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Fred Carpenter's avatar

Great essay! Glad you referenced the great Malcolm Guite & the grandeur and beauty of God all around us in Everything. I wish he was my neighbor! The poet Elizabeth Browning described this all in 4 words: “earth’s crammed with heaven”.

Keep up the great work 👍

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J.M. Robinson's avatar

Thank you, Fred! I love Malcolm. I’d love to sit down and have a conversation with him. Earth is crammed with heaven, indeed! Thanks for your kind words.

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Kyleefaye Gilbert's avatar

Beautiful. You put words to my heart’s aching and longing, thank you.

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J.M. Robinson's avatar

Thank you!

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Brian Shepherd's avatar

Great essay. Bring on the revenge of analog! Give me the real and tangible. To hell with digital - except of course my reply here on substack which is made possible by digital 🤣

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Garrett Thomas's avatar

Rarely more thrilled than to see Guite in the same lineup as his treasured Tolkien.

I think you're right on the nerve sir. Carry on!

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Garrett Thomas's avatar

Further up, and further in, I should say!

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Ryan B. Anderson's avatar

Masterful written and thanks for the shoutout.

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J.M. Robinson's avatar

Thank you, Ryan! Thank you for your kind words and for what you’re writing!

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Alexander d’Albini's avatar

This is great.

I have been thinking something similar for a while.

The question is how to incorporate this into the modern world.

I’ve been working on an idea called AngloFuturism. This takes what you suggest above and integrates it with Futurism to help form a path through the current cultural dead end.

I’ve recently written a book on it. And I think you’d enjoy it.

If you follow my SubStacks and follow me on X, you can read more about it. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat further.

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J.M. Robinson's avatar

Thank you, Alexander! I will have to take a gander at your book on this. That sounds delightful!

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For The King's avatar

Some really great words and thoughts here. I need to synthesize some of what you are saying here into my own project. Thank you brother, further up and further in!

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CT Lemons's avatar

A friend, just two days ago, after reading something I had wrote, asked “Are you a romantic?” I paused, because I intentionally try to stay away from sentimentalism and melodrama in my fiction, but I found myself saying, “Yes, I am.” Because, at the core, I am seeking to draw people into the spirit behind the story, a universal emotional resonance, a homecoming from an exile they may never have completely identified.

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