Ideas

A perennialist like me tends to swerve from the oncoming flow of traffic, insistent upon the import of ‘now,’ and focuses instead on lessons taught over and over through history. Developing the muscles of character by adhering to a workout informed by the past strengthens a person to meet ‘now’ with ‘was.’

What can we learn from great thinkers of the past?

Who influenced them?

Where did their thoughtful insights originate?

When were the ideas appropriated?

How did these ideas benefit these minds for the public good?

Why do we not focus on the perpetual Truths in ways that can fashion our current culture?

I am after those perpetual ideas since they are ever with us throughout the ages; so, Ageless, in their application. Can we not see the longevity of loyalty versus popular fads? What is it about trust that we push it aside for human idols? Why can we not hold on to nobility, instead, opting for the spirit of revenge? How is it that the friendship deepened over years is thrown over for the next new face, a potential prop for our projects? Where is sacrificial love despite the constant lure of ‘I need to get mine before they do’? Ideas of lasting Permanence are the stuff of legend, heroic exploits, lived by great people in terrible times, held up for example, not because they are new but because they are, of Old.

Permanent things necessitate temporal things are not so important. Dr. Mark Eckel is president of The Comenius Institute. He has been teaching and writing over 40 years.

 

What do all dictators have in common?

Watch our Truth in Two and find out (2 min vid + text).

Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Kathy McIntosh, Snappy Goat

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My friend, Terry McIntosh is a very well-read historian. When he and I talk, there is always a stack of a dozen different history books next to him that he is reading all at once. One of our consistent discussion points is the problem of authoritarianism in its various forms. One day he explained what happens to extremist groups which seem to be on opposite sides of a controversy. “Take any glass.” Terry began, “Place your index fingers on either side of the glass, showing opposite positions.” I was intrigued, Terry continued, “It doesn’t matter if we are talking about fascism or communism, far-right or far-left politics. Your group may be on the opposite side of the glass, but as your group becomes more extreme, whether to the right or left, eventually your fingers meet at the same place.” Terry concluded with a simple statement, “As all perspectives become more extreme, they lead to the same place, authoritarianism.”

You see, authoritarian leaders want control. Influencing media, manipulating government agencies, or establishing laws designed to limit opposing views are ways authoritarian leaders’ rule. There is an easy four-step test to see if some leader wants control.

(1) The leader is always telling you how bad another group is.

(2) The so-called “bad” group is always marked by negative terms like “far-right,” “conspiracy theorists,” or “controversial.”

(3) The “bad” person or group is always telling “lies” or promoting “misinformation.”

(4) Finally, the authoritarian leader tells you more restrictions are needed to stop the opposing viewpoint.

All authoritarian, totalitarian leaders end up in the same place: limiting information, restricting freedoms, jailing enemies, and covering their own wrongdoing. From a Hebraic-Christian perspective, it is sin that produces extremes, and everyone, every group, is susceptible, no matter what side of the glass you’re on. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.

Why I think perennialism

is the best way to live life.

Watch our Truth in Two to find out why (2 min vid + text).

Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Angel.com

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Perennials are flowers that grow back every year. Once planted, the flowers can continue to bloom from one spring to another. The word “perennial” signifies what the flower does, coming back each year. In history the word perennial means “evergreen, continual, or lasting.” I have taken the definition upon myself to identify who I am as a Hebraic-Christian thinker. I am a perennialist, a person who believes in universal truths which are true throughout time, applicable across cultures.

As a Christian perennialist, I believe that universal truth originates from The Originator of the universe, who is Jesus, according to Colossians 1.15-20. If Jesus is the origin of all truth, then His Truth exists for all time in all places. Truth properly applied can benefit all people everywhere. As a perennialist, I do believe that Heaven’s Truth can and should be applied; concepts such as justice, freedom, conservation, care for others, and creation of wealth are for the betterment of all.

Let me be clear: I am *not* suggesting that humans always employ Heaven’s Truth correctly on earth. Words like “justice” or “freedom” can be abused by everyone since we are all inherently corrupt; this is the reason why Jesus had to die for the sin of the world. Now, some of my friends would call me a “conservative.” In the sense that I want to conserve the great ideas and ideals handed down to me, they are right. I would, however, rather call myself a “preservatist,” someone who preserves the great ideas and ideals for future generations. Indeed, The Comenius Institute itself, captures the great, universal ideas of John Amos Comenius applying them forward, into the 21^st century. Just like the flower, I believe in the everlasting, perennial nature of Truth as it adds beauty to the world. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking perennial truth, wherever it’s found.

 

If we believe in “social justice,”

we should answer two questions first.

Find out why by watching our Truth in Two (full text below).

Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Wikipedia

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“Social justice” is a phrase that individuals and institutions throw around without definition. But students in my classes can’t get away with such a lazy approach. If a student writes a paper using the phrase “social justice” I will always, somewhere in my comments ask two questions,

“What is your ‘social’?” and “What is your standard for ‘justice’?”

Here is an example. A student wrote a declarative comment in his paper saying,

“If there is no justice, there will be no peace.”

He meant that if there was no justice for his social group, his group would not allow anyone to live in peace. It’s a nice sentiment and certainly sincere. But do you see the problem? He did not define any of his terms. So, I asked him,

“If your social group can demand ‘justice’ can the group that opposes your group demand justice too?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer so I continued,

“Upon what basis will you demand justice? Where does that justice come from? What standard gives you the authority to say something is unjust?”

It was obvious the student had not considered the questions. So, I began at the end of his concern saying,

“You think everyone wants ‘peace’ from what you said, is that right?”

He shook his head up and down. “Good!” I continued, “So do I!” He smiled. “So,” I said, “Let’s see if we can find how we get to ‘peace’ by exploring the answer to those questions,

“What is your ‘social’?” and “What is your standard for ‘justice’?”

I went back to the teaching we had done in class on the need for ethical standards to come from somewhere outside ourselves. When the paper was revised, the young man had done diligent work to express why his social group was important and that justice must be based on a standard of right, originating from outside ourselves. It is a lesson for us all: be careful to define our terms.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally committed to the idea that our desire for justice, springs from the righteous standards, set by God.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Instead of digging a deep hole

it might be easier just to fall in.

What do I mean? Find out by watching our Truth in Two (full text below).

Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat

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Often, I find myself backing-in to big ideas or big idea people. Here’s an example. I loved the Jesse Stone movies when they first came out and began to ask, “I wonder where those stories originated?” That bit of a quest led me to Robert B. Parker, author of over 50 novels. I dug a little deeper and discovered that Parker earned a PhD in literature. Still further I found that Parker’s PhD dissertation was based on pot-boiler crime writers like Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep, a Chandler creation, became one of the great film-noir movies of all-time, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. “That’s so cool!” I thought, “A PhD student chased down the authors of pot-boiler crime novels, and then went on to write them himself!”

I could go further down that rabbit hole, but I’ll stop there. Do you see my point? I backed-in to knowledge. I backed-in to someone’s PhD work. I didn’t begin where most academics begin, focused on a problem, then digging a deep hole of research to find an answer. No, Mark, not paying attention, falls in the deep hole and wonders how he got there. But since I’m in the deep hole of unknowing I begin to think, “Oh! That’s interesting!” And I start to explore.

That’s what I mean by “backing-in.” Sure, I’ve earned a bunch of degrees doing research necessary for that field. But honestly, the work I do often begins with the thought, “Oh! That’s cool!” rather than “There is a problem. I’m going to find a solution.”

Maybe you’re like me. You watch some movie and think, “I wonder where that came from?” And you’re off. You pursue your interests. Your interests become your passions. Your passions cause you to enjoy life’s delights. And at the end of the day, you realize you just backed-in to knowledge.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.

I am constantly learning what people are most interested in. When I write or speak, I do so out of an internal compulsion, a movement of The Spirit. Apart from teaching series, I communicate about what I see around me. It may be God’s embedded wisdom in creation about business ethics or Scriptural principles about a topic (like the use of our time) or a passionate belief (pro-life is sacrosanct to me) or a different take on an accepted cultural viewpoint (there are ‘secular’ theocracies, for instance) or it could be a person, book, or idea of interest (Maverick, a biography of Thomas Sowell).

In 2022 (*see below) these are the top five posts, out of a total of about 50,000 views over 365 days, across multiple platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WarpandWoof.org and MarkEckel.com) that garnered the most attention from our readers, listeners and viewers.

1. “Getting Knocked Down” – People want to hear about your failures. They want to know if you are just like them.

2. “Calamity I” – You comfort no one when you do these five things.

3. “Fragmented” – How does it feel to live with paranoid schizophrenia? Our son Tyler explains.

4. “10 Questions to Ask Another Point of View” – Do you get mad and yell? Or do you ask questions? Find out how to counter another point of view.

5. “Make No Mistake” – This is nothing new. It is a renewal. The ten beliefs that have not changed, even after the death of our son.

And don’t forget to sign up on the pop up as the site opens to receive (free of charge!) my Friday emails sent to your inbox. I include thoughts, ideas, websites, and links that may encourage and benefit you!

Thanks for your viewership! Mark

*You can read a tribute to our son Tyler Micah who died on June 16th of this years and number of poems I have written under “Musings.” In fact, nine Truth in Two’s from September through early November were dedicated to Tyler. You can find them on YouTube. I left out the most read pieces across multiple platforms that honored Tyler – by far the most read and watched posts and videos of 2022.

Picture credit: SnappyGoat.com