Cubism emerged in the early 1900s, a little while before the First World War. What was going on in painting at that time? A little before Impressionism, which was in the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s. Impressionism originated in France. Italy and France are, I think, the most visually artistic countries, showing a number of innovations in the visual arts. Why was it called Impressionism? It was because, rather than a real representation of what is in front of you, impressionists portrayed the impression of the object. So, whereas painters had been pretty faithful to the object up until then, with Impressionism, they are giving you the impression of the object. For instance, in the middle of summer, everything might seem to shimmer in the heat, and it will be painted as shimmering, so all the outlines will be a little bit blurred.

A name was invented in the Catholic Church fairly recently, since modernism and even neo-modernism, to describe something new: Sedevacantism. And another name too. Sedevacantism is a name invented to sum up something that is real, even if what is real is quite a variety, a ragbag if you like. There are a number of different sedevacantists with a number of different opinions. Nevertheless, sedevacantism is a ragbag name for a bunch of people sorted in the same way. Similarly, impressionist painters are quite varied one from another, but the ragbag name signifies that the object is beginning to dissolve, so to speak. That is the end of the 19th century.

What does abstract art represent? You may well laugh. As far as the object is concerned, abstract art represents the breakdown or the breakup of the object. The tie with the object is being severed; the object is becoming unrecognizable. The whole motive of abstract art is to be separated from the object. It pretends that the shapes and colors on the canvas need have nothing to do with visual reality. It pretends that visual arts are just joining the state of music, which is considered an abstract art. There was a whole lot of theory about it.

In any case, cubism is one of the early versions; it is sort of the end of the object, the very end. It breaks down everything you see into terms of cubes, so that everything turns into a bunch of cubes. There is a famous portrait of a woman walking downstairs, which looks like a bunch of cubes. That is what the painting is. Soon, it will be all cubes and then no relation to the object at all, and that is abstract art. So, Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Abstract art—it is all going in the direction of the breakdown of the object.

What does it correspond to in music at that time? What was going on in literature? What was going on in music before the First World War? It was the breakdown of the major and minor scale. What was the scale replaced by? Basically, they democratized all the tones; it is the 12-tone scale, the 12-tone system. The main inventor was Arnold Schoenberg, Viennese, Jewish. This tells you quite a lot. They are clever; they have an instinct for subversion.

Dr. Andrew Childs explained the non-democratic major or minor scale. There is the tonic, there is the dominant; certain notes are more prominent, certain notes less prominent in any scale. The scale can start anywhere—C, C sharp, D, E flat, and so on—but once you take a certain scale, certain notes are more prominent and certain notes are less prominent. Has anybody listened to any 12-tone music? You may have listened a bit without knowing you were listening to it. It sounds pretty horrible, but it corresponds exactly to what is going on in the arts. It is the breakdown of the classical, of the normal.

Why was what is normal and classical breaking down at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century? And what was the enormous manifestation of that breakdown? A massive breakdown. As was said, „The lights are going out all over Europe, and we shall not see them lit again in our generation.‟ This refers to World War I, which occurred from 1914 to 1918. That was the inner breakdown becoming outwardly manifest. Everybody thought the First World War would last just a few weeks. The French thought they would very soon be in Berlin; the Germans thought they would very soon be in Paris. It turned into a slugfest and lasted for four years, with an unimaginable slaughter of Europe’s youth, the flower of Europe’s youth.

Why World War I? Why the breakdown of the arts? Why the breakdown of music? At the end of the Victorian era, people were living good facades, but they wanted… Why was it the end of the Victorian era? Why was it not succeeded by its continuation? Why did it break down? It was not just because Victoria had reigned for 60 or 61 years. It was because of the current in society that people were leading themselves into debauchery. There was no principle there. As a result, there were no principles to anything, so they did things like ******, things like gambling. So naturally, you had these problems.

It is liberalism; it is the comeuppance of liberalism. The triumphant philosophy of the 19th century was liberalism. Hierarchy was breaking down, and all the artists decided that hierarchy did not amount to much. Society was basically coming into power to make this detachment from the hierarchy. What is the principle behind breaking down hierarchy? Freedom. And equality. And democracy. It is „Non serviam.‟ Liberty and freedom are the same thing, one a Latin word and one a Germanic word. Wherever there is God, there is going to be hierarchy. And wherever there is hierarchy, there is going to be a God. Dostoyevsky’s officer asks, „If there is no God, why should I be a colonel?‟ Or captain. In other words, if there is no God, there is going to be no hierarchy in the army. An example of this actually happening is the communists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), who began without officers, in theory. Of course, you can be darn sure there was actually somebody giving orders and somebody receiving them. But the theory was that they were all comrades and absolutely equal. It may also be true of the French Revolution; it would be normal if it was. So, the breakdown of hierarchy is basically and always simply the turning away from God.

