"Oscars": The Real Winners

More Merton Quotes
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/merton-best-imposed-as-norm-becomes.html

Pope Francis Recommends Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/pope-francis-recommends-abraham-lincoln.html

Dear Chuck,

Thanks again for sending the New York Times Merton link. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/theater/the-mystic-the-monk-and-the-play-brought-to-you-by-powerball.html?referer=

As you probably know, Merton's comment on the paradoxical relationship between "perfection" and "evil" is on my short-list of favorite quotes. It is, I think, the most apt diagnosis of America's essential rot.

"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice.  The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization.  We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal.  Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good.  The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”  

"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On "Too Pure Principles" And The Collapse Of Conservatism

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-on-too.html

As often happens I was dazzled by the cerebral arabesques in your a.m. text: 

"Wish the Academy Awards had more creative awards like Worst Idea That Worked Surprisingly Well, Terrible Casting That Turned Out Alright, Best Phoned In Performance, Most Fun Actor to Work With, If You Make Another Movie Like This You Will Be Shunned (there could be a whole category of "You've Been Warned" awards, and "About Damn Time" or "What Were We Thinking" awards, like The Christopher Nolan Every Movie You Made Was The Best Film That Year So Sorry award... And (they) should re-name the lifetime achievement award the Please Forgive Us We Are Clueless Dicks You've Always Been Awesome We Were Just So Busy award."

I agree wholeheartedly that we need whole new Oscar categories.

If you haven't read my proposal for "Most Prophetic Film," I think you'll enjoy it - or at least bits.

How About An Oscar For "Most Prophetic Film"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-about-oscar-for-most-prophetic-film.html

It would be fun to co-create an "Alternative Oscars" website.

Seriously.

Let's talk.

Pax tecum

Alan

On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 8:04 PM, CH wrote:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/theater/the-mystic-the-monk-and-the-play-brought-to-you-by-powerball.html?referer=