Thursday, February 14, 2013

Cosmopolitan Paganism

"The condition of existence I am describing is nothing more or less than ethical, cosmopolitan paganism--the gorgeous inheritance bestowed upon us by the pre-Christian societies of the Mediterranean whose idolatrous proclivities have never been obliterated or even subordinated in the Christian West. Nor are they likely to be. The vernacular of beauty is a part of that pagan inheritance. The whole rhetoric of commerce and practical science is a part of it, too, as are the foundational premises of this republic, whose framers embraced Cicero's insistence that the virtue of any politics is confirmed in the body of the citizen--in the corporeal safety and happiness of that single and collective body."
[Dave Hickey, The Invisible Dragon]


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4 comments:

Unknown said...

Great quote.

And also Jimmy!

Anonymous said...

So very true. Thanks for sharing!

Aetius

Apuleius Platonicus said...

Yes, Katy, that really is a gorgeous picture of Jimmy, isn't it. He really looks like the embodiment of what Hickey is talking about, in my opinion. And I couldn't resist adding the pic of Belinda Carlisle and Pleasant Gehman for laughs.

Unknown said...

I had to acknowledge Jimmy Page because years ago, it was reading about Page and Robert Fripp and Daryl Hall's interest in Aleister Crowley that opened me up to things other than the Christian religious paradigm of my youth.