tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1230344530531927799.post3645345593009456520..comments2023-04-28T06:59:37.174-04:00Comments on twoTwentyEight: Cut-Flower CivilizationJoseph Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00339898114118904716noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1230344530531927799.post-79636708736781699942015-07-31T12:25:57.187-04:002015-07-31T12:25:57.187-04:00Thanks, Joe, for such a pertinent reflection. The ...Thanks, Joe, for such a pertinent reflection. The cut-flower metaphor is powerful, and the language of Yeats in "The Second Coming" is apropos. Our present culture is still being carried by the inertia of previous generations, but that inertia is running low and in danger of becoming a spent force. Similar powerful images are present in Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", where the world has been emptied of love, light, joy, peace and certitude, and Arnold, while be seems to bemoan the condition, has nothing final to offer except a rather ambiguous "let us be true to one another". Ivan Karamazov was surely right when he said, "If God does not exist, everything is permitted."Dan Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12230336952558013110noreply@blogger.com