Finally, a temperate climate is of no little value for political life. As Aristotle says in his Politics [VII, 7: 1327b 23-32]: “Peoples that dwell in cold countries are full of spirit but have little intelligence and little skill. Consequently they maintain their liberty better but have no political life and (through lack of prudence) show no capacity for governing others. Those who live in hot regions are keen-witted and skilful in the things of the mind but possess little spirit, and so are in continuous subjection and servitude. But those who live between these extremes of climate are both spirited and intelligent; hence they are continuously free, their political life is very much developed, and they are capable of ruling others.” Therefore, a temperate region should be chosen for the foundation of a city or a kingdom.
- St Thomas Aquinas De Regno 127
I chose the quote to begin today’s post deliberately, to make a point. Both Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas thought that the geographic location was the primary consideration for the founding of a Polis. While I agree that it is important, their prior assumptions are no longer in play.
The former, a pagan, believed that all worship to gods devoted to the same area (war, fertility, weather, harvest, etc) were the same. No matter what name you gave them, or culture you came from, they were the same gods. A rose is a rose, no matter the name or language you use.
The latter was operating in the heart of Christendom, and De Regno was written specifically for a Catholic king, on Kingship and polities. He could assume that anyone reading it was Catholic, anyone founding the polity he was describing it would be so, and likely so would the surrounding area.
Thus, each author had prior assumptions of cultural and religious unity on founding a new Polity that they could rely on. They did not have to write upon it, mention it, or discuss it.
You will find it absolutely lacking in any of their writing, so great is their assumption upon it.
Thus, I will boldly state that the one thing that one absolutely must do is what Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas NEVER WROTE ABOUT, BECAUSE it is so basic. One must find and organize the Polity around a religious center of worship, and adhere to it with all one’s heart, mind, body, and soul.
I will claim that one should, ideally, be within walking distance of such. That your children can walk to it and meet with other children when appropriate ages. That daily worship can occur. Daily community events naturally will build around such a place - men’s group meetings, book clubs, play dates for mothers and children, and more.
It will be a place where you can begin seeking
’s Re-enchantment of the World.It will be the lodestone around which businesses are built. Pubs to gather and discuss what is to be done and what have we gotten done? as
has asked.It will bind the people morally and spiritually. It will erect the walls within those realms, the most important battleground upon which we fight. A priest does this not only to keep the enemy out, but to keep the flock in. If you think that you and your youth do not need keeping, you are sorely mistaken.
For, as life happens, so do arguments and disagreements. It is all too easy for a nascent Polis to be aborted by those that are starting it over the daily struggles of life. He said / she said matters. A little too much drink, a loose tongue, a frustrating day at work, etc.
The Heart of the Community, the Common Worship of God, will bind you and help heal those wounds. It will help move past them all, and give a neutral mediator to the conflicts that all can agree upon to help seek justice if needed, without involving a State government that wishes nothing but Malice.
As a Traditional Catholic, it can be easy to research and find these sanctuaries. To my knowledge, the Eastern Orthodox can as well. And, these priests are bound by sacred oaths for life to uphold the tradition. I cannot speak as to how well other faiths would do in such beyond my upbringing as an Evangelical, where it seemed… mixed, at best, from the eyes of a child, as a lodestone and grounding as a community.
As Catholics, we are also able to see the spiritual battle that takes place around us. To know that the world never lost that enchantment, but simply we became blind to it. That there are guardian angels over every soul; angels guarding the governments, market places, and in charge of not just every material form, but laws of physics, the stars, bodies in the heavens - to put it briefly - the whole of existence.
And demons attacking those as well. And, at this point in history, winning in several areas.
Against such views, any enemy, be they the cartels in Mexico, Russian gangs, Muslim extremists or those trying to convert us….
Or simply a corrupt, governing Polis in DC that is dragging the USSA Empire down in flames…
They hold no sway.
For, you see…
In the long march of History,
We’re making a longer march towards Heaven,
And, when you make this patch of dirt my home, a part of that march,
You’re standing up and saying,
“I will stand here, God on my side, come what may, unto death.”
And that, my dear readers, is what Christendom was built upon.
Now the brave person is unperturbed, as far as a human being can be. Hence, though he will fear even the sorts of things that are not irresistible, he will stand firm against them, in the right way, as prescribed by reason, for the sake of what is fine, since this is the end aimed at by virtue.
- Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics Book III Chapter 7