Author: Tim Schwab

a novice

Speck in the Brother’s Eye

When we love others, we want the best for them, which in large part just means that we want them to be the best they can be. We want to see their souls be kind, strong, and joyful. It is truly astonishing, however, how quickly and completely this good hope can turn from a love of who they were made to be into a hatred of who they are. Once we find out that they are not what we earnestly desire them to be, we become angry and frustrated with them, and cope by turning to control and manipulation. “After all,” we say to ourselves, “it is for their own good.”

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Self Indoctrination

What we read and hear shape what we believe and how we think. If we only read Marxist literature, would we not be Marxist? If we only read Protestant authors, would we not be Protestant? But what we believe shapes what we read. We read what we think we will like, and we like things that confirm what we already believe. Similarly, we tend to associate with people who will agree with us. It is a vicious cycle, always validating our conceptions of how the world does and ought to work. But occasionally, our beliefs are wrong. How can we then combat the propaganda we feed ourselves? How can we break the cycle?

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Bare

All my life, I have heard humble men talk of being “known.” They say that all people want to be known, that everyone yearns for it. I scoffed in my arrogance. That is just old guys getting too wrapped up in themselves. I mean, isn’t it the hormoney teenager that cries to be understood?  I don’t need that, I’m perfectly happy just doing God’s will and going on my merry way. I’m good, everything is fine. I don’t want to get emotional here and put a burden on you to care for me, so let’s not talk about spiritual things. Let’s not talk about this dull uneasiness I feel. All this insistence of the importance of community is just hype over a buzzword.

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What We Want

I believe that Blue Winds Dancing is truer than 95% of what the educated tell me is true. I, with Nietzsche, see a great battle throughout history between champions of the grand iconoclast and champions of the humble. Nietzsche tells me that humility is coping with weakness, that forgiveness is coping with inability to take revenge, that tradition is mere laziness and uncreativity. Throw off those chains and become the Übermensch! I listen, and understand what he says. Continue reading “What We Want” →

I Believe

The first speech for my communications class was called an “I Believe” speech. We are supposed to pick something in our life that we believe in and talk about it for two to three minutes. It doesn’t really matter what you pick, so long as you believe in it; what my class picked ranged from WWE to being vulnerable. A classic and beautifully performed example is about barbecue. What I chose fits the theme of this blog, so here it is. Continue reading “I Believe” →

The Parable of the Saint

This requires some background information to understand. For a while, I have thought that Nietzsche is mature atheism, and Lewis is mature theism. We either look into the abyss of nothingness or rejoice in the fountain of goodness. So, why not create a counterpart to Nietzsche’s famous “Parable of the Madman.” The parable talks about the implications of rejecting the reality of God. It is the origin of the term, “God is dead.” It is an extremely well written and sobering parable; I recommend it. It sums up the unavoidable conclusions of naturalism with style and force. Of course Nietzsche thought the conclusions were a good thing, but I will leave that up to the reader to decide. Continue reading “The Parable of the Saint” →