the mosque, getting rid of the “first responders” would seem to be a logical step.

But above all it’s the timing here that bothers me. Certainly a fire at Notre Dame and a fire at the Al-Aqsa mosque can happen “coincidentally” and “accidentally.” But it’s when one considers the emerging details and contradictions in the narrative that inevitably send the suspicion meter into the red zone, that the possibility that both fires were deliberate acts begins to take on a horrifying possibility.

The only difference between the two events is that the mosque fire was put out fairly quickly, and before serious damage could be done, otherwise we might have some globaloneyist proposing to rebuild it as some modernist “inclusive” monstrosity.

The bottom line for me here, and I don’t know about you, is that there is much more to this story… it’s like a mackerel on a moonlit beach: it both shines and stinks, not the least because of the contradictions in what is known, as well as for the fact that not much more is known.

Time will tell, but I suspect this story, too, will not go away. I”m just not buying the “coincidence” story.

See you on the flip side…

The Notre Dame “Rebuild”: Macron’s…

Source: GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
April 30, 2019

There is already talk of re-building Notre Dame, but the question is, as what? We’ll get back to that, but before we do, there is already talk of using the new technology of additive manufacturing or 3D printing to rebuild the cathedral, a process which, incidentally, could conceivably restore the structure more or less to its pre-fire state, according to this article shared by M.W.:

Can Notre-Dame rise from the ashes with 3D printing?

Speaking to FRANCE 24, Eric Geboers, co-founder of Concr3de, said, “As the extent of the damage is becoming clear, it is time to think about how to rebuild this sacred monument that has seen so much history. We propose a strategy to rebuild Notre-Dame in a modern way that maintains the soul and layered history of the building.

“Why not reuse what is left? What if we take the remains of Notre-Dame and use them to build her up again? What if we take the stone that has seen so much history and use that to maintain the soul of the building?”

Rebuilding with the remnants

Concr3de suggests combining old materials with new technologies. They will collect the ash, dust and damaged stone remnants in the nave of the cathedral and turn that into a 3D printable powder. “This powder will have the yellowish grey colour of Parisian stone and will be mixed with the charred remains of the wood. We can use this powder and directly 3D print the destroyed parts of Notre-Dame.

“The ash and limestone that remain would probably make up about half of the required materials. Then we would bind them together. But we would not use any plastics or resins. It would be a much more natural and pure procedure than that.”

“It is impossible to say at this stage exactly how long the work would take, but it would certainly be finished within five years,” said Geboers. “Working with our technique is at least five times faster than cutting stone.

“Of course it will take a lot of work but it is possible. With one large printer, you can produce two cubic metres of material in a day.”

OK, that makes sense, especially if, as Geboers states, one wants to preserve the “soul” of the cathedral, which would seem to imply a restoration of its traditional art-work.

Unfortunately, it would appear that the little popinjay Emanuel Macron’s globaloneyist multi-cultural stupidity and hubris knows no bounds, for what he has in mind for the structure is of the same order as his “there’s no such thing as French culture” statement that he made at the Verdun memorial, surrounded by the graves of thousands of his countrymen who died in that battle to preserve precisely the culture that Macron said didn’t exist. Many people spotted these articles and passed them along:

CHRISLAM RISING: French President Macron Says The Roman Catholic Notre Dame Cathedral In Paris Should Be Rebuilt With Muslim Minarets To ‘Reflect Diversity’ Of France

Macron says Notre Dame should be rebuilt consistent with the modern, diverse France – and architects suggest a glass roof, steel spire and minaret

Now, in case you missed it, the proposals for Notre Dame include (1) turning the top part of it into a greenhouse, and (2) replacing the spire or steeple with a minaret:

Macron’s initial promise to restore the magnificent cathedral to its former glory has been shoved aside. Now he says it will be rebuilt “consistent with our modern, diverse nation”, and at the same time the French Government has announced an international competition to redesign the Notre Dame spire.

After the announcement designers haven’t missed the opportunity to respond with their ideas, proposing that it should not be faithfully restored, but rebuilt with “contemporary” features such as a glass roof, steel spire, or even a minaret.

