the “order of being,” on whicli ‘ocgi.’lin places the wliolenweight of his speculation, could be lost and found again, andntherefore we do not continually approach it.nThis is the Voegelinian dilemma, a source of ambiguity innhis thinking that is visible in The Ecumenic Age. Voegelinnspeaks there of Paul’s and the disciples’ experience of Jesus,nnot of Jesus as a reality. Christianity becomes akin to then”philosophers’ myth,” carefully devised so as to be compatiblenwith both the divine and the human. In other words, thenlast word belongs to Plato: Plato’s experience and St. Paul’snexperience remain the ultimate guarantee of the truth ofnphilosophy and of the truth of revealed religion.nThus it is hardly appropriate to argue that Voegelin hasnrescued the Christian values or that he illustrates the religiousnworld view. His merit is elsewhere, in the rehabilitationnof political thought from the positivist and the Hegelian ideologues.nOur age will be judged by future historians as the agenof ideologies, of distorted views of reality. But it will also bennoted that ideologies sometimes called forth a salutary reactionnand obliged historians and philosophers to take inventorynof our foundations: myth, wisdom, civilization, politics,nprovidence. In these areas the Voegelinian synthesis advancednmore deeply than the ideas of any of his colleagues. He became,nnot unlike his beloved Plato, a sage in the Atlanticnoikumene, in Europe and America.nThe Voegelin-Plato parallel has a further validity. Untilnhis Sicilian sojourn the Athenian philosopher believed thatnpolitical wisdom could be secured—if no longer at home,nthen abroad, but still on Greek territory—planted in the soulnof a young tyrant. The “Seventh Letter” to his friends innAthens tells of a disappointing reality, but also, and hownmovingly, of the philosopher’s youthful fire and continuingnsearch.nIn The New Science of Politics (1952) Voegelin distinguishednan ideologically revolutionary Europe from thenAmerican tradition with its classical. Christian foundations.nDiscreet, almost aloof, he has not written a “Seventh Letter”nabout his disappointments, the ideologization of America.nHe retired to his office at Stanford and created around himselfna one-man Academy, with disciples both near and far.nAgain like Plato and every genuine lover of wisdom, Voegelin’sncuriosity is never exhausted. In his seventies, hentraveled to Yucatan, Stonehenge and Malta in search of thensecrets of early men as they watched the heavens; he tooknup the study of alchemy, lectured on carbon-14 datingnmethods and on the “axial years” of Karl Jaspers.nA philosopher at eighty may be the best image of theneternally young man.n—Thomas MolnarnDr. Molnar teaches at Brooklyn College.n• OUR ELDERS •n^yoesnLIBERAL CULTUREnPlayboy Prcs.s ha.s pubii.shcdna Ixxik enlitlLtl The Playhny /«lervieu;nrcfoilecrins the interviewsnwilii individuals whomnPlayboy admired during the lastntwo decades. The volume maynprove to W an imjxjriant .sourcenfor future historians—the ultimatendcKumentation of the dejjeneracynof the Western mind,nwhich was poi.soned by the decayednliberalism of our times.nWe quote (from the Chicaf^onTrihiinc’s review of the b(xik)nwhat Yoko One had to say tonPlayboy about the 6()’s:nIt w:is likr jn cir>;y, ‘riicn,niiliiT that bin Li’im: ili’ir wenIKUI to^fthiT, niiMi ;tnclnwiiniLTi somi’how lost tracknof L’ach other iiinl a lot ofnfamilies and relaiionshipsnsplit apart.1 rrullv rliink thatnwhat liiippt’iR’d in the- ‘7().s.nfan !«• foniparccl to whatn}i.ilip(‘iu-{l under Nazismnwith Jewish lainilies.nAfid then Bertrand Russell, anneafler conversationalist with hisnintellectual peers at Playboy:nI think thai il llii- Wesi werento ‘oJiintarily ili-rsl itselfnof MULlear wrapoiis as an[oki-n lit its peaceful in((MinliiMis ihis would ^jreatlvninipriss llie Russians. I’hevnwould I hen teel they hadnnothini; lo fear and thevnL’onid erKirniouslv ri’dueenrlieir own I’.tpeiiditiire onnarmuinents. Thev wouldnspetid their fnone oti eonsurnern^oods insieail.nMs. Ono is one of this coimrry’snmost celebrated and wealthynwomen. Professor Rus.sell wasnone of t:hi.s civilization’s mostnaclmirei! brains. As the ancientsnknew, woe to the land whichnnnrewards vicious idiocy withnriches and fame, and woe to ancivilization which touts droolingndimwits as sages.nLnug Live the litcrnal Truthnof the jew York TimesnA title and subtitle of an articlenin the New York TimesnMaf;az/He anno Domini 1981nreads:nA Lament for ViernamnA tormer South Vielnainesendisseiiler lells ill a [xrsfinalnmemoir ot his disilhisioniTK-nlnwith the vieloriou.sn(Aiiiiniuni.sts, hisnitiipri.soniiiL’nt at theirnhands, and the new tyriiiinvnihal .North Vietnam hitsnhrotislit lo his toiintiy.nYes. Virginia, this i.’; the samennewspa|X”r (often called the mostntrusted journal in America)nwhich eagerly printed any elucubrationnof any supjx^rter ofnNorth Vietnam during the warnyears, the same [iper who.senreixirters. columnists, editorialistsnand assorted contributorsneiindi’niiied the .Amerii’an effortnto save Vietnam, calling it onenof the most shameful epistxiesnof our hi.story. lt”s the .samenpaix;r that actively helix’d lonundermine and to destroy thenIndochina ix)licies of three U.S.nPresidents, and ultimately convincednthis nation that it hadndirtied its hands with the srainnof iniixTialism by trying to rescuenSouth Vietnam from communism.nYes, Virginia, there isna free and responsible press herenwhich knows how to maintainnits dignified respectability byniobotomizing our collectivenmemoA’. CJn^mm^^ 5nMay/June 1981n