On Reading Paradise Lost By John Milton

Impenetrable, impal'd with circling fire,
Yet unconsum'd.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, Lines 647-648

The Oracle of Ottawa has come to Paradise Lost late in life. There have been other attempts earlier to get through it. But something else always got in the way. One soon gets bogged down in the Classical references which were pretty common knowledge to any well read man that lived in Miltons time, but to a "modern" man it all seems as dry as straw. You soon start to wonder what all the fuss is about regarding the work. But when you realize that it took Milton over ten years to write the work and once you have rudimentary understanding of the time and place that he lived it all comes alive as the greatest Epic possibly ever written.

John Milton

The secret to starting and sticking with it is a good annotated text. A real boring one that has that wicked long introduction by the editor, the one that goes into the details of the social and economic environment that Milton found himself in. A detailed once over reading of the chronology of his life and times will also help immeasurably. John Milton was not a nine to five suburbanite! And being born into a well off family didn't mean that he had no problems, he just had different ones and a lot of them! A rudimentary understanding of his time is crucial to coming to grips with the driving force of what he was about. Think of Paradise Lost as the seventeenth century version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson!

Paradise Lost Plate by William Blake

The text that grabbed and held the Oracle of Ottawas nose to the page is that of Roy Flannagan from 1993, published by Prentice Hall. (Note to Prentice Hall: use the good glue, like Norton and Wiley do...) You simply must have a detailed annotated text. And that edited by Roy Flannagan is the best that this humble reader has ever seen. Strangely enough the text reads much faster and becomes very enjoyable when you read all the foot notes. The Oracle of Ottawa loves the detail and the explanations and references to the classical and mythological references. The details of the errors of the printing and compositing are just fascinating and contain the subject matter of several yet to be written tomes. Which I am pretty sure will not be written by the Oracle of Ottawa!

Once you are clued into the meaning of the bearers of Miltons symbolism the whole work takes on a majesty that is impossible to describe. The conjuring of the imperial scope with the continued use of twenty four symbols (more or less..) arranged in a multitude of different ways soon leads you to the discovery of what literary power really is, and that it will never be exhausted...

John Milton Wasn't A Philosopher?

Yet from these flames
No light, but rather darkness visible.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, Lines 62 - 63

What better time to talk about John Milton? Evil has descended upon the land, especially  here in Canada! Why today, the social deconstruction continues apace. New legislation to destroy the long gun registry was tabled. Rob Ford was frightened and called 911 over a visit by Marg Delahunty at his residence in Toronto. Rex Murphy appeared on Strombo, in the biggest reverse Judas act ever seen. The Oracle of Ottawa is convinced that we are living in the end times! Nothing is going to get any better. The neo-con conservative rule will continue to tighten. They will win an even larger majority in the next election. The Senate Chamber by then will be converted into a temple. The Speech From the Throne will be replaced with burnt offerings...The curtain of Canada will be rent asunder for all time!

John Milton

What better time to get into Milton's Paradise Lost? But before we do we must prepare the ground. What was the importance of John Milton to philosophy? Good, evil, power, gnashing of teeth, pretty common foundational philosophical issues, no? The Oracle of Ottawa must refer to a higher power. Pulling my copy of The Oxford Companion To Philosophy down from the shelf, I was shocked, shocked! That John Milton did not get an article in what I thought up to this point was a most excellent reference work and all around help. And to add insult to injury, I have the latest "New Edition"!

"sulphur and perfidy"

But, fear not, dear reader, the Oracle of Ottawa is most well resourced for a retired blue collar worker! We will just go up to the bigger guns! Pulling volume five down of my most treasured copy of The Encyclopedia of Philosophy edited by Paul Edwards, the day was saved! It contains a most brilliant erudite article of John Miltons importance to philosophy. "Milton was essentially a religious and ethical thinker, and his views are a striking blend of Christian humanism and Puritanism." This is most reassuring in this present age of sulphur and perfidy!