The Telegraph published an article claiming it would be a “travesty” to restore Notre Dame, while Rolling Stone quoted a Harvard architecture historian as saying that the burning of a building “so overburdened with meaning… feels like an act of liberation.”

Lord Norman Foster, arguably Britain’s most famous modern architect, has unveiled a design topping the ancient cathedral with a glass and steel canopy with a featureless glass and steel spire, which he describes as “a work of art about light” which would be “contemporary and very spiritual and capture the confident spirit of the time”.

…

Perhaps most controversial is a proposal in Domus, the architecture magazine, by Tom Wilkinson, for the fallen spire to be replaced with an Islamic minaret, to memorialize Algerians who protested the French government in the 1960s.
“These victims of the state could be memorialized by replacing the spire with – why not? – a graceful minaret”, Wilkinson insisted.

Yes, by all means, let us rebuild Notre Dame as a multicultural hothouse dedicated to the bland and glittering generalities of globaloneyism such as “the confident spirit of the time” as a “work of art about light.” Forget all that Christ and Mary stuff; that’s so yesterday. Let us rebuild it as a temple to plants and a shrine to yet another glittering abstraction called “diversity” and “inclusion”, and just so everyone feels “included” let us top the whole thing with a minaret (and for good measure, hire a mouezzin to sing the ~~Angelus and call to mass~~ call to prayer). For good measure, we can fill it with Muslim prayer rugs, and have automated Buddhist prayer wheels circling endlessly in front of a tabernacle for the reserved sacrament, which will have an appropriately ecumenical Masonic compass and square on it, and we can put Jewish menorahs on the high altar so everyone will feel “included.”

How perfectly wonderful this wonderful vision is. Need I remind you that it will be wonderful? You should feel wonderful about it, because it is wonderful.

Seriously, though, wonderful it may be, but not in the way that Mr. Globaloney intends, for no pious Muslim, nor Roman Catholic, nor Jew would be at home in such a monstrosity, nor want to be near it. Such an agenda – such a twisted vision – requires all of them to commit a kind of apostasy which the “planners” rub their faces in.

The long and short of it is that such plans are not a restoration at all; they are a deliberate mutilation and desecration of a tradition, and let it be noted, the core tradition of this civilization. It is thus a deliberate mutilation of the civilization itself. It is the continuation of what the fire itself was unable to complete.

And that should tell us something about the current “leadership” of the West: they care nothing – absolutely nothing – for the central core of this culture and civilization (or for that matter, the core of the cultures they want to “include”). In fact, they hate it, and will stop at nothing to mar it, mutilate it, desecrate it, and in the process, mar, mutilate, and desecrate the other cultures they’ve brought into this one in the name of “diversity” and “inclusion,” for what they plan to do to Notre Dame today, they can do to the Grand Mosque at Mecca, to the Dome of the Rock, to Lhasa Asa, to Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow tomorrow (you know, the one that Stalin dynamited to make room for some ridiculous Soviet “temple” to the “new man”). The Russians, at least, had the right idea: they rebuilt the cathedral, on its original location, in its original form, and put it to its original use.

But the western leadership, Mr. Globaloney and his allies, Ms. Diversity and Ms. Inclusion, are about nothing; they are about nihilism. Nothing more, nothing less; just nothing.

OK, rant over.

See you on … oh, by the way, if you think for a moment that that business in the second article about the creation of “Chrislam” and the Vatican saying that Islam is part of “the plan of salvation” is made up, think again, for that little quotation is lifted straight from one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes. And the idea of the “merger” of Christianity and Islam has been detailed by Jeff Sharlett’s two eye-opening books, C Street and The Family.

As I’ve said before, they’re following a template, an interpretation, and “the fulfillment is the deception.”

OK, now my rant is over.

