Lawrence Auster dies ... and lives

The great essayist has departed this life.

During his final illness, one correspondent after another wrote to remark that their thinking, their values, their lives had been changed by their encounter with him.

I must say something similar. Lawrence helped dispel many of my areas of ignorance. He tuned up lazy thinking on my part. I didn't and do not agree with all he wrote; he sometimes had harsh words when I disputed him, both online and in personal correspondence. Yet -- and this suggests his largeness of spirit -- he never held a grudge, and continued to link to this blog from time to time. (Invariably those links brought far more traffic to Reflecting Light than almost any other posts I have written.)

Lawrence's moral courage continually astounded me. He committed daily thought crimes against the religion of multi-culturalism. He spoke honestly about racial issues, to the point that unquestionably many "progressives" would have jailed him if they had had the power. Yet neither was he an ideologically bound conservative -- he could make subtle but important distinctions that eluded even some of his supporters. Without him, it would have taken me a lot longer to get it that "neo-conservatives" are wolves in sheep's clothing who have nothing to do with genuine conservatism.

As of today, it looks like he lost every battle. The transformation of the United States into a Third World country is nearing the goal line. Virtually nothing he spoke for has come to pass; so much that he denounced has happened or looks like it will happen. He gave us millions and millions of closely reasoned, engagingly written words that failed to change the course of events. A lesser man would have turned into a bitter misanthrope, perhaps decided his life's work was quixotic and not worth the bother.

Yet he went on, saying things that it often seemed only he could say, in ways that only he could say them.

It is not mere sentimentality to believe that Lawrence Auster's eloquence, wit, and sharpness of mind will continue to be influential -- even in generations to come, I suspect. He may yet be seen as a powerful force in a turnaround, a rebirth of traditional conservatism.

SAY not the struggle naught availeth,
   The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
   And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
   It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
   And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
   Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
   Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,
   When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
   But westward, look, the land is bright! 

 Arthur Hugh Clough

For now, Lawrence, for you, it is time to rest.