Category Archives: Philosophy

The City of God by Saint Augustine of Hippo

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Written at least 50 years prior to the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, ‘The City of God’ provides interesting insights and a plausible ‘root-cause-analysis’ of the ultimate demise of the Roman Empire; reminiscent of today’s  ‘Anglo-American Empire’ who are desperately clinging to their fading power. And like the Roman Empire, they are looking in all the wrong places for solutions and of course scapegoats.  My take: unexamined assumptions blind our current power structure’s ability to see the underlying causes and thus are unable to advance any potentially workable solutions.  Alternately, this may be a controlled demolition.

St. Augustine was very knowledgeable on the pagan gods of his time, while I personally struggle to keep up with the many relationships, names and detailed critiques of pagan contradictions, activities and the resultant impact on Rome.  At the same time, I find this book fascinating in terms of its historical insights into the fall of this great empire.  Perhaps a ‘lessons-learned’ for today?   – ClearNFO

Note: Not to be confused with Civitas Dei (City of God) by Lionel Curtis.

Grok’s summary of this great work: Written between 413 and 426 AD, De Civitate Dei (The City of God) is a foundational work of Christian philosophy by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Spanning 22 books, it was prompted by the sack of Rome in 410 AD by the Visigoths, which led pagans to blame Christianity for weakening the Roman Empire. Augustine responds by crafting a sweeping theological and historical argument contrasting two “cities”—the City of God and the City of Man.

The City of God represents those living according to divine will, oriented toward eternal salvation and spiritual truth, rooted in love of God. The City of Man, conversely, embodies those driven by earthly desires, pride, and self-love, destined for temporal ruin. Augustine argues that history is a moral drama of these two cities coexisting but fundamentally opposed, with Rome’s fall as evidence of the fragility of human empires, not divine failure.

Key themes include:

  • Critique of Paganism: Augustine refutes pagan gods and Roman virtues as insufficient for true happiness or justice, emphasizing Christianity’s superior moral framework.
  • Human Nature and Sin: He explores humanity’s fall through original sin, asserting that peace and justice are unattainable without divine grace.
  • Providence and History: Augustine frames all events as part of God’s plan, culminating in the triumph of the City of God at the end of time.
  • Philosophy and Theology: Drawing on Plato, Cicero, and scripture, he synthesizes classical thought with Christian doctrine, notably on free will, evil, and the nature of God.

The work’s structure divides into two parts: Books 1–10 defend Christianity against pagan accusations, while Books 11–22 outline the origins, development, and destinies of the two cities. Its influence shaped medieval thought, offering a lens for interpreting history, politics, and ethics through a Christian worldview.

In essence, The City of God is Augustine’s magnum opus, arguing that true fulfillment lies beyond earthly power, in alignment with divine order, amid a world of inevitable conflict and decay.

Prologue from Ohrid

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | April 23, 2024

The Prologue of Ohrid: Lives of Saints, Hymns, Reflections, and Homilies for Every Day of the Year

A great addition to my library and daily studies: I can’t wait to get up every morning to read The Prologue from Ohrid.  Truly a fascinating book providing much wisdom, historical context and analysis on the lives of the Saints. A simple and quick two page read each morning and then I’m off to reading the Philokalia and other books of great wisdom.

Daily Format of the Ohrid:

  • Date (day of the year)
  • Brief biography of two or more Saints of the day
  • Hymn of Praise for the above Saint(s)
  • Reflection on the life of the Saint(s) of the day
  • Contemplation
  • Homily

I find it Interesting to compare The Prologue from Ohrid to the much condensed A Daily Calendar of Saints by Fr. Lawrence Farley.  The Prologue provides additional historical depth and context expanding my understanding of the life of our Orthodox Saints, plus the ‘Reflections’ and ‘Homily’ sections are pure gold.  After only four months reading The Prologue daily, I feel I have gained a rich understanding of the lives of the Saints, the evil they faced and the historical times in which they lived and died. -db

Additional resources and where to purchase:

Wikipedia: Prologue from Ohrid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prologue_from_Ohrid

Orthodox Wiki: https://orthodoxwiki.org/Prologue_from_Ohrid

The Prologue of Ohrid: Lives of Saints, Hymns, Reflections, and Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Revised and Expanded) https://sebastianpress.org/the-prologue-of-ohrid-lives-of-saints-hymns-reflections-and-homilies-for-every-day-of-the-year/

Prologue from Ohrid free download (PDF, FULL TEXT, etc.):  https://archive.org/details/ThePrologueFromOhrid_BishopNikolaiVelimirovich

GEORGE THE GREATMARTYR Serbian Orthodox Church https://stgeorgehermitage.org/englishprologue

From Walmart – best price I’ve found for the large, one volume version. https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Prologue-From-Ohrid-1926-Leather-Bound/247392954

 

What is Logismoi?