See you on the flip side…

#Quote Of The Day – #Collectivism | #Individuality | #Conformity

“Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group (to the ‘society,’ to the tribe, the state, the nation) and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests.”
– Ayn Rand

Curious Questions About The Notre Dame And St. Sulpice Fires – News & Views From The Nefarium 4-18-2019

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 18, 2019

As was my contention when the fires in Notre Dame took place, there seems to be some intriguing circumstances coming that are coming to light proceeding from the aftermath of the fire.

Dr. Joseph P. Farrell brings a sobering and mindful discussion below as he proceeds to give his take on the fires, speaking at length about various considerations around this whole unfortunate event.

___________________________________________
Suggested Reading:

Notre Dame & St. Sulpice Fires

Poker & Life: Pulling The Mask Card, Wearing The Poker Face | #Culture | #Poker | #Life

“People seldom change, only their masks do. It is only our perception of them and the perception they have of themselves that actually change.”
– Shannon L. Alder

“You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you are underneath it.”
– Alan Moore

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 17, 2019

In poker, like in life, people wear masks. In both, every single individual wears masks of different types. Due to that, when individuals do decide to pull the proverbial ‘Mask Card’ from the poker deck of life is an intriguing proposition to consider.

Some of these masks are worn as a defense mechanism; some are worn to hide pain; some wear masks to cover up myriad emotions; some wear them only with dealing with specific people; others wear masks to get through the bog that life can provide at times; others wear masks simply because they’ve worn it all their lives and got used to them and forgot they were masks all along.

Nigh ever individual can relate to many or most of the above. Irrespective of reasons, masks are something that help individuals fight through the tides of the day, battle the waves that are ceaseless as we drift among the seas of life.

My argument is not that masks do not have a place, not at all. How people live their life’s is their business. I am merely bringing up this topic because I feel it deserves discussion, or at least ponderance at length.

Due to recent circumstances the last few days dealing with worries and concerns I’ve found myself under some of the premises above. In fact, sometimes, it’s very easy to forget you have a mask on. That said, it often takes someone you know to realize something is amyss before you yourself realize it, or some random circumstance that reminds you, “Hey, you still have that mask on, don’t forget.”

Some people might argue, shouldn’t you be authentic the whole time? What is the use of masks? One moment, and we will address that in a bit.

First: Riddle me this batman: do you know of any single place in which people are 100% authentic, and if so, what takes place in that locale? Ponder that for a minute.

With the above in mind, my contention that follows is that people wear masks all the time, for the most part. Some might instantly argue, “Well how do YOU know what most people do?”

It’s not just me that knows, but many people in fact, those that are least exposed to it. What do I mean by this?

What’s the one place where individuals can see people of myriad backgrounds showing their true colors? Facebook. People will do and say things on Facebook that they would never carry out in ‘real life’ in a million years. Keyboard cowboys abound many screens, and trolls are out in force. There is no better place to see what people will do when they do not wear masks than on Facebook and social media.

There is no better place to see this war rage between individuals in myriad social strata than in Facebook, it’s always an endless flame war. Words said in endless waves of anger, tirades made from the most hateful thoughts that individuals can manifest, all of which lead to no understanding, no common ground under which to move forward. While many arguments aren’t that intense, a lot of arguments hold no regard for human dignity and respect. This is (1) a failure of communication, (2) culture principles, (3) common sense, (4) education, (5) and the manipulation of the divide and conquer left-right paradigm. Each of those incisive elements, concurrent with other ones, al provide the veritable foundation upon which the flame wars burn and lead to the very division that the powers that be revel in.

All social media platforms provide a veritable armor under which most people feel safe to share their true feelings; feelings that many times people wouldn’t share with complete strangers in real life but waste not a nanosecond in telling strangers online in far larger numbers. This is not everyone, not by a long shot, but a sizeable part of individuals on social media platforms do this.

This type of circumstance seems to showcase why masks in society have a place.

Imagine what would happen if people went around their days doing in real life what they do in social media? To say all hell would brake lose, would be putting it lightly.

Such circumstances show why maybe its okay for people to be a little reserved in their thoughts by wearing masks. Not because they shouldn’t air out their thoughts, but the way it’s done is nothing but adding gasoline to fires that will never be put out, not under the current circumstances.

