Part the Third

I should explain that this laptop is being extraordinarily balky and fragments my paragaphs and unpredictably omits key phrases.  What I started out doing was responding to an essay/talk that my Dad did for the UU group of Naples, FL, in the Reagan era, prior to the destruction of the Berlin Wall.  It reflects the wisdom of that time, with some Eric Hoffer thrown in, equating Christianity and Communism, which was and is not such a popular position; altho it is true that Marxism in its idealism did borrow heavily from Christian concepts such as equality and justice, and may qualify as a variant.  (It's hard to be a complete original!!!)

The primary theme however is war; from a "hopeful Hobbesian" perspective--yes there is such a thing--or Hobbes too would have committed suicide!  But in spite of the prematurely declared "end of history," it seems that cold war anxieties may easily recur with different players, and all "victories" are brief and lead to defeat or major modification of expectations, including the nightmares.  Fukayama and the rest did not forsee that although atheism would crumble as a governing force and retreat back into "high culture" from whence it generally comes, that a countervailing force would soon arise from the mists of history; "Muslims in the Mist!"

My Dad's point, as also reflected in my dream, is that there is some equality of causation, and that the world secretly thrills at the destructive power it has "created". (borrowed, actually) Or as Camus said, "When we are all guilty, that will be democracy."  The triumph--supposed-- of democracy has been almost immediately followed by regression to a so-called theocracy threatened by Islamism. Everyone always seems to need a major scapegoat--minor players do not satisfy our lusts. (See James 4:1-4) And once again it is our technology that is largely responsible for 9/11, which would not have been possible without, well, science!

I think that Bill Watterston juxtaposed Calvin and Hobbes because their worldview was so similar, plus/minus a Supernature. That is, mankind is anything but intrinsically good, by whatever personal or collective standards are set up. So nothing new under the sun, just the same old two "roads diverging in the wood" of basic and  unresolvable assumptions which are not going to change. Which one is "The Road Less Travelled" depends on whom you ask. With my Dad growing like Hemingway in a Protestant culture, the step is actually an easy one--but will Calvin and Hobbes continue their friendship?

Calvin: "Let's go into the future and see what I'm like as a teenager, OK?"

Hobbes: "Let's not, ok?"

Got to go with Dr. Schuler II so more later...in psuedo-digestible lumps