John Dunn

Beyond idolatry

Sunday, 30 April 2023 at 20:43

Beyond idolatry

Casting idolatry aside is the Beginning.

Moving beyond idolatry is the Becoming.

As an idolater I lived in the realm of presupposition, making an idol of the already there.

The‘already there’ was the realm of Ananke before the Beginning, the indefinite cycle, the equilibrium before violation, the pre-determined non-being before the awakening of ‘be’ing.

As an idolater where could I find God if not presupposed as existing before me as an idol?

‘Deification’, or ‘Becoming God’, is the one direction open me and will put me in good company.

If I do not make myself equal to God how can I apprehend God? Only like is known by like. I leaped clear of all that is ready-made and presupposed and made myself grow to like expanse with that greatness of the Creator which is beyond all measures; for it is the height of evil not to know God.

And that good company?

‘He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.’ (1 John 4:16)

“I know that without me no God can live; were I brought to naught, he would of necessity have to give up the ghost.” (Angelus Silesius)

“Creation is an act of love and it is perpetual.” (Simone Weil)

“God does not exist. The Ego must create him by making itself divine.” (Julius Evola)

© John Dunn.

Honda CB500F takes to the A428 Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike

Friday, 28 April 2023 at 22:50

Honda CB500F takes to the A428 Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike

New YouTube video production scheduled for 8.00pm on Friday 28th April.

Find this (when published) and other videos on my YouTube Channel

I’m riding on the A428 which runs between Northampton and Bedford. In the nineteenth century, this stretch of road was known as the Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike, part of the national road system of such turnpikes, that were maintained from the proceeds of tolls paid by road users at toll gates. As I ride this road, I want to focus particularly on those parts of the old turnpike which now deviate from the modern A428. Consider this as a little exercise in road archaeology.

There’s more on my YouTube Channel

Motorcycle touring in search of the historical, quirky and unusual features of the English countryside as seen from the saddle.

Join me as I follow maps, park up and take a look around.

“Seeking out historical places of interest has given me wonderful motorcycling opportunities over the years… roads and little lanes, through a variety of landscapes that bear the scars, marks and imprints of those that have trodden, worked and fought on the land before us.”

“Any excursion, whether it be by motorcycle, car, bicycle or on foot, is always better for having an object, or goal in mind. I could take no pleasure in riding around just for the sake of it. There has to be a mission.”

“I ride my motorcycle to seek out the ancient, the quirky, the monumental, and enjoy the ride, taking in the views, and ‘reading’ the landscape, its geology and history, as I do so.”

Original commentary to all videos researched, written and read by John Dunn.

© John Dunn.

The Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike

Thursday, 27 April 2023 at 21:51

The old road through Little Houghton in 1908

An experiment in YouTubing too far? I fear so.

My nerdish interest in old roads has pushed me into publishing a YouTube video that will have an even smaller audience that the ones I have produced to date.

Nevertheless, I filmed it, I enjoyed doing it, especially as it gave a purpose, no matter how tenuous!, to a winter motorcycle ride, so I might as well publish it.

What follows is the completed commentary to the video. Do please remember that it is following my spoken words, which do on occasion take liberties with the rules of grammar.

The publication date of this video will be announced on this website tomorrow (26th of April).

The Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike

Hello and welcome to the ride.

I’m riding on the A428 which runs between Northampton and Bedford.

In the nineteenth century, this stretch of road was known as the Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike, part of the national road system of such turnpikes, that were maintained from the proceeds of tolls paid by road users at toll gates.

As I ride this road, I want to focus particularly on those parts of the old turnpike which now deviate from the modern A428.

The old Turnpike route started in the centre of Northampton.

And using old Ordnance Survey maps published in the 1880s, the same decade as when the turnpike trust was finally wound up, you can see how the road passed from West to East, to cross the River Nene at St Peter’s Bridge, there at the bottom right of the map, which is near where I am now.

Here the A428 and the old turnpike part company ever so briefly.

I’m at the left of this modern Ordnance Survey map, just above the sports ground.

The modern A428 in red crosses the map West to East.

The old turnpike, highlighted by the orange arrow, swings below the new road.

That’s the new road running up above at a higher level now. And starting in this car park, I’ll follow the route of the old turnpike as far as I can.

