Fear of the New Year!

Seasonal  sadness has been covered in a few articles; there is a post about depression at Christmas and one about depression at the Autumn Equinox for example.

Now it is time to say something about the malaise that comes upon some people at the time of the New Year. 

Ogden Nash's little poem about the New Year, Good Riddance, But Now What?, suggests that while it is good to see the back of the old year, what is coming may be even worse.

Another of his pessimistic New Year poems asserts that the night of December 31st is by far the worst night of the year.

Although Ogden Nash's poems make the impending New Year seem rather sinister, the humour takes the edge off his proposition that New Year's Eve is not a good time.

There is nothing remotely amusing about the following extract from Stella Gibbons's novel Starlight. It is Christmas Eve and someone isn't very happy:

“Peggy stood in silence, struggling with such a feeling of boredom and despair as seldom assailed even her. She could walk out of here to-morrow morning; nothing need stop her.

What was she doing in this hot room, with these fools, living their half-life?

Oh it was something to do – it passed the time – it made a break. The language of boredom and despair. “

Her employer's son notices her distress and asks her what's wrong:

“... just the feeling there’s another year nearly gone,’ she answered, paling.”

He replies:

“Here, here – you save that up for New Year’s Eve – that’s the time that really gets into its stride.”

People have such terrible feelings on New Year's Eve for many reasons. Some are afraid of what might happen; others are afraid that nothing will happen and the coming year will just be more of the – unsatisfactory – same. They may feel that time is running out.

I have learned recently that there is even a word for this fear of the New Year: neoannophobia! 

Starlight is not a good novel to read at this time of year:

Defence Against the Dark Arts XXXII: Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers at Christmas

A few books with a Christmas theme have inspired posts in the past. 

I wanted to produce something similar for this year; I remembered that the seventh book in Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers series is called The Greek Who Stole Christmas so I decided to renew my acquaintance with these very amusing little stories. 

I found enough suitable material for another seasonal article.

Christmas for the Diamond Brothers 
Christmas is not a good time of year for Nick the clever boy detective and his big – and dim - brother Herbert, who prefers to be known as Tim, as they are always very short of money and are often in danger from their enemies.

The action in The Falcon's Malteser, which is the first book in the series, takes place during the holiday season. These words from Nick Diamond set the tone:

“...the grey December sky. The Christmas decorations had gone up in Regent Street – it seemed that they’d been up since July – and the stores were wrapped in tinsel and holly. Somewhere, a Salvation Army band was playing “Away in a Manger.” I felt a funeral march would have been more appropriate.“

Things get worse: Tim and Nick are arrested by the police and held in a freezing cold interrogation room. They are released, only to be rearrested and held overnight in a cell in the police station. 

The police decide to let Nick go; he rises to the occasion with a typical witty remark:

“You can go, laddy,” Snape said. “It’s only big brother we want.”

“How long are you going to keep him for?” I asked. “It’s only five days to Christmas.”

“So?”

“He hasn’t had time to buy my present yet.” 

Two quotations about mediocrity

This post contains a small amount of commentary on two short quotations that highlight a very big topic. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said something in The Valley of Fear that has been very widely quoted:

“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius...”

This seems at first sight to be spot on, but it needs to be qualified and expanded.

It is very true that many people can't evaluate or even see people who are far above or ahead of them; it does indeed often take one to know one!

What Conan Doyle doesn't mention however is that some people who are nothing special do know - or sense - talent - or even genius - when they see it, and they may try to discourage, sabotage or even destroy it!

Someone who is only a below-average performer at something or who knows only a little about a subject can often see very clearly that other people are much better at it than they are or know much more about it than they do. They may acknowledge and show respect for this, or they may feel envious, diminshed and resentful.

This is from Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel for younger readers Have Space Suit—Will Travel:

“Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. They despise brains because they have none.”

This too is very true: some people do indeed try to cut others down to size; I have seen and experienced this for myself. The tall poppy syndrome comes to mind here, as do the crabs in the bucket who try to drag down a fellow crab that wants to climb up and escape.