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | January 26, 2024

St. Anthony Assaulted by Demons | Considered to be the founder of monasticism, was born in Egypt in 251.

Logismoi is assaultive thoughts or thought forms, not your everyday thoughts. We swim in a sea of thoughts; the Zeitgeist or the culmination of the culture.  Thought forms which are within this Zeitgeist can be assaultive.  They are not harmless.   Thoughts and thought images.  Logismoi are caused by battle with the devil.

There are 5 stages:

  1. Assault – ignore – turn away from it. Don’t have to fight it…swat them like flies buzzing around.   A thought enters our mind… for example to steal some money, lust, etc.  We are not accountable for the strike or the assault.   We have not committed a sin.  We have not done anything except being assaulted.
  2. Interaction – we open a dialogue with the logismoi .. Should I do this or should I do that? Should I steal this money or not? We analyze the risk vs. reward. Slap it down.  No accountability; no sin yet committed.
  3. Consent – defeat … we are accountable. Consent to what the logismoi tempted you to commit. This is the beginning of sin. Guilt.
  4. Captivity – if you can’t free yourself from the previous stage, then there is defeat. You become hostage to the logismoi, next time it comes around with greater force. Becomes a habit that is repeated time and again.
  5. Passion – it takes the grace of the Holy Spirit…prayer, passions to recover who you are. An entrenched reality. You are a captive to destructive acts to yourself and others.  You get rewired and reoriented.  Not a simple matter to deal with.  Capable of reasoning with the mind but the heart can’t escape and you descend into sin.

Assault > Interaction > Consent > Captivity (you become hostage to the logismoi); thus it becomes more and more difficult to resist > Passion / obsession / addiction  – you then participate in ongoing destructive acts … you give a key to your heart to Satan so he can get in and out without effort … Obsessive / Compulsive  – this clouds and darkens the nous.  Takes the grace of the Holy Spirt to recover who you are.  Obey His commandments.  This is spiritual warfare.

Note: When the nous is illuminated it means that it is receiving the energy of God which illumines it. Nous refers to our highest faculty… the “I” that perceives God.

Seven (7) Deadly Sins and their remedy:

More on this topic: Time marker 54:04 in this video: Orthodox Catechism: Part 11: Spiritual Life and Spiritual Warfare

12 Degrees of sins – St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain 

  1. Does good, but not in a good manner – mixture of the good with the bad. For example you practice Lent perfectly but only so you can show off.
  2. Idleness in regard of good… not engaged in  actively doing good
  3. Assault of evil because of our carelessness
  4. Coupling with the assault – this is where sin starts – we start playing with sinful thoughts
  5. The struggle which is no struggle
  6. Consent
  7. Sin of the mind
  8. The deed itself
  9. Habit of committing the sin often
  10. Addiction to it
  11. Despair and hopelessness
  12. Suicide – being conquered by despair

NIHILISM by Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | January 26, 2024

NIHILISM by Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose | The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age; Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose (1934 – 1982); St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood; Paperback, 123 pages; First printing: 1994

In this short, insightful book, Eugene Rose convincingly dispatches the philosophy of Nihilism to the existential trash bin by exposing its many contradictions, errors and self-imposed limitations.  This book helped me understand how Nihilism and its progeny have permeated today’s culture clouding the inner eye of the soul, thus blocking the “I” that perceives God from God’s energy and illumination.

Note: Since Eugene Rose was deceased in 1982, this book was obviously written close to the end the Soviet Union’s reign of terror (1922–1991) against the Russian people.  From my reading of this book, Rose was likely unaware the role Wall Street and the International Bankers played in the October Revolution, WW1, and WW2 as exposed by Antony C. Sutton, Carroll Quigley, James Perloff and many others.  What this means to me is that –like Communism and so many other ism’s– Nihilism may yet be another tool used to gain advantage over the sleeping masses.  Also, it is interesting to note the harmonic resonance between this book, and: Technocracy, Materialism, and Ted Kaczynski’s desperate warnings on the advance of technology.    

