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"The heart of Man is not compound of lies, but draws some wisdom from the only Wise, and still recalls him. Though now long estranged, Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed. Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned...

...Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme of things not found within recorded time. It is not they that have forgot the Night, or bid us flee to organized delight, in lotus-isles of economic bliss forswearing souls to gain a Circe-kiss (and counterfeit at that, machine-produced, bogus seduction of the twice-seduced)." - Tolkien, Mythopoeia

These are some of my favorite lines from Tolkien's poem he wrote to C.S. Lewis after an argument about the truth of myths.

Sometimes I do wonder if economic progress is an enemy of tradition. Is it possible to hold onto tradition in an environment where anyone who sells the latest and greatest widget, even (or especially) if it appeals to man's baser nature, can become wealthy and powerful?

In the history of the West, would you say that it was primarily capitalism or a turning away from God and the Church that overturned Christendom in favor of the republican states of today? Did trade and capitalism shift the balance of power away from noble and aristocratic families and toward merchants, bankers, and factory owners?

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