Fear, negativity, envy and spite are often behind such mean-spirited behaviour. Rafael Sabatini's proposition that equality is a by-product of envy is relevant here, and so are these words from Kathleen Raine's autobiography Farewell Happy Fields:

“…winged souls are more often dragged down by the commonplace herd, who, ignorant of the use of wings, clip them and forbid their flight, than the wingless injured by the escape of the winged ones…Who, among the vulgar, heeds the misery of imagination hampered and thwarted?…”

There is more to come about all this.

Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week

Halloween is the time when many people's thoughts turn to witches.

I suddenly remembered reading Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week (1982) many years ago; I decided to take another look to see if it contains any article-inspiring content.

This little book for children combines magic-related fantasy with boarding-school life. While there is little to say about the main story and there isn't much material suitable for direct quotation, there are still a few elements that inspire commentary.

The Witch Week of the title, a time of many strange incidents, begins a few days before Halloween, which makes the book very suitable for the occasion. 

The cover on this edition is just right for Halloween:

Keeping the balance

A previous article mentions the importance of balancing depressing books with reading material that lifts the spirits.

Witch Week contains both cruelty and humour; scenes that are very painful to read because they involve humiliation and bullying are balanced by witty dialogue and descriptions of amusing incidents.

The power of hate again
Witch Week provides supporting evidence for the proposition that hatred can sometimes be helpful. 

Charles Morgan is a loner and odd one out among the pupils. He lists in his journal everything that he hates, which includes the school buildings and at one point all the people in the school!

This hatred helps to keep him going.

Upton Sinclair on the politician's paymasters

Several good, relevant and topical quotations from the American muckraking journalist and author Upton Sinclair have been featured on here, most recently in the article about honest politicians.

These wise words are from his 1940 novel World's End:

"If you wanted to understand a politician you mustn't pay too much attention to his speeches, but find out who were his paymasters. A politician couldn’t rise in public life, in France any more than in America, unless he had the backing of big money, and it was in times of crisis like this that he paid his debts.”

This applies to the present day and the UK too.

There is currently much speculation here about possible  funding sources for some politicians: for example, there are allegations that they are getting money from Russia, China, big business or billionaires. 

Maybe some politicians really are are just pawns and puppets.

We need to follow the money!

The day of reckoning probably will come for some of these politicians. They have laid themselves open to pressure and blackmail from their handlers, backers and paymasters. There is a price for everything, and debts must be paid.

Honest politicians really are doomed!

This is another post in the topical series that features alarming and pessimistic politics-related quotations.

These words from Taylor Caldwell appear in the article about the lack of honour in politics:

“An honest politician is either a hypocrite—or he is doomed.” 

Upton Sinclair wrote something that supports this proposition:

“Such was the new technique for the conquest of power. Fool those who were foolable, buy those who were buyable, and kill the rest.”

From Wide Is the Gate (1943)

The above extract reminds me of how potential troublemakers are dealt with in John Christopher's Guardians:

“We are constantly on the alert for trouble...Anyone showing creative intelligence and initiative stands out conspicuously from the mob and can be dealt with.”

“Dealt with” means eliminated! 

Upton Sinclair is yet another writer whose life and works I hope to investigate when I have more time.

More alarming words from Taylor Caldwell

Taylor Caldwell has been referenced in several articles, including a recent one that features some of her alarming words about wars.

Her works, not to mention her life, deserve a closer look, but the reader's dilemma of 'so many books, so little time' applies here. It is always possible to find some good extracts and produce a short article as a compromise however, and I have come across some more quotable material that is particularly relevant to what is happening in the US and the UK - and many other nations. 

This proposition is from The Story of Honoria, an article that was first published in a magazine in 1957:

“It is a stern fact of history that no nation that rushed to the abyss ever turned back. Not ever, in the long history of the world. We are now on the edge of the abyss. Can we, for the first time in history, turn back?”

I am not knowledgeable enough to be able to confirm that in the past no nation that rushed headlong towards disaster ever turned back, but it seems very likely. Perhaps the momentum just carried them along until it was too late to stop. 

I wonder what Taylor Caldwell would think of the current UK and US political situations. We could well be on the brink of an abyss right now.

This is an extract from Captains and the Kings, a historical novel that was first published in 1972:

“...who do you honestly believe rules any nation? The apparent rulers, or the real ones behind the scenes who manipulate a nation’s finances for their own benefit? Mr. Lincoln is as helpless as you and I. He can only, unfortunate man, give his people slogans, and slogans, it would appear, are what the people want. I have yet to hear of a nation that ever rejected a war.” 

