Provocative Ideas Gently Rendered

Born in London in 1933, John Michell published more than 30 works of non-fiction. He also wrote articles for various publications. Recently, a copy of
The John Michell Reader: Writings and Rants of a Radical Traditionalist came into my possession via a donation to the floating book shop. It’s a collection of articles amassed by Joscelyn Godwin, a successful male Brit author. The pieces in the Reader impart Michell’s world view. He deplores modernism and atheism, and thinks capitalism and socialism are disasters. He favors the life of pre-industrial revolution when government was largely regional, local. He claims people were happier then. He argues this in the first 24 pieces. I believe that part could have been cut by a third without hurting the book. Fortunately, each article is only two or so pages and so well-written that I finished those 70+ pages rather quickly. After that the book became more interesting and diverse, and I’m glad I stayed with it. Michell has studied the issues he broaches much more intensely than I, so I’m reluctant to argue against his views, which are often contrary to mine. I believe in capitalism and love a lot of modern music and TV. He is soft on Islamic terrorism. Still, I found his ideas interesting. He is not malicious, always arguing like a proper English gentleman. Here are excerpts:
“… it is futile to regret the inevitable victory of Eternity over Modernism, of the witch doctor over the man with the stethoscope, the snake charmer over the savant, the charismatic over the country vicar. It is all prophesied and now it can be seen actually happening, the Beast ascending from the abyss for his allotted period or reign.”
“… the Welsh language appears to have been the common means of communication between the colonists and the natives.” He is speaking of indians in West Virginia.
“… things are far better taken care of than we can possibly imagine. So there really is nothing to stop anyone being happy.”
“… A Quietist gives up all hopes, fears, and ambitions, expects no special favours from heaven and gratefully accepts whatever God or fate has in store for him…” This pretty much describes me at present.
“… One day there will be an almighty crash, compared to which the Fall of Babylon in Revelation was but a splash in the ocean. Death and destruction will be widespread…”
“… our descendants will inherit a natural paradise. Then they will make the mistake of settling down, and the cycle will start again…”
“… look at the script for yourself, and you can then see that the prophets and terrorists are written into it. They are sent by God the scriptwriter to keep the plot moving, to put down the mighty, scourge the usurers, achieve martyrdom, and save humanity…”
“… the thing that needs saving is the white man’s soul. So he should pipe down, keep his business to himself, and cultivate his own salvation in the lands that the gods have allotted for his portion of paradise.”
“… any drug can be put to good use, for exploring different ways of seeing things and enlarging one’s picture of reality to accommodate them. Any drug used merely for sensual pleasure is more or less deadly…”
I believe the following sums up his view of love: The subliminal desire to return to the paradise the soul knew before birth. It’s the most unique definition I’ve ever heard. The 306 pages read like a lot less, given the superiority of the prose and the many breaks between pieces and sections. To my surprise, no one has rated it at Amazon. On a scale of five, I say four. Michell, who passed away in 2009 at 76, also believed there was a geometry, order to the universe. Here is one of his drawings:

There are interesting stats in today’s NY Post: At 21 Kylie Jenner has become the youngest self-made billionaire ever, due mostly to her cosmetics line. She replaces Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who was 23 when he crossed that threshold. Given her family name, I would argue that she isn’t self-made, but the accomplishment is still awesome… Last month a record 79,000 migrants crossed the southern border illegally. They’ve been coached on the legal loopholes that make it very difficult to oust them. Does this now qualify as a crisis?… In 2017 a record 101,845 Americans lost their lives to alcohol and drug-induced deaths. Does that qualify as a crisis?

My thanks to the four kind folks who bought eleven books between them, all non-fiction. There was just enough sunshine to make conditions tolerable. I managed to put a bit more than two hours into the endeavor, most of the time standing with my back to the wall of the Chase bank.

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