"Bach tells us what it's like to be the universe, Mozart tells us what it's like to be human, and Beethoven tells us what it's like… to be Beethoven."
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Sunday, February 01, 2026
About “being on the right side of History”
About "being on the right side of History"
St. Augustine would be very wary of the modern slogan "be on the right side of history."
While he certainly believes that history is under divine providence, he sharply rejects the idea that any earthly political movement can confidently identify itself with history's final moral verdict.
His mature view—especially in De civitate Dei (The City of God)—cuts in a quite different direction from Hegelian or progressive readings.
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1. Providence, yes — but not worldly inevitability
Augustine holds that:
• God governs history.
• Events unfold according to providence.
• History has an ultimate end in the Last Judgment, not in political or social progress.
But for Augustine:
• humans do not have transparent access to God's plan,
• and no empire, party, or reform movement can claim to embody history's destination.
So he would resist the idea that one can now declare:
"we are the side that history will vindicate."
That sounds, to him, like presumption.
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2. Two cities, intermingled in time
In City of God (Books XI–XVIII especially), Augustine distinguishes:
• the City of God (defined by love of God to the contempt of self),
• the earthly city (defined by love of self to the contempt of God).
These two "cities" are mixed together throughout history; you cannot simply map them onto particular states, factions, or eras.
That makes any easy appeal to "history's right side" suspect: history is not a straightforward moral sorting machine before the end.
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3. Against triumphalist progress narratives
Augustine wrote partly to rebut Roman claims that Christianity had disrupted the Empire's destiny. He dismantles the pagan idea that Rome's history revealed divine favor and also avoids Christian versions of imperial triumphalism.
For him:
• empires rise and fall for complex reasons,
• worldly success is not a reliable sign of righteousness,
• suffering does not mean being on the "wrong side."
This undermines the assumption that historical outcomes themselves certify moral correctness.
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4. Where Augustine does locate judgment
Augustine would relocate the moral tribunal:
• not to future generations,
• not to the arc of social development,
• but to God's final judgment.
Human history can show patterns and lessons, but its ultimate meaning is eschatological, not progressive.
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📌 In brief
If Augustine heard someone say "we're on the right side of history," he would likely respond:
• ✔️ History is governed by God.
• ❌ But you cannot equate any present cause with history's final verdict.
• ❌ Do not infer righteousness from success or inevitability.
• ⚖️ Live justly now, in humility, leaving ultimate judgment to God.
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Sunday, January 25, 2026
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Two methods for learning Latin
Two methods for learning Latin
- Intensive, iterative approach, with lots of repetition and exercises
- Comprehensible input. Learning from extensive pleasure reading
ラテン語を学ぶための二つの方法
1️⃣ 集中的・反復的アプローチ
多くの繰り返しと練習問題を通して学ぶ方法。
2️⃣ 理解可能なインプット（Comprehensible Input）
楽しく大量に読む「多読」によって自然に学ぶ方法。
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Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Ecco una traduzione in giapponese, pensata per mantenere il tono poetico…
Ecco una traduzione in giapponese, pensata per mantenere il tono poetico-orante di Mario Luzi, evitando sia un registro troppo tecnico sia uno eccessivamente colloquiale.
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**存在よ、
私の内に、しかもこの私の内に在ってくださることを感謝します。
どこにでも在り、しかもご自身の内にとどまりながら、
永遠にご自身を流れ広がらせておられる方よ。
私はあなたの力が力として働くのを感じます。
広大なものの中に、深奥の中に、
また狭く裂けた亀裂の中にまで震え動いているのを。
無はあなたを取り囲みますが、決して飲み込むことはできません。
私がそこから排除されていないことを感謝します。
それはあなたの欠落によるのでもなく、
私自身の無に等しい小ささによるのでもありません。
アーメン。**
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注（簡潔に）
• Essere → 存在よ
→ 神名を避けるルツィの哲学的・詩的選択を保持。
• vigore vigere → 力が力として働く
→ 日本語では重複を意味で再現。
• angusto cretto → 狭く裂けた亀裂
→ 「裂け目・ひび」の実存的ニュアンスを重視。
• nullità → 無に等しい小ささ
→ 単なる「無」ではなく、被造物的無力さを示唆。
ご希望でしたら、
• 典礼的日本語（祈り用）
• より哲学的な訳
• 朗読に適したリズム重視版
のいずれかにも書き換えます。
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Inedito
Essere, grazie che sei in me, anche in me, tu che sei dovunque e in te stesso perpetuamente ti diffondi. Sento il tuo vigore vigere nell'ampio e nel profondo vibrare nell'angusto cretto il niente ti assedia e non ti travolge. Grazie che non ne sono escluso né per omissione tua né per mia nullità. Amen.
Article Name:L'inedito
Publication:Corriere della Sera
Author:di Mario Luzi
(dal Fondo Mario Luzi dell'archivio Bonsanti)
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Article Name:L'inedito
Publication:Corriere della Sera
Author:di Mario Luzi
(dal Fondo Mario Luzi dell'archivio Bonsanti)
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Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Sunday, January 11, 2026
Thursday, January 08, 2026
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