Yes but, what was the point? Yes, this article gets right to the very heart of the matter, in answering the question most brilliantly. " Central to Milton's conception of Christian liberty is the distinction between the Mosaic law, a law of bondage which extorts servile obedience through fear, and the gospel, which offers a free, elective and spiritual service based on mans filial relation to God." Now you to can understand Question Period!

What is the ultimate point? Again, quoting form the text: "This strong emphasis on inner law led Milton to the antinomian view that Christ, by his life and death, abrogated the whole Mosiac law, the moral parts as well as the judicial and ceremonial parts." Perhaps there is hope for the future after all?

Who would have guessed that Paradise Lost would become modern and contemporary?

Was John Milton Wrong?

[…] Here at least
we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I,  Lines 258-263


It is much to the Oracle of Ottawa's chagrin, that  he has yet to read Paradise Lost straight through. So many books so little time... but when the time comes I will be ready. I have more then one excellent edition. The modern facsimile of the Gustave Dore illustrated edition for the first light read through and then that really posh, annotated academic edition for the background and depth...Maybe I'll pull a Canadian style Northrup Frye and see it all in a brilliant new light! A reinterpretation of John Milton by the Oracle of Ottawa... Governor Generals Award for best non-fiction....Hey shit happens!

John Milton, Right or Wrong?

But even though I have yet to start and finish, I often ponder one line from the work..."Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven." It stays in my head all the time. Especially watching the antics of the many political animals of which we have many in abundance in the fair City of Ottawa, at three levels of government! These people take it as a maxim wrapped in a mantra... The results of course are an unmitigated disaster. Any one who cops this line as a mantra, never ran anything ...

The edition I really, really want...

It is all about the power isn't it? Power is fascinating in youth and grows to revulsion in the seasoning of years. Another good analogy I have often heard is that power is like a candle that is lit at both ends, but that is not really true. Power is like a stick of dynamite that is lit at both ends, with variable speed burning fuses! You don't know which fuse is going to burn you first, all you know for sure is, eventually and sure as Hell, that sooner rather then later the goddamn thing is going to blow up like a bastard...That is when you hand it to the poor devil beside you and head for the peace and calm of Heaven...

A bit of an introduction....                              

Welcome to Canadaxas

Every now and then you run up on one of those days when everything's in vain... a stone bummer from start to finish; and if you know whats good for you, on days like these you sort of hunker down in a safe corner and watch.
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Chapter 13, End of the road..., p. 199

Do you remember the Canada you have always known and loved? Good, because that all died yesterday. The Canada that you and I have always known is gone forever. And we will never get it back. If you want more information on what the hulk of Canada is going to turn into, read Susan Musgrave's "The Charcoal Burners", especially all you young women, this is now the Great Canadian Novel. This is the future you have to look forward to. You will deeply regret not voting, when you are dying in a flop house motel, because you can't afford to go to a "for profit" American owned hospital. Then in your last dying breaths you will remember the country you let slide away... as you worked on your Facebook page and text messaged all your good friends instead of getting off your ass to vote...

Here are few good things that are going to happen very shortly:

An Elected Senate; This of course will be easy since Vladamir Jack Layton totally agrees with the Tory's on this one. But of course this will entail the 24 month U.S. political cycle. You know, attack adds all the time...

Repeal of the Long Gun Registry; This I am sure will be done as soon as possible. The "opposition" will huff and puff and in the end the whole thing will get screwed up and the process will be left with a ton of loop holes that neither side intended. Get ready for the gun cabinet and  racks of guns for sale at Giant Tiger thru to Canadian Tire.. and that includes in large Canadian cities.....If you are a Peace Officer over fifty years old with the mortgage paid off- RETIRE NOW!!

Repeal of Canadian Health Care Act; The large American health insurers and hospital providers are at this very moment on route to Canada to register as lobbyists. The selling point will be lower taxes and rugged frontier independence.....You know the drill....

Practice reaching out to this first Mr. Layton.....

Schedule I Bank Mergers; The big five Canadian banks will be allowed to merge. Wee Jimmy will stand by this as "letting the market work". The fact that it will not work very well for you and me is totally unimportant....