The old road is now subsumed in the Brackmills Trading Estate. This happened, I guess, in the 1880s with the new town expansion to the south of Northampton was started. The Britannia Inn coming up there on the left, was established in 1827, the same year that the turnpike opened for business; probably not a coincidence.

And coming up too is St Peter’s Bridge. One stood here before 1827, then it was replaced by an iron bridge in 1842. The one I’m crossing now appears to me to have been built in the 1960s.

This is as far as I can ride on this particular stretch of the old road.

Until the 1980s I would have been facing the tunnel under a railway line, after which the old road turned sharp left. You might make this out on this old Ordnance Survey map - there at the bottom right of the map.

As things stand now, the route of the the old road is now a cycle path. There on this new map I’ve marked the cycle path as a dotted orange line.

I’d better not risk riding the cycle path, so about turn I must.

Which takes me back over St Peter’s Bridge and past, there on the right, the Britannia Inn.

Continuing eastwards now along the current A428 I’m heading towards the village of Little Houghton.

Here’s the old map showing the road passing through the village. Here it is again highlighted.

And here’s the modern map showing how the A428 passes south of the village, completely by-passing.

Here’s the old. There’s the new.

And here I am, dismissing the by-pass option, to follow the old turnpike road through Little Houghton, as did the A428 until 1980.

The old turnpike road wound its way through Little Houghton Village, and continued to do so as the A428 until a little over forty years ago.

There’s the sign to Little Houghton.

In its 1826 application to Parliament to become a turnpike, the managing trust proposed to build a bypass south of Little Houghton. It never happened because of the cost. The bypass was not completed until well after the turnpike era, in fact, in 1980, that’s 154 years after it was first deemed necessary.

The village is full of narrow roads and sharp bends.

Right, I’m riding out of the village now, still on the route of the old turnpike.

And I’m now about to rejoin today’s A428 at the other end of the by-pass, to continue eastwards on my journey.

Traces of the old road can be seen on the modern Ordnance Survey map below the current road. I’ve marked the old road in green to the right of the map there.

The older maps describe the properties here as Primrose Cottages.

And I’m going to turn right ahead to join that stretch of old road.

This section was probably by-passed in 1980 as part of the Little Houghton by-pass project.

And this indeed is as far as I can get on the old road , so I’m now turning back on myself to re-join the A428.

So, re-joining the modern road.

To the bottom right of the map there, I’ve highlighted um where a bend in the road was removed. The old bend in the road can still be followed through a lay-by, this one, coming up on the left.

Where I’m about to meet the modern road again, the old road carried straight on, right through where those trees are now.

There,just under Home Farm I’ve highlighted how the old road swung south of the current A428, to bend back into the village of Brayfield on the Green.

Those bends in the old road were removed and a staggered junction introduced at the Brayfield crossroads, some time between 1946 and 1952 according to the Ordnance Survey Maps of those two dates.

There’s the old crossroads in the village, and there’s the new map showing the straightened road and the staggered junction.

And here I am entering Brafield-on-the-Green. On the left is one road of the staggered junction, on the right is the other.

And that’s Brafield-on-the-Green, I’m now heading for Denton.

And here’s a map that needs no annotation

Remember I’m riding west to east, left to right on the map.

The old turnpike road (coloured orange) winds its way through Denton village. The by-pass coloured red is clearly visible on the map running south of the village.

So I’ve left the modern road and I’m now following the route of the old turnpike right through the heart of Denton.

In its 1826 application to Parliament to become a turnpike, the Northampton and Cold Brayfield Turnpike Trust proposed to build a bypass south of Denton. It never happened because of the cost. The bypass was not completed until well after the turnpike era in 1931, that’s 105 years after it was first deemed necessary. The concrete road bypassed the narrow roads and bends in the village.

There’s Denton church past which the traffic poured until the by-pass was built.

Note I said the by-pass was a concrete road when new, as were many main roads of the inter-war era.

Again, narrow roads and lots of sharp bends, typical of these small villages.

This would have been a bit of a drag for a stage coach.

And here I’m about to emerge from the old road at the eastern end of the by-pass, to re-join today’s A428.

I’m now riding towards the next parting of the ways between old and new at the village of Yardley Hastings.

Firstly, here’s the old map showing how the old turnpike road passed right through the village.

There it is highlighted for clarity.

The obvious thing to do was to push a by-pass through here, there it is in green, cutting out the village’s narrow roads and sharp bends.

