English princes should not take American brides. The experiment has been tried twice now and the results are in: the princes become whiny and petulant, while the brides become arrogant and shrill. Since the Duke of Windsor and the Duke of Sussex had very little in common before their respective marriages, and their duchesses had even less, I don’t think the problem is one of personalities. Rather, it’s a matter of the way that divergent national characters collide with the peculiar psychological impacts of royal status.
That's from John Michael Greer's latest essay. It is in fact the sum total of what he says in it about the Sussexes, directly or indirectly. Pretty insightful, though. Greer has an engaging view of history, or histories perhaps histories plural*, and has an eye out for contemporary events as well. The meat is about René Guénon, a French intellectual with whom I was not previously familiar. Of course my pet French philosopher is Henri Bergson, but I'm not sure "intellectual" is the best word to describe him.
*Not naming any names, but I had an English professor back in college who asked why we're always talking about "history" and we don't call it "herstory." He said this repeatedly. I'm not in the habit of using the pejorative "midwit" but I suspect it was coined to describe him.
2 comments:
Greer's conclusion about the collision of national characteristics is what makes the marital matchups of Americans and British royals a risky prospect is probably true. Add to that the fact that Meghan had some unrealistic beliefs about British royalty that didn't come true for her have led to some serious disappointments. They certainly tossed out the dignity we used to expect from royalty. I don't think Edward and Wallis ever did that. Then again, now the queen is gone I have my doubts about all of them.
A couple of René Guénon's books were quite popular when I was in the midst of youthful naive madness and aspects of his work were definitely subjects for discussion back then. The main thing I recall about them was his conception of medieval times being a spiritually positive period of history compared with how the modern world was taking our lives captive. I don't remember disagreeing with that but the rest I've forgotten.
Henri Bergson is a philosopher whose work I ought to know more about. I know he had some very interesting thoughts about how we experience time compared to how it is measured scientifically.
It sounds as though certain professors lost the plot long ago.
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My favorite article from SCMP in Hong Kong last week - She ran off with 30 pigs while he was in hospital'.
Meghan's aim, I think, was to inflate her own notoriety, and she succeeded in that. And there's no reason to think that she and Harry don't love each other. The problem is that by chasing fame on her terms he's diminished himself. It's probably true that Edward and Wallis kept more public dignity, but they also encouraged some destructive tendencies in each other, Nazi leanings included. I don't know what the future holds for the royals, but if they go it won't be any great flowering of democracy. As in so many other places, all the major political parties are beholden to NGOs.
Guenon may have had a point about the positive aspects of the Middle Ages. If some distortion is involved in the nostalgic elevation of the past, going in the opposite direction--as is more the current trend--is at least as misguided. There was an enviable wholeness in the way people then saw the world and themselves.
Bergson had a very interesting view of time as having two aspects: the objective kind of time that is amenable to measuring in seconds, hours, etc.; and time as a subjective, lived phenomenon, less predictable. He was writing at the end of a century-plus where the former ascended, so his ideas restored some balance.
Academia attracts a lot of people who are enamored of the sound of their own voices, moreso than the content of their lessons.
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"She ran off with the pigs while I was in the hospital" would make a great country song. He even holds out hope for a reunion. It's near-perfect.
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