Jan 28- From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis translated by William Benham (~1820)
Summary: You're a bad person, and you feel bad about it. If you were a good person, you'd feel good. But don't try to feel good or you'll be worse! And don't worry about other people, only yourself!
Commentary: Quick note, this is Chapter 4 of Book 2. Book 1 (from my skim) looked a little more concrete. How to relate to people, approach problems, meditate, etc. Book 2 is moving more into broad outlook on life type topics.
Content-wise, we're very much in the traditional Christian advice vein. The only thing that matters is that you're good. It's actually impossible to be good. Bad people will be miserable and punished. You're a bad person. Good people will be happy. It's impossible to be good. Hate yourself. This one has the exciting bonus advice of "don't worry about other people, just take care of yourself, you shouldn't have any care for other people." I remember that part of the Beatitudes. "Blessed are they who take care of themselves and ignore all others..." It repeats this in circles for five pages or so. I skimmed some of the rest, and it looked a little better, but all and all, it's sticking with the core Old Testament misanthropy.
I've talked a fair amount (and have notes for dedicated entry) about Eliot, and his views on religion. This one skews more towards a traditional/conservative Christian viewpoint, compared to the more progressive Deism I've speculated on in other places.
All that being said, there's some small value here in looking at this as a cultural/historical document. The Imitation of Christ is held up as one of the most important, most read, reprinted, translated, etc. Christian books of all time, and it shows. You could update the language a bit, plop this in the Christian section at Barnes and Noble, and hop on your Fox News interview today. It'd be fascinating to look at the cause and effect here. Did this one guy's crappy book about hating yourself for Jesus warp the entire religion because it was so popular? Or has Christianity just been like this for that long, and nothing has changed?
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