And here’s the modern map showing how today’s A428 does exactly that.

So I’m now turning left off the A428 to follow the old turnpike route through Yardley Hastings.

This old pub, coming up on the left, The Rose and Crown, would have served travellers on the old turnpike. It might even have been a staging post for the changes of horses on the stage coaches.

Here we are, through a little village square in Yardley Hastings.

There was an original proposal in 1827 for the much needed bypassing of Yardley Hastings, yet it was deemed again too impractical to carry out.

Bedford Road West, as the by-pass was named, was eventually opened on 27th of November 1912 by S.G. Stopford Sackville, County Council Chairman. That happened 85 years after the by-pass was deemed to be necessary.

There’s a pub called the Red Lion up on the left here. There’s the sign, you might just see it on the left. That would have been a rival to the Rose and Crown in providing refreshment to the travellers on this old turnpike road.

Right, back out on the A428 at the eastern end of that hundred plus year old by-pass.

Next call is Warrington — that’s Warrington in Buckinghamshire.

Again this climb out of Yardley Hastings would have been a bit of a drag for those stage coaches and their teams of horses back in the turnpike era.

You’ll see on this old map towards the bottom right the sharp bend in the road, there it is highlighted.

Well, that stretch of twisty road was eventually straightened in 1980.

There’s the modern map showing the straightened road below Broadlane Spinney.

And that’s the old road highlighted in green.

OK, I’m now looking for that bending stretch of old turnpike road on the left.

And this is it. It’s now virtually the private road to a few houses and a farm.

And this is as far as I can ride. I have to stop here and turn at what is presumably Broadlane Spinney, and this that I am now riding is presumably the broad lane after which the spinney was named..

Having retraced that old stretch of road, I’m back once more on the A428, making my way to the next place of interest on the Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike.

And that place is the village of Lavendon.

There’s the old map and it shows the road winding through the village west to east.

It’s just about the same as today. Lavendon was never by-passed.

The most momentous thing to happen to the road through here was a slight widening of the road.

That widening of the road happened in 1954. And it happened here on the bend right in the middle of Lavendon.

There’s the plaque on wall to the right, you might just see it. That was put up in 1954 to celebrate that grat event.

That’s an old coaching inn on coming up the right, the Horseshoe, which would have served travellers on the old turnpike, and the new road today.

And there’s another on the left, The Green Man, both of course vying for business from the passing stage coach traffic, and later from cyclists and later still, the motor traffic of the twentieth century to the present day.

And just beyond Lavendon, the responsibilities of the Northampton and Cold Brayfield Turnpike Trust ended at the junction of today’s A428 Bedford Road with the B565 from Newport Pagnell and Olney, just short of the village of Cold Brayfield.

And coming up on the map, you’ll see that junction marked. On the map I’m travelling from North to South.

If you’ve enjoyed the historical twists and turns along what otherwise might be thought of as just an ordinary road, please like, subscribe, and perhaps even share, and I’ll let you know when I’m next out and about.

For now, I’m done.

© John Dunn.

Thinking as Logos

Wednesday, 26 April 2023 at 21:40

Thinking as Logos

“In that book which is my memory,
On the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first met you,
Appear the words, ‘Here begins a new life’.”
(Dante Alighieri, Vita Nuova)

My thinking arises unconditionally, from outside the phenomena of the world; as such it closely resembles Love; it takes me by surprise, it comes from ‘nowhere’. Thinking must surely in some way be related to encounter, not so much between another and me, but rather between thinking spirit and me.

My thinking is the power of love in spiritual form.

Following encounters with lovers, there arose the feeling that there could be something more, something even more lasting and more fulfilling.

This ‘more’ is the yearning for the absolute relation, the power of love in spiritual form.

That my thinking is the power of Love in spiritual form, is another way of saying my thinking is ‘the power of God in spiritual form’.

Encounter awoke me to Love, and thence to thinking as the Logos dipping down in to the phenomena of the world, the dipping down that occurs with a power that flows forth in the activity of my thinking.

© John Dunn.

Absolute individual

Tuesday, 25 April 2023 at 13:58

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818

Absolute individual

To know God with­out image, without naturalistic attributes, and without semblance, is to know my self.

My centring of the self is the opposite of the post-modernist pursuit of the de-centring of the self.

