Truth as a Paradox

I have tried and failed to describe this as well as Chesterton does on <Orthodoxy> so here goes a direct quote that describes truth as a paradox by comparing the circle vs. the cross:

“The circle is perfect and infinite in its nature; but it is fixed for ever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross, though it has at its heart a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms forever without altering its shape. Because it has a paradox in its center it can grow without changing. The circle returns upon itself and is bound. The cross opens its arms to the four winds; it is a signpost for free travelers.”

Independent Thinking

“I do not know by what extraordinary mental accident modern writers so constantly connect the idea of progress with the idea of independent thinking. Progress is obviously the antithesis of independent thinking. For under independent or individualist thinking, every man starts at the beginning, and goes, in all probability, just as far as his father before him. But if there really be anything of the nature of progress, it must mean, above all things, the careful study and assumption of the whole of the past.”
– from G. K. Chesterton’s <Heretics>

So much of today’s talk on environment, politics, and religion seems to be filled with “independent” or “individualist” thinking. Everyone speaks loudly of things that make us feel as though we are the first generation to care about such and such things without realizing that we are in danger of self-delusional pride; we are just repeating history in our ignorance and pride instead of learning and building from the past. That is the inevitable cycle of pride and sin.

I don’t know the solution to all these issues popping up right and left, but I do know that I don’t want to join in the pointing of fingers or on the holier-than-thou talk. I am confident that my one calling in life is to love God and love my neighbor.