Great  minds think alike. This is very similar to what Benjamin Disraeli said about the Hidden Hand. The big question here is, who are these secret rulers and puppet masters?

Money and hate: two quotations that come very close to home

Two quotations that made a big impression on me when I first came across them many years ago suddenly surfaced in my mind recently. After realising how very applicable they are to many people and their lives, I decided to feature them in a short article.

A very unfair aspect of life
I once read something that resonated very strongly. I can't remember where I read it or what the exact wording was, but it was something like this:

“Not having money is much worse than having money is good.”

I agree with this proposition, and I think that it can be applied to many things other than money. It seems obvious to me that while being in possession of certain things might not bring us any particular benefit, we would definitely be much worse off without them. In other words, the disadvantages that come from not having something may greatly exceed the advantages of having it.

Some things are conspicuous mainly by their absence.

Someone who leaves school with little or nothing in the way of marketable qualifications or skills may be in big trouble, whereas someone who has achieved a string of good exam results and mastered some basic abilities may find that these attainments are no big deal. The first person may be way behind the majority, but the second one will not be ahead of the crowd. 

Someone who hates their job so much that they go down to minus 100 on the happiness scale is unlikely to reach plus 100 if they get work that they really enjoy: they will be lucky if they get to plus 10! 

The above two examples come from personal experience.

Upton Sinclair's wise words about checking the evidence

Some of the American author Upton Sinclair's wise words that resonate strongly with me have been quoted in previous articles, including, for example, one about the difficulty of getting through to people and another that contains his description of what it feels like to be used and thrown aside. 

I intended to search for more article-inspiring material from Upton SInclair at the time, but other topics intervened. I recently decided to take a further look, and I found another good quote to highlight:

"It is foolish to be convinced without evidence, but it is equally foolish to refuse to be convinced by real evidence." 

This speaks for itself. It may state the obvious, but it is very true. 

Where the proposition that unseen forces are at work in some people's lives is concerned for example, I have seen many examples of both automatic, immediate, mindless, enthusiastic acceptance of the idea and automatic, immediate, mindless, contemptuous denial and dismissal of even the possibility. 

Both types of reaction are indeed foolish; I think of these positions as two sides of the same bad coin.

It is good practice to neither believe nor disbelieve, but entertain possibilities. It is best to consider the evidence or lack of it and look at the cases for and against before making any decisions and commitments.

A last look through Conan Doyle's Magic Door

The final article in the series inspired by Through the Magic Door, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's little volume of 12 essays about books, writers and reading, has been outstanding for some time now. 

The last in a string of book-inspired posts is often the most difficult to produce; it isn't easy to let a good book go! Then there is the uncomfortable feeling that some key commentary-inspiring material might have been overlooked, which means retaining the book on standby for just one more trawl-through when time permits.

I now feel that enough is enough; at long last the time has come to call it a day. I have made a final journey through the Magic Door for the purpose of producing just one more article, and I found a little more interesting material to highlight.

Tales of some tubs
As previously mentioned, Conan Doyle describes the tempting tub of bargain books that stood outside the door of a bookshop that he used to pass on the way to buy his lunch;  each time he went to get something to eat, he had to decide between spending his budgeted threepence on food or doing without and buying a book for the same amount of money instead. 

He twice mentions Jonathan Swift's satirical work A Tale of a Tub; this was one of the cheap treasures that he found when digging in the tub!

This reminds me of a similar scene in Dion Fortune's Goat-Foot God. A twopenny bargain bin that stands outside a bookshop tempts a passer-by into looking for gold among the gravel. He finds a good book that 'by chance' was put in the bin by mistake. When he goes inside to pay, a whole new life opens up to him.

