Write a (Quality) Symphony Already!

We have such a dangerous posture these days, where the mainstream reflex is to expect politics to provide some kind of salvation. We see evil, and we want to pass a law. We don’t want to face the evil we see as a necessity, so we drown ourselves in manipulative rhetoric that keeps us from rising to the challenges of our time. And so while I would never endorse rejecting politics, I do like that Tim Stanley here is encouraging something beautiful here — creating beautiful things:

I’ve reached the conclusion that traditionalists should reject politics and focus on art. We should take back control of the cultural institutions – universities, academies, churches, periodicals – and use them to promote beauty. We should try to live charitably, fully and well – to be examples and trend setters. We mustn’t turn our backs on the people we disagree with, but embrace and cherish them (please, do not conflate traditionalism with snobbery – Yukio wrote, “The highest point at which human life and art meet is in the ordinary. To look down on the ordinary is to despise what you can’t have.”) And we should not accept our fate as mere critics of civilisation … but instead become the architects of a new one. For we traditionalists don’t contribute nearly enough to our society. Helping to improve it could mean anything from blogging to writing a symphony. My favourite way to keep the flame burning is to attend the Old Rite Catholic Mass. There is the real synergy of art and action: an ancient ritual, unchanged, unchanging that represents a communion with the past. And, of course, to God.

Let Him put your talents to His use! Create something beautiful, in union with the Creator. It could make our lives better. And even our politics!