The image of the frog in the slowly heating water has become cliche in this age. The modern materialistic scientist will disprove its veracity, “the frog will not sit idly by while the water heats, he will jump out.” Modern man dismisses the image as a fairy tale, for analogy is impermissible where it transcends matter. Be that as it may, the image suffices as an accurate account of the spiritual life of man.

Our culture (the slowly heating water) has incrementally and soothingly numbed our souls (the frog) to the point of expiration. In the West we are dead souls walking. Our response to soul-death is to try to make a heaven on earth. We are not truly gods, so the current earthly “heaven” is more like hell.

And thus we find ourselves with a tale of two cities. The most populous city is a city of walking dead souls whose representatives are the public schools, mass media, entertainment industry and political entities. The other is the diminishing city of souls who still have the eyes to see the supernatural and the ears to hear the transcendent Truth of the perfectly spoken word of God we dare to call the Logos.

The city dwellers in the diminishing city marvel in horror and disbelief at the world around us. We are likely rendered mute by the rising din of secular humanism that increasingly deafens us to the sacred. We are struck blind by the increasingly vulgar images cascading before us in endless abusive streams of media piped into our homes and souls by proliferating screens and social media platforms.

Here at City of Truth, our ground is the contemplation of the two cities and the stark difference between them that is ever increasing. Let’s begin our meditation with Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities and his unforgettable opening lines:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair….

These words better characterize today than mid 19th century England. The best and worst of times is an allusion to the two cities. We see in the perfection of the transcendent aspect of Holy Mother Church the eternal Wisdom, Faith, Light, and Hope that form souls to be citizens in the City of God. In the world today, we see foolishness, disbelief, darkness and despair in unprecedented levels. These maladies constitute the character of the City of Man.

This wonderful opening in the Tale of Two Cities is an echo of St. Augustine’s image of the City of God as it relates to the city of man in his masterwork The City of God. The image is invaluable and profoundly true. The Church Doctor explains that there are two loves and from those loves come two cities. There is the love of God to the contempt of our fallen selves, and this constitutes the City of God. Then there is the love of self to the contempt of God, and this constitutes the City of Man.

Our endeavor is called City of Truth because it is narrowly focused on culture and education whereas St. Augustine’s image is a focus on the whole of life. St. Augustin’s image is analogous to what we might call a tale of two schools.

There are two loves and from those loves come two schools. There is the Love of Truth to the contempt of self and this we call the authentic Catholic School. Then there is the love of self to the contempt of truth and this we call the modern secular public school. There is a great difference between the two schools, in fact, the difference is unbridgeable because the two schools possess diametrically opposed first principles.

Chesterton once quipped “there was a time when men believed in the truth and doubted themselves, now men believe in themselves and doubt the truth.” This is an apt characterization of the difference between the two schools.

The supremacy of the school of man can be born out in questions like “Can you define education?” “Did you get a good education?”, “Do you know what a good teacher is?”, “What is truth?”. In answering these questions, confusion reigns. Without a deep examination of the root principles of the kind of education we experienced, it is impossible to even render adequate answers to these questions and many more.

This website, blog, video podcasts, and weekly newsletters will be devoted to and in the service of those parents who want to become or remain citizens in the City of Truth and who want to raise and educate their children to remain citizens in the City of Truth after they are exposed to the City of Man through modern media, culture, schools etc…

Please join me in an effort to recover an authentic education for our own sake, for the sake of your children, for the sake of the common good, but most importantly, for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

In Christ,

-Steven Jonathan