Macaulay's Essays
Conan Doyle says that Macaulay's Essays opened up a new world to him. He describes how much this book meant to him:

“If I had to choose the one book out of all that line from which I have had most pleasure and most profit, I should point to yonder stained copy of Macaulay's "Essays." It seems entwined into my whole life as I look backwards. It was my comrade in my student days, it has been with me on the sweltering Gold Coast, and it formed part of my humble kit when I went a-whaling in the Arctic. Honest Scotch harpooners have addled their brains over it, and you may still see the grease stains where the second engineer grappled with Frederick the Great. Tattered and dirty and worn, no gilt-edged morocco-bound volume could ever take its place for me.“

This reminds me of Alan Quatermain and his copy of the Ingoldsby Legends that accompanied him everywhere.

Taylor Caldwell's topical words about governmental tasks

Taylor Caldwell, who had something insightful to say about the causes of major wars, wrote this in a historical novel set in ancient Rome:

“Antonius heartily agreed with him that the budget should be balanced, that the Treasury should be refilled, that public debt should be reduced, that the arrogance of the generals should be tempered and controlled, that assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt, that the mobs should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence, and that prudence and frugality should be put into practice as soon as possible.”

From A Pillar of Iron (1965)

It is interesting to see how very relevant this is to what is happening in the US and the UK right now.

For example, major cost-cutting exercises are in progress in both places, both governments are cutting their foreign aid budgets, and in the UK new plans are afoot to get more people off benefits and into work.

An unpleasant bus incident with interesting implications

Jarring experiences on buses have been mentioned in several articles, including, for example, the one about another string of minor incidents. 

In many cases, these incidents happened just after I had been in contact with an energy vampire and wasn't feeling too good; the dynamics were different in the example featured in this post.

Many years ago, I returned to London after having had a very enjoyable day at the seaside. I was looking forward to having some tea and something light to eat when I got home; I was in a state that might be described as pleasantly tired but contented. 

As I waited for the bus outside Victoria Station, I noticed that the other people at the bus stop seemed to be in a similar, happy but rather subdued, state.

The bus came; we all got on. The small number of other passengers either conversed very quietly or sat in peaceful silence.

Everything changed when someone who seemed switched off, disconnected from what was going on around her, got on the bus a few stops later. Two formerly quiet men immediately became offensively loud and foul mouthed. 

I didn't think much of the incident at the time, but I later came to see it as supporting evidence for some of my ideas.

Trouble of various kinds breaks out around some people, but they are often oblivious of the effect they have on others. They may feel like victims, but they may unwittingly be the cause of bad experiences that they have.

I suspect that the men were influenced by the bad energy that surrounded the new bus passenger. It is possible that they had been drinking, which would have made them more open to contagion.

There is a lot to learn from incidents such as this one.

Two quotations about the benefits of financial independence

Some people think of money mainly in terms of buying the basics and paying the bills; others are self-indulgent consumers who think in terms of wants rather than needs and go in for 'success hardware', designer clothes, expensive holidays, huge show-place homes and other luxuries.

I have always seen money primarily as a provider of peace, privacy and protection; I used it to obtain a much-needed sanctuary in the form of a little place of my own. 

I have also found it very useful for buying books!

One of the articles inspired by Dion Fortune's occult novels contains some thoughts about how financial independence enables people to maintain their personal integrity and freedom of mind.

Great minds think alike. I recently came across two more quotations that support such ideas.

C. S. Lewis and freedom from 'the system'
I found this reference to financial independence in an article that C. S. Lewis wrote for The Observer in 1958:

“I believe a man is happier, and happy in a richer way, if he has 'the freeborn mind'. But I doubt whether he can have this without economic independence, which the new society is abolishing. For economic independence allows an education not controlled by Government; and in adult life it is the man who needs, and asks, nothing of Government who can criticise its acts and snap his fingers at its ideology.”

Financial independence certainly does give people the opportunity to educate themselves, follow up their ideas and learn to think for themselves. It also seems true that the increasing reliance on the welfare state is reducing these opportunities. 

Taylor Caldwell and freedom from other people
Taylor Caldwell wrote this in her 1949 novel Let Love Come Last:

“A sensible man makes it a point to gather together as much money as possible, as soon as possible, so that he can henceforth be safe from his own kind, and can live in peace. A lion has his claws and teeth, an elephant has his strength, a fox has his cunning — to defend himself. And man must have money.”

Money certainly does help when it comes to defending ourselves against and escaping from people we don't want in our lives.

These are thought-provoking issues. There may be more to say about them later.