Well, more than a week has gone by since I wrote my blog entry entitled "Man's inhumanity to man". In my initial description of this blog, entitled Christian Anarchism, I suggested that I would be proselytizing, but then in my early entries I criticized myself for using this word as it was not in keeping, in my view, with the tenets of Christian Anarchism. I hope and pray that I have stuck to this view, and not attempted to push its tenets onto anyone who thinks differently. That is not what anarchism is about, but as I continue to exercise my talk therapy perhaps my writings might get others to think about, and perhaps question, their believed dependence on authoritarianism, that is the exercise of human authority under the threat of punishment. Also, since I believe that God is not a punishing God, by acknowledging and accepting God as our only authority there is no oxymoron in that position. I am humbly pleased that over 300 people appear to have read my blog introduction, and then over 300 my first blog entry on my questioning of possible proselytizing. Anything up to 100 people for each of my later blog entries have read them, numbers are from the information given here on CF.
In a recent conversation with one of my grown-up nephews, he suggested I ought to try to get my writings published. I have searched around a little for information on this, Amazon seemed a possibility sometimes offering a free service, but at my age (78 years) I would not get into the position of receiving royalties and I have no dependents to think about. I suppose my legacy would be the existence of the book for posterity, and perhaps future readers. I then investigated blogging, and made a choice, so here I am. However, it was then suggested that to get a larger readership I ought to use a blogging platform with a wider base, for example WordPress.
Even here at CF I was hoping that, rather than inviting discussion which really should go on in the forums, readers who have an inclination towards Christian Anarchism would perhaps comment on my blog entries. Being anarchists they would not expect me to change my views. I have just finished reading a collection of essays written by notable anarchists, particularly of the 19th century but also one or two from the 20th, and they assure me yet again that I have something going. The collection is in a book (Fontana 1977) entitled "The Anarchist Reader" edited by George Woodcock, a prolific writer on anarchism in the 20th century. I mention this because I want to refer to the last chapter in the book, which has a bearing on my second sentence of this paragraph.
The chapter is entitled "Anarchism and Ecology", and is an essay written by Murray Bookchin from his book (1974) entitled "Post-Scarcity Anarchism". I will quote a little from it.
"(Anarchism) has become a precondition for the practice of ecological principles. To sum up the reconstructive message of ecology: if we diminish variety in the natural world, we debase its unity and wholeness: we destroy the forces making for natural harmony and for a lasting equilibrium: and, what is even more significant, we introduce an absolute regression in the development of the natural world which may eventually render the environment unfit for advanced forms of life."
The essay is well worth a complete read, but to briefly describe the message it compares this view of ecology with that of anarchy, which claims that the removal of human authority releases a diversity of views which are essential for the progress of the species. As an anarchist, I do not really know where such a political ideology will lead, and because of the innate propensities in man for evil we need the authority of God, for me the Christian God, to keep us from extinction until the Second Coming of Christ.
I had better stop there. Are my entries getting too long? Am I proselytizing? God bless.
In a recent conversation with one of my grown-up nephews, he suggested I ought to try to get my writings published. I have searched around a little for information on this, Amazon seemed a possibility sometimes offering a free service, but at my age (78 years) I would not get into the position of receiving royalties and I have no dependents to think about. I suppose my legacy would be the existence of the book for posterity, and perhaps future readers. I then investigated blogging, and made a choice, so here I am. However, it was then suggested that to get a larger readership I ought to use a blogging platform with a wider base, for example WordPress.
Even here at CF I was hoping that, rather than inviting discussion which really should go on in the forums, readers who have an inclination towards Christian Anarchism would perhaps comment on my blog entries. Being anarchists they would not expect me to change my views. I have just finished reading a collection of essays written by notable anarchists, particularly of the 19th century but also one or two from the 20th, and they assure me yet again that I have something going. The collection is in a book (Fontana 1977) entitled "The Anarchist Reader" edited by George Woodcock, a prolific writer on anarchism in the 20th century. I mention this because I want to refer to the last chapter in the book, which has a bearing on my second sentence of this paragraph.
The chapter is entitled "Anarchism and Ecology", and is an essay written by Murray Bookchin from his book (1974) entitled "Post-Scarcity Anarchism". I will quote a little from it.
"(Anarchism) has become a precondition for the practice of ecological principles. To sum up the reconstructive message of ecology: if we diminish variety in the natural world, we debase its unity and wholeness: we destroy the forces making for natural harmony and for a lasting equilibrium: and, what is even more significant, we introduce an absolute regression in the development of the natural world which may eventually render the environment unfit for advanced forms of life."
The essay is well worth a complete read, but to briefly describe the message it compares this view of ecology with that of anarchy, which claims that the removal of human authority releases a diversity of views which are essential for the progress of the species. As an anarchist, I do not really know where such a political ideology will lead, and because of the innate propensities in man for evil we need the authority of God, for me the Christian God, to keep us from extinction until the Second Coming of Christ.
I had better stop there. Are my entries getting too long? Am I proselytizing? God bless.
