Get Thee To a Nunnery II

There are times when, for the sake of your own preservation, you have to turn away from the world.

Suicide Is Never Painless

There have been many times when I have wished that the world would stop. I wanted to put a spoke in the wheels of time. I wanted it to come screeching to a halt so that I could get off in a dignified manner, a pale, girlish foot stepping into the blackest of space. Becoming a part of it, dissolving into it, never to be seen again.

The question was: how would I get to this point? The Catholic faith does not look terribly kindly upon those who choose to commit suicide. Look to the reaction engendered by Ophelia’s death in Hamlet. It is a mortal sin with no possibility of redemption. It is self murder and once done can never be undone. You have relinquished your immortal soul.

It occurred to be that I could entice one of the more unpleasant members of my species to push me over the edge. The problem with this strategy is that it involves enticing another into committing a mortal sin. (only this time with at least some possibility of redemption.) Also having initiated the process I would be acting with suicidal intent. So, ultimately, that’s two immortal souls lost. And I cannot escape from the idea that, given that I did not create myself, I have no right to destroy myself.

Above all, I recognise that I will be remembered as a silly, spoilt, selfish girl who squandered every opportunity she had ever been given.

And this is why, for the moment at least, I want the world to keep on turning.

What Should I Do? (Reblog)

Somewhere across the Big Pond they often advise trial lawyers to avoid asking questions of witnesses on the stand unless they are sure of the answer.  A Texan gentleman by the rather peculiar name of Alphonsus Jr. might consider applying such advice to other areas of his life, such as his interactions with complete strangers on the internet.

http://www.libertylawsite.org/2013/02/11/fat-wars-why-not-personal-responsibility

Alphonsus Jr.

MAR 07, 2013 @ 20:52:02
Your links don’t work.

Incidentally, you appear to be on a crusade against Theodore Dalrymple. I keep seeing you in com boxes speaking against him. Kindly explain.

Incidentally, have you ever hired a surgical hitman to commit surgical infanticide?

If ‘Alphonsus Jr.’ had conducted some research before he asked this rather unpleasant, ungentlemanly question he may have stumbled across my Catholic origins.  I certainly stumbled across his.  Just a word of advice ‘Junior’, abortion is a mortal sin, having oneself tattooed isn’t.

I asked my wise old 95 year old neighbour (ex RAF, paramedic, college porter) Nobby Clarke what I should do.

‘Nobby, some American accused me of committing a mortal sin.  What should I do?”

‘And did you commit this mortal sin?’

‘Why, of course not.’

Brief silence.  And then Nobby said ‘Nothing.’

That man is a genius.  Although you’ll note that I did not follow his advice.

http://dalrymplewatch.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/what-should-i-do/

Apparently my charming interlocutor has a few identities on da web, including:

Jackson K. Esquire:

MIsery Me Memoir/Horror/One Cool Way of Getting Out of Paying a Monster Mortgage Recommendation:

This…

is the kind of school I went to:

England and Wales
In England and Wales, Catholic schools are either independent or voluntary aided, with the funding divided between the state and the Catholic Education Service. The service provides education for approximately 840,000 pupils each year through its 2,300 schools. In addition, some 130 independent schools have a Catholic character.[8][9] The Catholic Education Service in their website indicates that they interact on behalf of all bishops with the government, and other national bodies on legal, administrative, and religious education matters. This as their website indicates is to: “promote Catholic interests in education; safeguard Catholic interests in education; and, contribute to Christian perspectives within educational debate at national level.”[10] There have been considerable changes to the way the money has been collected to the support of Catholic schools. The money towards the Catholic community in regards to building and supporting schools has risen from 50% to 90% in both England and Wales. In 2009, Catholic schools in England comprised two-thirds of all religious secondary schools.[11]

Oh, and FYI, I had a reading quotient of 150 at the age of ten.

So suck that up, buttercup!

In Brief II

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO, DL (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), in response to the introduction of the doctrine of papal infallibility.

The Worst Possible Outcome?

So my mother now officially has a schizophrenic daughter.  Some view this diagnosis as a death sentence : ie, your life is a living death until you succumb to your own despair and end it all. I am not that brave and my inner Catholic does not wish to relinquish her immortal soul.  Besides there is no way to commit suicide without causing grievous harm to those around me.  And my inner Catholic claims that I am here for a purpose.  ‘You may feel as though you don’t belong but the fact is that you are here and however you got here you must make the most of it.’. My inner Catholic is a sensible old soul.  She, unlike many nuns, wears the full regalia: habit and veil, her hair is never uncovered in public.  I guess its easy to follow the rules to the letter if you are an imaginary nun existing in someone else’s head and don’t have to bother with practicalities like the weather. Even making a vow of poverty is easy for her because she is imaginary and thus does not need to eat. 

Remember this: The darkest night always surrenders to the Dawn.

Are all mentalists also untermenschen?

Nuns

Catholic nuns take a vow of poverty.  The nuns who taught me in primary school were no exception.  It is a semblance of poverty if we are honest; they did not face starvation and there was always plenty for them to eat.  However, it gave them an air of detachment from the material world.  They were located firmly in the realm of the spiritual.  You could present them with the most precious diamond in the world and they would remain unmoved.  Money was not their driving force and I envy them that.  They are as close to God as one can get.  They are replete, complete, self-sufficient.  The slender threads that pass through the eye of the needle.

On the Strange Case of Jade Goody

‘No one had thought, until Jade Goody came along, of making a star out of someone who was neither particularly good-looking nor remotely distinguished in any field.’ You’re wrong, Mr. Glover, the Catholic Church have been making the ordinary extraordinary for centuries. How many otherwise ordinary peasant girls have been canonised by the Church because they claimed they heard the voice of the Virgin Mary?

Addendum: Off to write a pretentious tome entitled Celebrity Worship in a Godless Age.