And they say, "There is nothing but our worldly life; we die and live and nothing destroys us except time." And they have of that no knowledge; they are only assuming.
--Qur'an 45.24.
Listening to Roger Scruton on the radio. On the need for "obedience" (loyalty?) to a place, a territory. Part of the problem, as he sees it, is that immigrants carry with them-and he's talking about Muslims here- a nostalgia for another 'place,' and other law. I suppose by 'obedience' to the law and the land or to the law of the land he means a lot more than simply acceptance; perhaps he means to imply a kind of reverence or deep affiliation for the nation state.
I do think he's onto something here. Personally, I find the notion of 'for king and country' a bit primitive (something akin to tribal loyalties that I thought, obviously mistakenly, the Enlightenment was supposed to dispel). America right or wrong. Adoration of the flag, love for the motherland, the fatherland..Blut und Boden..all that makes me slightly queasy. More: it smacks of idolatry. Which means to confer on something that has some relative value an absolute standing that it doesn't merit.
{Of course, you may be entitled to keep your academic or scientific hat on, to pretend that you're only interested in the sublime realm of the arts, and that, therefore, the messy state of affairs is of no interest to you. To be reminded of the slaughter of the Red Man..no, please don't!; it ruins the poem!}
Loyalty and fidelity to what? Becket's question. Loyalty to the Fuhrer isn't, obviously, worth anything. And what of human conscience? People have protested against Vietnam, Iraq and countless other wars. Are they disloyal?
And then you came across Marilynne Robinson's The Givenness of Things in which there is a discussion of a (literary and popular) tradition that reminds us of a "higher loyalty". Isn't it clearly written, after all, that one cannot be a servant to two Masters? And what of St. Paul's "Neither Greek nor Jew"?.
My pulse races when Wales beat England in the rugby; when the Paks beat England in the cricket I feel elated. Loyalty to what or to who? Of course, there are many things I love about England (or, more accurately, London) but loyalty, obedience, conformity? what is being asked here? If money and the state are the last gods in town then I'm not a believer.
'The unseen cathedrals
the rivers unheard
the clocks deep in us.'
~~~
--Qur'an 45.24.
Listening to Roger Scruton on the radio. On the need for "obedience" (loyalty?) to a place, a territory. Part of the problem, as he sees it, is that immigrants carry with them-and he's talking about Muslims here- a nostalgia for another 'place,' and other law. I suppose by 'obedience' to the law and the land or to the law of the land he means a lot more than simply acceptance; perhaps he means to imply a kind of reverence or deep affiliation for the nation state.
I do think he's onto something here. Personally, I find the notion of 'for king and country' a bit primitive (something akin to tribal loyalties that I thought, obviously mistakenly, the Enlightenment was supposed to dispel). America right or wrong. Adoration of the flag, love for the motherland, the fatherland..Blut und Boden..all that makes me slightly queasy. More: it smacks of idolatry. Which means to confer on something that has some relative value an absolute standing that it doesn't merit.
{Of course, you may be entitled to keep your academic or scientific hat on, to pretend that you're only interested in the sublime realm of the arts, and that, therefore, the messy state of affairs is of no interest to you. To be reminded of the slaughter of the Red Man..no, please don't!; it ruins the poem!}
Loyalty and fidelity to what? Becket's question. Loyalty to the Fuhrer isn't, obviously, worth anything. And what of human conscience? People have protested against Vietnam, Iraq and countless other wars. Are they disloyal?
And then you came across Marilynne Robinson's The Givenness of Things in which there is a discussion of a (literary and popular) tradition that reminds us of a "higher loyalty". Isn't it clearly written, after all, that one cannot be a servant to two Masters? And what of St. Paul's "Neither Greek nor Jew"?.
My pulse races when Wales beat England in the rugby; when the Paks beat England in the cricket I feel elated. Loyalty to what or to who? Of course, there are many things I love about England (or, more accurately, London) but loyalty, obedience, conformity? what is being asked here? If money and the state are the last gods in town then I'm not a believer.
'The unseen cathedrals
the rivers unheard
the clocks deep in us.'
~~~
“Let me begin, going on from what I have just stated, with what you call “love of the Jewish people” or Ahavat Israel. (Incidentally, I would be very grateful if you could tell me since when this concept has played a role in Judaism, when it was first used in Hebrew language and literature, etc.) You are quite right – I am not moved by any “love” of this sort, and for two reasons: I have never in my life “loved” any people or collective – neither the German people, nor the French, nor the American, nor the working class or anything of that sort. I indeed love “only” my friends and the only kind of love I know of and believe in is the love of persons. Secondly, this “love of the Jews” would appear to me, since I am myself Jewish, as something rather suspect. I cannot love myself or anything which I know is part and parcel of my own person… The greatness of this people was once that it believed in God, and believe in Him in such a way that its trust and love towards Him was greater than its fear. And now this people believe only in itself? What good can come out of that? –Well, in this sense I do not “love” the Jews, nor do I “believe” in them; I merely belong to them as a matter of course, beyond dispute or argument.”---Hannah Arendt
2 comments:
the wisdom of Arendt, as always.
How many shared stories do people need to form a community? How nuanced and open can those stories be, or how much exclusively nationalist/tribal/... pride has to go into them?
"Loyalty to the (law of the) land" sounds somehow better than "Obedience to the land", and not just because of the alliteration. In "obedience" there's a sense of coercion and blind conformity. In "loyalty", there's more a sense of reciprocity, of mutual obligations.
keep well!
fff
I think the best stories are universal in the sense they speak of the human condition (even though they may be expressed in a culturally specific way).
I think what you say about loyalty is correct but I still prefer: "To thine own self be true".
Salams,
b.
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