Perhaps its just how society is evolving with the fusion of traditional communications with social media platforms, perhaps its something else. But the same way that masks help society from becoming overly antagonistic (in modern times at least), masks help individuals from having to deal with uncomfortable situations that they understandably don’t want to deal with [1][2].

With the above in mind, we can gather that masks certainly have a place in society. When an individual chooses to wear is their business, but to say that masks have no place in society is akin to saying people have no right to privacy, or people on poker tables shouldn’t have a poker face.

___________________________________________________________

[1] I say, ‘In modern times at least’, because I think that if we were to take individuals from a century ago and transpose them on modern social media, the discussions that would take place would blow out of the water anything people do in modern times. The average discussion would be much more enlightening because they were a culture of character, and not a culture of personality. The distinction of this was learned by me from Susan Cain’s phenomenal book on introverts called Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop talking, though the idea stems from another author. Psychologist Cain expounds upon it saliently, however. This book is highly recommended.

[2] This was reference with me not wanting to vent with certain people in person about my current situation, though I did and do certainly vent to others.

[3] I deliberately used the Phantom Of The Opera type of mask in the post as a symbol for the individual having to wear a masks throughout most of life, just like in the story. Moreover, I love the mask because (1) I enjoy ever variation of the Phantom Of The Opera Story, whether it is the movie, the play, the video game, or in a book; (2) the opera and story make a great metaphor for life, and (3) the mask serves as a fantastic representation for Halloween, which is my second favorite Holiday between Thanksgiving and Summer time. I would also like to write an analysis on this story and turn it into a much larger metaphor, but we will see about that.

___________________________________________________________
Suggested Reading:

Have You Ever Walked On The Moon?
Never Underestimate The Power Of Imagination, The Power Of Dropping Seeds
Stranger On The Moon
Wings Are Made To Fly, Seeds Are Made To Grow
Breakaway Individuals Throughout History: The Individuals, The Trailblazers & You
Why A Sound Mindset Is Crucial: The Light Side Of Mindset Vs. The Dark Side Of Mindset
Mindset Mindset Mindset!
A Sound Mindset Amidst The Obstacles Of Life
Mindwaves & Mindfulness
Modern Misteps Meet Mindfulness
How TV Robs You Of Your Life
How You Deposit A Truckload Of Black Pearls Into An Emotional Bank Account
How Are Your (Emotional) Bank Accounts Doing?
Emotional Bank Accounts: Mutual Funds
Emotional Bank Accounts: Deposits & Withdraws
Emotional Bank Accounts: Gems Gems Gems, Babies Everywhere!
Emotional Bank Accounts: I Call Your 7 Cents & Raise You A Dollar
Poker & Life: Pulling The Friend’s Card
Imagination Unleashed
The Inherent Power Of Curiosity
A 7 Cent Investment Into An Emotional Bank Account To Convert A Hater?
What Do You Find Inspiring?
Poker FlashBack: Swimming With Sharks, Swimming With Whales
Imagination Rises Out Of The Jaws Of Defeat
What’s Your Story?
You The Individual Are Author Of Your Own Journey, Of Your Own Destiny
Harry Potter Fans Trash Talk? Say WHAT?!
Consciously Creating The Road Of Change, The World Of Tomorrow
What Are Your Personal Defaults?
A World Of Grays
The Opening Salvo, The First Minute
The Seeds Of Today, The World Of Tomorrow
Assumptions Are Mother Of All F@!$ Ups
Piercing Perspectives #1: Taking Things For Granted | Health & Mindset
Piercing Perspectives #2: You The Individual Are Extraordinary
Piercing Perspectives #3: The Divide & Conquer Left Right Paradigm
Piercing Perspectives #4: Poker As A Mirror For Life
The Individual, The Foundation Of Society

___________________________________________________________
If you find value in this information, feel free to share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and BreakawayIndividual.com

___________________________________________________________
About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

#Book Review: Cultural Literacy – What Every American Needs To Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr | #SmartReads | #Culture | #Education

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 17, 2019

Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hirsch is a sobering look into some of the reasons why public schooling in America has been spiraling downwards for the last few decades. At the vanguard of these issues, Hirsch narrows down this intellectual death spiral to the loss of cultural literacy among the masses. This loss of cultural literacy has exacerbated the significant decline in public schooling in America.

