When I was 25 years old, I proudly served on the USS Virginia as a Junior Officer. Looking back now, 50 years later, it was one of the best years of my life. I qualified as Officer of The Day Underway, I was taught to sail by Master Chief Fred Wright, and probably most importantly, I was sent four books to read while \u201cout to sea\u201d by my father\u2014Anna Karinina, War and Peace, Tale of Two Cities, and Man of La Macha. Tolstoy, Dickens, and Cervantes. Does it get any better than that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I have revisited those old friends over the past 50 years, meanings of words, phrases and paragraphs, have changed, but the message of the themes remains constant. Great ideas are about great truths, and they talk to all of our experiences throughout all the ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me give one example about how the meaning of words changed with experiences that may be familiar to most people from my age. In the movie Dr. Zhivago as the good doctor is coming home from the \u201cWestern front\u201d his wagon is confronted by a group of blood thirsty Bolshevick\u2019s. They want to detain and maybe kill the occupants of the wagon. The driver shouts \u201cthe doctor is a gentleman\u201d which when I was 25, I assumed to mean the doctor was a \u201cgood guy\u201d. Today I now know those words to mean the \u201cdoctor is the enemy\u201d\u2014he was an aristocrat and enemy of the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I read ANNA again several months ago. I was reminded of the connection between Levin\u2019s, the protagonist in the novel whose life in my opinion may have reflected the author\u2019s. Not unlike the Apostle Paul\u2019s, St. Thomas Aquianas\u2019s, or John Locke\u2019s ideas about the NATURAL LAW\u2014paraphrasing Locke\u2014A law imprinted in the hears of all men made known through the faculties of reason (and most importantly\u2014jl) revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thoughts about \u201cThe Natural Law and Biblical Truths was reflected in The Wall Street Journal on August 15th<\/sup> by Mr. Garry Saul Morson, a professor in Slavic studies at Northwestern. I will attempt to paraphrase and consolidate his words to align them with the other great men and Saints mentioned above. Thanks to my newfound friend PERPLEXITY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTolstoy challenges us to consider why someone would need a \u201cgeneral principle\u201d to decide something as instinctive as how to hold a child. Levin struggles because, like many intellectuals, he sees truth as a theory to be applied to specific situations. This works in math, but ethics and meaning require wisdom gained from reflecting on individual cases and trusting experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Levin\u2019s insight comes when a peasant explains why he won\u2019t rent land: because exploiting workers is wrong, as one must live for the soul and for God. Levin realizes that fundamental knowledge of right and wrong is not derived from reason or theory but is simply \u201cgiven\u201d and undeniable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goodness has no causes or effects\u2014its truth stands regardless of explanations, such as evolutionary benefits or rewards. Seeking rewards reduces goodness to a mere transaction, which misses its essence. Levin finally sees that the miracle he sought was always present, surrounding him unnoticed. Finding \u201cgoodness and truth\u201d requires both deductive and inductive reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He understands that meaning is not taught through theory but sensed by living rightly, something Tolstoy\u2019s novels reveal by example rather than argument. That precisely reflects the ideas of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who believed\u2014that the natural law reflects the importance of objective moral standards that transcend human laws. These standards are derived from human nature (\u201creason and revelation\u201d\u2014jml) and are believed to be universal and immutable. By anchoring legal interpretation in these fundamental truths, Scalia argued that judges could reach more just and stable decisions that align with the natural order. Scalia more than any other modern day Supreme Court Justice believed those truths were grounded in the Biblical Truths and The Natural Law that was reflected in our Founding Documents and the writings of our Founding Fathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout all the ages, and in all locals, the Natural Law has been known and has been always operative. When I hear Mr. Trump make us of the term \u201cCOMMON SENSE\u201d I believe in more than a few cases the term NATURAL LAW can be substituted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The behavior and the ideas of many on the left are in my opinion contradictory to NATURAL LAW PRINCIPLES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murder, stealing, looting, land taking, transfer payments with politicians interceding as agents between government (principle) and object, (citizen) is always wrong though in some cases the act may be legal\u2014an inconsistency that would certainly concern Judge Scalia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Natural Law and Biblical Law has always been operative and will always remain operative. So, say all the great thinkers throughout all of history. From Moses\u2014to Jesus\u2014to Aquinas\u2014to Magna Carta\u2014to Jefferson\u2014to Reegan\u2014to Scalia\u2014to Trump\u2014PS put Tolstoy in there also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was 25 years old, I proudly served on the USS Virginia as a Junior Officer. Looking back now, 50 years later, it was one of the best years of my life. 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