A Xmas "prophecy" that came true!

[onager]

Time: Judea, 00:59 A.D.
Place: The palace of King Herod

Herod has been warned about the birth of Jesus, and is planning the massacre of the innocents.

Herod doesn't really want to whack all the male rug-rats in the vicinity. He's basically a Good Liberal, and has managed to steadily improve life in Judea.

But he gathers his advisors and predicts what will happen if the Christ child lives:

"One doesn't have to be a prophet to predict the consequences...

Reason will be replaced by Revelation. Instead of rational law, objective truths perceptible to any who will undergo the necessary intellectual discipline, knowledge will degenerate into a riot of subjective visions--feelings in the solar plexus induced by undernourishment, angelic images generated by fever or drugs, dream warnings inspired by the sound of falling water...

Idealism will be replaced by Materialism. Life after death will be an eternal dinner party where all the guests are 20 years old...

Diverted from its natural outlet in patriotism and civic or family pride, the need of the masses for some visible Idol to worship will be driven into totally unsociable channels where no education can reach it.

Divine honours will be paid to shallow depressions in the earth, domestic pets, ruined windmills, or malignant tumours.

Justice will be replaced by Pity as the cardinal human virtue, and all fear of retribution will vanish.

Every corner-boy will congratulate himself: 'I'm such a sinner that God has come down in person to save me.' Every crook will argue: 'I like committing crimes. God likes forgiving them. Really, the world is admirably arranged!"

The New Aristocracy will consist entirely of hermits, bums and permanent invalids.

The Rough Diamond, the Consumptive Whore, the bandit who is good to his mother, the epileptic girl who has a way with animals will be the heros and heroines of the New Tragedy, when the general, the statesman and the philosopher have become the butt of every satire and farce."

From For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio by W.H. Auden. Auden wrote his 50-page prose poem in 1941, and I occasionally see Web-Xians quoting approvingly from its last part about the meaning of Xmas.

I NEVER see them quoting the part above. Wonder why? :eyes: I always thought it was a near-perfect description of most TV programming, especially Oprah and her ilk.

BTW, it is very unlikely the Xians quoting Auden would have enjoyed visiting him. Auden was one of the first militantly "out" gays, at a time when homosexuality was still a criminal offense in the U.K. In London he hung out with a gang of artists and writers who tended to be atheist, pacifist, Communist, gay and/or usually drunk.

His New York apartment wasn't any more Xian-friendly. Frequent visitors included Salvador Dali and the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, along with Auden's lover Chester Kallman.

[rug]

1. He lived in a walkup on St. Mark's Place just off 1st ave.

In high school we were reading his poems and in passing learned he lived not far away. So I went down there to take a look at his house. I saw his name on the mailbox. It was handwritten.

This is one of my favorite poems.

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

In the scheme of things, I don't think he cared about Christmas much either way.