Moreover, Hirsch makes it a point to show that cultural literacy is not just knowing about significant facts, or information as some would undoubtedly think. Certainly, these are at times important, but more precisely, the author homes-in on the fact that cultural literacy is information shared by individuals within a particular social strata that makes their communications more efficient and enjoyable, thus allowing for a more cohesive social strata – creating a stronger culture.

With a critical eye, Hirsch notes:

“….literacy requires the early and continued transmission of specific information…Only by accumulating shared symbols, and the shared information that the symbols represent, can we learn to communicate effectively with one another in our national community.”[1][Bold Emphasis Added].

Employing copious amounts of research, Hirsch shows there should be a significant cause for concern about the poor quality of education, as well as other salient problems.

With deep concern, Hirsch soberingly warns:

“If we not achieve a literate society, the technicians, with their arcane specialties, will not be able to communicate with us nor we with them. That would contradict the basic principles of democracy and must not be allowed to happen.”[2][Bold Emphasis Added].

Such an instance would fracture the populace, something that would only feed the divide and conquer left-right paradigm.

A sound and versatile education is impossible without a robust and culturally literate repertoire. This deliberate shattering of an individual’s foundational education principles is causing the current catastrophic decline in education . This is why the information touched upon by Hirsch is so pivotal and should be ruminated upon.

To home in on the point of deteriorating education, let’s take a gander at what two-time award winning teacher, researcher and writer, John Taylor Gatto stated in A Different Kind Of Teacher:

““Schools were designed by Horace Mann, E.L. Thorndike, and others to be instruments of scientific management of a mass population. Schools are intended to produce, through the application of formulas, formulaic beings whose behavior can be predicted and controlled. To a very great extent, schools succeed in doing this.”[3][Bold Emphasis Added]

Lowering cultural literacy, among other things, would undoubtedly be part of this process. This is because culturally literate individuals will be familiar with the scaffolding of history and many of its nuances; such individuals are magnitudes harder to control, which is why public schooling through the Common Core system seeks to conform everyone through standardized testing and more.

We are at a turning point in history, and we either stop the descent into cultural nescience, individually, and as a nation, or we continue into the swamp of ignorance.

Irrespective of the circumstances, one thing is certain: there is still time to make significant changes if individuals choose to. It is really up to individuals and their families to educate themselves, because the way the system is constructed, a well-rounded and complete education cannot take place within the system. This is one of many reasons why self-directed learning is growing at an immense rate, and will continue to do so. Don’t allow yourself, or those you know to fall by the wayside merely because the system is corrupt and cares not for true education but rather to instead create cogs for the machine.

__________________________________________________________
Sources:

[1] E.D. Hirsch, Jr., What Every American Needs To Know, p. xvii.
[2] Ibid., p. 2.
[3] John Taylor Gatto, A Different Kind Of Teacher, p. 16.

___________________________________________________________

Suggested Reading & Watching:

What Is The Difference Between Education & Public Schooling?
Logical Fallacies Employed In Every Day Life
13 Great Reasons To Study Logic
How A Generation Lost Its Culture – by Professor Patrick Deneen
A Different Kind Of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto
Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Philosophy 101 by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
What Is Education? The Elite Curriculum – John Taylor Gatto
Breakaway Guide To Censorship, Disinformation, Logical Fallacies & More
How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
Classrooms Of The Heart [Documentary] – John Taylor Gatto
Social Engineering 101
The True Purpose Of Modern Schooling
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Open-Source Method: Genius Education – Examples | John Taylor Gatto
The Trivium – The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Ph.D.
A Rulebook For Arguments by Anthony Weston
A Workbook For Arguments by David R. Morrow & Anthony Wesson
Drilling Through The Core – Why Common Core Is Bad For American Education by Sandra Stotsky & Contributors