In these opposing goals for the self is laid bare the real political bifurcation, not the pathetic banter between various branches of Marxism which passes for democratic debate.

I will be the centre of dominion and power, which is synonymous with creative power. To be at the centre of creation means that I must put myself in the place of God;not to replace God, but rather to find the true God.

My rightful role is to model the world after my thinking; and consciously being the master of my thinking I must be the master of what my thinking produces. In this lies the true political bifurcation. My action versus passivity.

As the absolute individual I am the exemplar of absolute freedom and power.

The only one way I can prove God is to make myself God. My absolute freedom is the principle sign of being God. My body as the absolute individual is the universe.

In being independent from God I will be deified myself, internalising the qualities of God such as omniscience, omnipotence, and immortality. Understand that independent of God in this context means to be independent of a presupposed idol, it means to be free of idolatry.

Kirilloff, one of the characters in Dostoevsky’s novel The Possessed,does not believe in God in the sense of inventing an imaginary God like many generations had done before him. Instead, he is forced to manifest his own divinity in order to demonstrate that God exists. Free will is an attribute of Kirilloff’s self-deification. This free will can be called upon to prove his insubordination to the imaginary God of generations. In a passion of exhilaration and terror, this freedom is most convincingly proved, according to Kirilloff, by committing suicide.

Was Kirilloff’s example and path followed by Otto Weininger and Carlo Michelstaedter one wonders?

“God does not exist. The Ego must create him by making itself divine.” (Julius Evola)

© John Dunn.

Enter Love

Monday, 24 April 2023 at 19:34

Enter Love

Love yearns for oneness in a state of apartness. Love emparadised is something that imprisons, something stifling and claustrophobic, something complex and sometimes horrific. Loss and unrequited love are where open airy uplands lie… across the lonely wuthering heights of heath and cliff.

In wholly other context, but fully centred upon Love, so the words cannot but help ring true, Emily Brontë wrote:

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.

I find that I am not concerned with the question of whether God (as a True Being) exists or not; rather my concern is how (in what manner or mode) He exists.

There are metaphors, there have always been personalisations and anthropomorphisms, but these always slide into presuppositions and sink into idolatry. How can God be known?

Answer: with­out image, without naturalistic attributes, and without semblance, neither visible or imagined.

But if I am to know God without theses things, then there must be nothing between me and Him. I must really become He and He me. God must really become me and I must really become God.

In the dialectic of incarnation and spitualisation this 'He' and 'I' become ‘Is’, and in that 'self-identity' the Beginning is the eternal Becoming, for this 'He' and this ‘I' - that Is, or Logos and soul, are very fruitful.

Whilst there must be nothing between Him and me, there could be no melding into one entity. The dialectic must remain. There must be encounter and there must be love.

‘He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.’ (1 John 4:16)

© John Dunn.

Lavendon

Sunday, 23 April 2023 at 19:51

The road through Lavendon, at least fifty years before the road widening

Lavendon*

I’m approaching the village of Lavendon.

There’s the old map which shows the road winding through the village west to east as I’m travelling.




It’s just about the same as today. Lavendon was never by-passed.



The most momentous thing to happen to the road through here was a slight widening of the road.

This happened in 1954, and a plaque on the outside of the churchyard wall records the event.



There’s the plaque on the right, on the churchyard wall.

That’s an old coaching inn on the right, the Horseshoe.

And that’s another on the left, The Green Man, both of course vying for business from the passing stage coach traffic, and later from cyclists and then motor traffic.

End of the road

Just beyond Lavendon, the responsibilities of the Northampton and Cold Brayfield Turnpike Trust ended at the junction of today’s A428 Bedford Road with the B565 from Newport Pagnell, just short of the village of Cold Brayfield.

*As my YouTubing road archaeology experiment begins to draw to a conclusion, I will be taking the opportunity to keep this home page fresh by adding elements from the scripted commentary to the planned video production. Bear in mind that all scripts of this kind are writtenfor the less formal spoken word.

Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike

I’m motorcycling on the A428 which runs between Northampton and Bedford. In the nineteenth century, this stretch of road was known as the Northampton to Cold Brayfield Turnpike, part of the national road system of such turnpikes, that were maintained from the proceeds of tolls paid by road users at toll gates.

As I ride this road, I want to focus particularly on those parts of the old turnpike which now deviate from the modern A428 because of road improvements and by-passing.

© John Dunn.