Further Repeal of Canadian Labour Law; The process, that has been going on for the last couple of years, will continue, until being in a Trade union presents no difference from working for a Cadillac employer such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds..... Can't you just feel the NEW OPPORTUNITY?

Two Party Republican Style Political System; The Liberal Party of Canada is dead. It is the Arthur Andersen of political parties. It is bloated, floating, August, brain dead, and morally bankrupt...(Thank-You Paul Martin...) That is the cold hard truth...Join up with NDP. Cut a deal... Call the combined party The Canadian Democratic Party... The CDP.....or just the Democrats... we will be the fifty first state soon any way....

Repeal of all Multi-Cultural Legislation; This will and has died with the Liberal Party. The attitude will be "Fuck Off Frog!" It will be strongly suggested that you learn Mandarin, Hindii, and / or whatever language people from the Phillipines speak.....

The First ADMAX Prisons; The "Cheryl Gallant Super Max" will be built outside Pembroke, Ontario. It will be built over the old AECL sites. This will be a security feature that will ensure all the prisoners "glow in the dark"....This one will be a pilot model, with room for only 2,500 prisoners....

Cheryl Gallant Super Max, Pembroke Ontario...

Immigration Flood: Again to adjust to the "new Canada" learn Mandarin, Hindii or any other tribal patriarchial language...... Thank You Very Much......

Raising Retirement Age To 72; and change the pension and estate law that ensures all your uncollected pension benefits goes to Canada Revenue Agency at the time of your miserable death.....

Repeal The Unemployment Insurance Act; Scrap this to save money and put the unemployed worker on the welfare rolls. Down load to the Municipality's. Fuckin' brilliant or what? Will be very popular in Drum-scummer Alberta.....

Repeal The National Broadcast Act; The CBC reporting the truth will no longer be allowed to interfere with the spinning of the Big Lies... This will come in the early days. If you want news watch PBS or TV Ontario....

Third Strike Law; This will be introduced to help fill the new Super Max prisons that will be built all over Canada in deserving Conservative ridings... The Tory's have lots of useless brother in laws also!!!

Repeal of The Election Funding Act(s); The Canadian people are not smart enough to make a rational democratic decision, the 2011 election was more than enough proof of this, no? Will be done to save money... Will probably cause the first riots in the streets and various ethnic pogroms.. Only large Corporations will be allowed to contribute, no Trade Union contributions will be allowed...but by this time there will be no Trade Unions left any way....

We once lived in Eden and we totally blew it.....and we will never get it back.... NEVER!

Tory's Shut Down War Room, Campaign Over

In commercial practice, the turnover is generally calculated inaccurately. 
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, Buch III, Chapter XIII, The Law as Such, p. 228

The lights are off at the Tory war room somewhere on Industrial Avenue. I really thought that he would self destruct in week two or three, but, it appears that the Tory fart catchers couldn't wait. They killed any hope of another minority government. They never had a chance for a majority.

The stake thru the Blue heart happened today in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at a scripted photo op at some Halifax jetty outside in the bright light of day. It seems old Steve was just withering in the unfiltered light of the sun. The National Press Corp was kept to the back, behind a crowd control barrier, like a bunch of protesters at the Chicago National  Democratic Convention back in the 1960's! But even the press back then were not limited to only four questions per day!

Yes, you heard me correctly. the National Press Corp covering the Tory campaign has been limited to only four questions per day! Now that is not four questions for each each reporter.. That is only four questions for the whole National Press Gallery per day! Of course the CBC types were just wild! They have a daily deadline, and how are they going to fill it, when they can't get content? So when the stories on the Tory campaign shrink to nothing, the Tory's in their true hypocritical fashion will be the first to scream bias! 

Meanwhile, Micheal Ignatieff, is really getting into the flow of the campaign. The clips are relaxed and real. He really is a natural campaigner, and he is only to get  stronger as the process continues. The only problems the handlers will have is turning him off at night. The ideal candidate. The Oracle of Ottawa loves being right all the time, but just not so early... 

This really happened... watch for your self, as the right-wing media is even stunned!

 The press was kept to the back here also.... Notice the subtle similarities in the text... Hmmmm.....