NIHILISM |The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age
Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose (1934 – 1982)
St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood
Paperback, 123 pages
First printing: 1994

CONTENTS

Editor’s Preface…

I. Introduction: The question of Truth

II. The Stages of the Nihilist Dialectic

  1. Liberalism
  2. Realism
  3. Vitalism
  4. The Nihilism of Destruction

III. The Theology and the Spirit of Nihilism

  1. Rebellion: The War against God
  2. The Worship of Nothingness

IV. The Nihilist Program

  1. The Destruction of the Old Order
  2. The Making of the “New Earth”
  3. The Fashioning of the “New Man”

V. “Beyond Nihilism”

Eugene’s Proposed Outline for The Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God
Appendix: The Philosophy of the Absurd
Index

Paperback: NIHILISM by Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose:  Saint Herman Press
Free PDF version: (Fr Seraphim Rose) Nihilism – The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age

Also of interest: Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future by Fr. Seraphim Rose

 

Thinking Orthodox

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | December 28, 2023

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

For me, ‘Thinking Orthodox’ was a page turner … answering questions I have about Orthodox Christianity and answering many questions I didn’t know I should be asking.  In short, this book represents a feast of new breakthroughs and understandings for me personally. Until recently, I thought the Christian world consisted of the Roman Catholics and their rebellious stepchildren, the Protestants.  I was unaware that Orthodoxy was and is the root of both: the Catholics spun off from their Orthodox foundations in 1054, later the Protestants separated from the Catholics in 1517.   The result of these departures –from the consistent and unbroken tradition of Orthodoxy– created thousands of Protestant denominations and a Church in Rome whose Pope claims universal jurisdiction.  In sum, Rome added to Orthodoxy’s unbroken tradition and Protestants subtracted from Orthodoxy in their earnest efforts to correct the many missteps of Rome after Rome’s break with Orthodoxy in 1054. Both the Protestants and the Roman Catholics, however, are left without the full context or the full gospel of their faith, and like me, most are unaware of what they are missing.

In ‘Thinking Orthodox‘, Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou introduced me to a new and useful word called the ‘phronema‘ (mindset or outlook).  She describes the Protestant and the Roman Catholic phronema and then shows how the Orthodox phronema differs.   I was left with a much clearer understanding of what it means to be Orthodox and the impact Western philosophy has had on both Rome and the Protestants.  In this regard, Protestants and Roman Catholics are more alike in their Western thought processes than Orthodox.

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

  • Author: Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou
  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
  • Publisher: Ancient Faith Publishing
  • by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou

What does it mean to “think Orthodox”? What are the unspoken and unexplored premises and presumptions underlying what Christians believe? Orthodox Christianity is based on preserving the mind of the early Church, its phronema. Dr. Jeannie Constantinou brings her more than forty years’ experience as a professor, Bible teacher, and speaker to bear in explaining what the Orthodox phronema is, how it can be acquired, and how that phronema is expressed in true Orthodox theology – as practiced by those who are properly qualified by both training and a deep relationship with Christ.

About the Author: Dr. Eugenia Constantinou hosts the popular podcast Search the Scriptures Live! on Ancient Faith Radio. She has been a professor and visiting lecturer on the Bible, patristic interpretation of Scripture, and early Christianity at Orthodox and non-Orthodox universities and schools of theology. She holds master’s degrees in theology from the University of San Diego, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and Harvard Divinity School; a juris doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law; and a Ph.D. from Université Laval in Quebec City in the history of biblical interpretation. She is married to Fr. Costas, a Greek Orthodox priest.

Bertrand Russell – Selected Quotes

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | June 15, 2023

BERTRAND RUSSELL Red Lion Square, London WC1. 1982 Sculptor Marcelle Quinton.

Bertrand Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970)

Selected quotes from 1953:

“Gradually, by selective breeding, the congenital differences between rulers and ruled will increase until they become almost different species. A revolt of the plebs would become as unthinkable as an organized insurrection of sheep against the practice of eating mutton.”

Bertrand Russell – The Impact of Science on Society  (January 1, 1953)

“Anaxagoras maintained that snow is black but no one believed him. The social psychologists of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will fay different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. Various results will soon be arrived at: First, that the influence of the home is obstructive; second, not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before age ten; third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective; fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate it is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark grey.”

Bertrand Russell – The Impact of Science on Society  (January 1, 1953)

 

Clash of Cultures: The Collective West (Woke-ism) vs. Russia… by Alexander Dugin

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Alexander Dugin

In his Valdai keynote speech on 27 October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin argued that:

“The direct threat to the political, economic and ideological monopoly of the West is that alternative social models may emerge in the world.”

Or even more starkly and definitively:

“I am convinced that true democracy in a multipolar world presupposes first of all the possibility for any people – I want to emphasise this – any society, any civilisation to choose its own way, its own socio-political system.”

If the United States and the European Union have this right, surely the Asian countries, the Islamic states, the Persian Gulf monarchies and the states of other continents also have it. Of course, our country, Russia, also has this right, and no one can ever impose on our people what kind of society we should build and on what principles.