___________________________________________________________
If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and BreakawayIndividual.com

___________________________________________________________
About The Author:

Notre Dame And St. Sulpice Fires

Source: GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
April 17, 2019

I woke up today (Monday) fully intending to blog about something else, but a friend had sent me a message on Facebook about the spire of Notre Dame de Paris collapsing because of a fire. Stunned, I did a quick search and saw a picture, and sure enough, the cathedral was on fire, the roof gone, the spire gone. What will remain, essentially, is the shell of a building, if that. In one day, a cathedral that has been the landmark in Paris for over 850 years, is gone, and I lack the words to express what I am feeling, and I suspect that pales to what the French and Parisians are feeling. In its way, Notre Dame, situated as it is – or was – on its island in the Seine, was a kind of icon of the whole idea of the Ile-de-France, the “island of France,” the political and cultural heart of the nation. Just a few days ago, there was another fire in another famous Parisian church, St. Sulpice de Paris, though this did not, so far as I know, destroy that church, famous for being the home of the largest Cavaille-Coll church organ in France, and the instrument that Charles-Marie Widor presided at for over sixty years. Apparently, everything in Notre Dame is destroyed – the art, the fixtures, its own Cavaille-Coll organ… everything. It is doubly sad because this fire broke out and destroyed the landmark cathedral at the start of Holy Week in the western churches. According to some reports as I write this, they were able to rescue some of the relics, art work, and the reserved sacrament. Everything else is gone.

Notre Dame is iconic, as iconic as the churches and cathedrals of Chartres, Reims, or Cologne.

The earliest reports about the fire indicate that it was started by accident, due to renovation work that was being done, but it is unclear exactly how. The same was said of the fire just a few days ago that broke out in St. Sulpice. As I write, the Paris prosecutor has promised an investigation, which, of course, is normal under such circumstances, but it does raise questions, and if there is foul play involved, I suspect that we’ll never know the whole story. But there is a story here, and it’s this:

Twelve French Churches Attacked, Vandalized in One Week

The symbolism, and timing, are what most compel about the images of the burning cathedral; in a way, I cannot help think of it as an icon of what is happening to Europe, and the West in general, as the leadership of the West, and many people, not only are intent upon turning their backs upon one of the things that made western civilization what it is, but actually destroying it altogether. Like many I cannot help but entertain the suspicion that if one wanted to strike a symbolic blow not just against France, but western civilization itself, one could not choose a more appropriate structure than Notre Dame. But deliberate or accident, the symbolism remains, and as saddened as I am about it, and as saddened as no doubt many people in France and around the world are about it, one can rest assured that there are some who, in the black void of their hearts, are rejoicing.

For many years I’ve been saying “own the culture,” and if there is a message in this event, it’s perhaps as simple as “use it, or lose it,” guard your traditions, or watch them be consumed. What will rise from the ashes of Notre Dame? Will it be another cathedral, done in reverence to that tradition that built it in the first place? Or will it be some modernist monstrosity of a monument with a bronze plaque commemorating a “world historical site” and the vapid and empty cliches that always accompany such things.

Time will tell of course, but if there is anything to take away from this, I suspect it is this: we have been warned.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), there will be no blog. It would seem inappropriate as the churches of France are being vandalized in the most barbarous fashion, by people who, as I say, have empty, black hearts.

Read More At: GizaDeathStar.com
___________________________________________________________
[Editor’s Note]

I’ve been highly suspicious about the fire from the get go, especially given all the attacks on churches in France. It wouldn’t surprise me if more information came later on that helped show cracks in the official story. Either way, it’s a huge loss for culture and humanity as a whole.

More importantly, I would bet everything that if what’s discussed above isn’t an accident, then an overarching pattern will emerge in the future of ‘accidents’ in which symbolic Western Cultures go up in smoke. Time will tell, but put that one in your back pocket and see if it manifests, just in case.
___________________________________________________________

Category: Culture