Welcome to the Texas Inklings
We live in a world gone mad, or at least half so. Every person is free to practice his or her religion—or lack thereof—but each is discouraged from believing that such a thing should matter. Ideology and identity politics more often than not cloud our reasoning, and our search for meaning is so frequently obstructed by the various “-isms” which have arisen during the course of the last century: communism, feminism, sexual liberationism, liberalism, neo-conservatism.
Underlying all of this is our age’s great zeitgeist, that consumer of rational thought which we know innocuously as post-modernism. This is the philosophy which chokes our search for truth more so than any other, for it denies in the end that there is such a thing to be found. Thus is moral reasoning excluded from the public sphere, or religion from metaphysics, or indeed reality from philosophy. This is the reason for our society’s slouch towards decadence.
It is also a reason for the creation of the Texas Inklings, a community which strives to seek life’s deeper meanings through our common and individual experiences. Each of us may learn from our companions, any of us may have something to teach, and all of us will strive for truth. We may each have his or her own way of doing this: some, through a critique of our culture, while others may consider theology, philosophy; still a few will learn through our conversations, and some may prefer quiet study. We do, however, share a common goal: "In humility, we hope to learn; out of charity, we seek to teach; in friendship, we desire to search for Truth."
While the modern worlds would tell you that beliefs don't matter, we know differently. We agree with Chesterton when he states that "there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter." We at the Texas Inkling believe that philosophies do matter, that beliefs are important, and that ideas do have consequences. This organization--based at the University of Texas at Austin, but including both alumni and members of the greater Austin community--our organization exists to share ideas with each other, to sharpen our philosophies and our minds, and to strengthen each others' beliefs.
Return to the Texas Inklings Home
Underlying all of this is our age’s great zeitgeist, that consumer of rational thought which we know innocuously as post-modernism. This is the philosophy which chokes our search for truth more so than any other, for it denies in the end that there is such a thing to be found. Thus is moral reasoning excluded from the public sphere, or religion from metaphysics, or indeed reality from philosophy. This is the reason for our society’s slouch towards decadence.
It is also a reason for the creation of the Texas Inklings, a community which strives to seek life’s deeper meanings through our common and individual experiences. Each of us may learn from our companions, any of us may have something to teach, and all of us will strive for truth. We may each have his or her own way of doing this: some, through a critique of our culture, while others may consider theology, philosophy; still a few will learn through our conversations, and some may prefer quiet study. We do, however, share a common goal: "In humility, we hope to learn; out of charity, we seek to teach; in friendship, we desire to search for Truth."
While the modern worlds would tell you that beliefs don't matter, we know differently. We agree with Chesterton when he states that "there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter." We at the Texas Inkling believe that philosophies do matter, that beliefs are important, and that ideas do have consequences. This organization--based at the University of Texas at Austin, but including both alumni and members of the greater Austin community--our organization exists to share ideas with each other, to sharpen our philosophies and our minds, and to strengthen each others' beliefs.
Return to the Texas Inklings Home