Today, in Russia, it is only a matter of proposing an alternative social model to liberal democracy and building our own socio-political system. This very constructive step should be the next step in our strategy in the deployment of the acute civilisation war.

The foundation of this social model is necessarily the traditional values, which the President signed into law on 9 November 2022 (Decree No. 809). This is what such a model should be based on.

Here is a list of traditional values that are essentially national in nature today. These are the foundations of a sovereign ideology that is, in a way, obligatory for all Russian citizens.

Let us analyse this crucial code of the new operating system of Russian society in a little more detail. To quote Decree No. 809:

Traditional values include:

  1. life,
  2. dignity,
  3. human rights and freedom,
  4. patriotism, citizenship, service to the homeland and responsibility for its destiny,
  5. high moral ideals
  6. a strong family,
  7. constructive work,
  8. spiritual over material
  9. humanism,
  10. charity,
  11. justice,
  12. collectivism, mutual assistance and respect,
  13. historical memory and intergenerational continuity,
  14. unity of the peoples of Russia.

Continue reading: DECREE NO. 809: THE FOUNDATIONS OF A SOVEREIGN IDEOLOGY ARE LAID

Alexander Dugin

 

 

History of the Frankfurt School

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | September 04, 2022

The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory

Photograph taken in Heidelberg, April 1964, by Jeremy J. Shapiro at the Max Weber-Soziologentag. Horkheimer is front left, Adorno front right, and Habermas is in the background, right, running his hand through his hair. Siegfried Landshut is in the background left.

Removed from YouTube, reposted here on BitChute…

Note: Original removed from YouTube: History of the Frankfurt School Cultural Marxism [Full] – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRrPhXhNDX0

Collective Intelligence: Angels in Scientific Terms | with John Vervaeke

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John Vervaeke & Jonathan Pageau

Collective Intelligence: Angels in Scientific Terms | with John Vervaeke

Angels in Scientific Terms | pt.2 | with John Vervaeke

John Vervaeke, PhD: John Vervaeke is a lecturer at the University of Toronto.  Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream. Perception, Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.  YouTube Channel

Jonathan Pageau’s Web site: Pageau carves Eastern Orthodox | Jonathan Pageau Bio | YouTube Channel

Grammar

Quick note from ClearNFO: I liked their discussion about attention, relevance realization and connectedness; and resultant power – and how this has changed over time from the village context to the internet—thinking cell phones, Twitter, TickTok, etc. here.

Loved the Spinoza reference by John toward the end of part 1.  John provides a very clear logical cut and basis for additional discussion using this as a starting point (Time marker 1:04:40):  “I don’t think there is a consciousness for that collective intelligence and I don’t think there is an agency to it in the same way we understand the agency in living things…”

Not sure if this (the higher power –God—has agency and consciousness) will ever be sorted out using language  due to the limitation imposed by our ego-centric predicament and the limits of language, but I do appreciate the effort and have always supported philosophical inquiry and the disciplined mind led by logic that can result from this pursuit.

It is important undergirding all philosophical inquiries like this, is the nature of the continuous and interconnected world which may not yield all its secrets by way or our discrete pieces (words) that we then string together with perhaps unrealistic expectations.

Related information from ClearNFO

On Religion

Opus 014: The Hoax of Materialism

Contact: ClearNFO on MeWe, Gab, VK, BitChute; or via email at ClearNFO@gmail.com

APPEAL FOR AN ANTI-GLOBALIST ALLIANCE (ARCHBISHOP VIGANO)

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | November 19, 2021

I’m no Catholic, but Archbishop Vigano hits the nail squarely on the head with this speech.  Nice to see not everyone in the Catholic hierarchy is going along with the current head of the church.  The danger is real; it is now, and growing despite worldwide protests.  It’s hard to organize effective resistance when anyone who speaks too much truth is deplatformed, censored or worse.  Organs of the state have been weaponized against their own citizens.  We are witnessing the merger of state and corporations with the resultant evaporation of individual rights designed to advance a global agenda few understand.  God help humanity if this can’t be stopped.

ARCHBISHOP VIGANO APPEALS TO PEOPLE OF FAITH TO UNITE AGAINST THE DARK FORCES OF GLOBALISM (video)

ARCHBISHOP VIGANO

“The whole pandemic issue is instrumental to the Great Reset, and it is the latter that we must fight. I think that, at this moment, it is most appropriate to create a movement of the people that calls together, in an Anti-globalist Alliance, Catholics, Christians, and people of goodwill. This is the first appeal I make to that effect.”

Full text of Archbishop Vigano’s speech (pdf) : 540484236-Appeal-Anti-Globalist-Alliance