And then what happens to the middle class that set up liberalism? They get undercut by the lower class. On what basis do the lower class manage to undercut the middle class? What accusing finger do the lower class point at the middle class? The accusation leveled at the middle class is that all they want is swimming pools and comfort (or the equivalent of that time). All they want is a comfortable, secure life for themselves. It is selfish, it is materialistic. And are the lower class basically right? Yes, there is altogether too much truth in their accusation.

Because of what is true in their accusation, you have the rise of what new philosophy, following on liberalism, that the lower class brings with it in its revolt against the middle class? Socialism. And close on the heels of socialism, communism. It is all one gigantic process of breaking down the old hierarchical Christendom.

The middle class establish themselves comfortably and think they are secure. Louis Veuillot (V-E-U-I-L-L-O-T), a top-class French Catholic journalist—a genuine Catholic, very anti-liberal—said something interesting about this. He, as a Catholic, tried to defend the middle class, not in what they had become, because the middle class is an uneasy mixture of the Old World and the New World. They are neither communist nor Catholic; they are somewhere in between, like many people today. Louis Veuillot tried to come to their defense in everything that they still had that was Catholic, but they were not interested. Why? Because Veuillot would want them to go back to being fully Catholic. „Ah, that we don’t want.‟ So they would not listen to Veuillot, and the result is they were swept away, destroyed by communism, so to speak.

The breakdown of order and meaning in the arts accompanies the breakdown of order and meaning in society. It follows the prolonged refusal of the source of all goodness, order, truth, and meaning, which is God. You cannot throw out God indefinitely and expect to keep the consequences of God. The consequences will go with Him. If you throw out God, you are going to have the devil, and the devil is going to claim his rights. He will infiltrate, he will work his way in, and the old world will be destroyed.

Is the music of The Sound of Music 12-tone music? No, it is not. Does that mean it is orderly? You better not say so. What kind of order is The Sound of Music? It is schlock order, kitsch order, trash order. It is orderly, but in a superficial way. There is no real order behind it or beneath it. It is sentimental, sticky, slushy. It is not genuine.

Picasso once said something like, „I know what I do is trash, but it’s what the people like. This is what the bourgeoisie like.‟ It sells. Why does the middle class like this kind of thing which is going to destroy them? Because they do not want what would make demands of them to quit their selfish and comfortable way of life— above all, selfish.

Perhaps there is a certain instinct for disorder in the bourgeoisie. They are refusing God, so they are bound to go towards disorder. Nobody can stand still. But why do they like Picasso, who is stabbing them and jabbing them all the time and telling them they are jerks? Why does the middle class like this avant-garde art? They are jaded. This avant-garde stuff which jabs them and stabs them gives them a feeling that they are alive. It is like somebody who has lost his sense of taste and needs sharp curry in order to feel any taste at all. That is why they like Stravinsky, Picasso, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring music. That is why a lot of these people like jazz in the United States. Why do white people go for this black music, like Elvis Presley and so on? Because the white way of life is grinding down. The white values—truth, decency, honor, God, religion, country—nobody really believes in them any longer. Whereas, you know, getting a feel like an animal, at least there is a bit of animal vitality. And of course, blacks are good at animal vitality. I am not saying it is all they are good at, but they are good at that. So the whites turn to the blacks to give them a sort of shot of life, so that they can start jerking back to life again. That is how degraded the whites have become.

Then we have „the length, and the height, and the breadth thereof are equal.‟ These are the three theological virtues. The length is faith, connecting the long distance between creator and creature. Height is hope, lifting us to the heights. Breadth is dilative (D-I-L-A-T-I-V-E) charity. To dilate means to expand, to broaden, to open. Dilative charity means expansive charity; it expands the heart, broadens the heart to open it on God and on all men. So the length, the height, and the breadth are the three theological virtues.

„It is the measure of man,‟ meaning the measure that every man must seek to achieve if he wishes to be incorporated in Christ or go to Heaven. „Which is of an angel,‟ because any man who makes it to Heaven will be replacing a fallen angel; he will be taking a place in an angelic hierarchy. However, notice Challoner’s note: „The measure of man, i.e., according to the measure of men and used by the angel.‟ That is a different understanding. You can see that it is not as though there is one and only one possible interpretation of the verses of the Apocalypse.

Commentators assume the list means something. Literally, the precious stones are the beauty and variety of the heavenly city—variety of color, variety of shape, like a collection of jewels. Mystically, „the foundations of the walled city were adorned with all manner of precious stones.‟ The foundation is the patriarchs and apostles. The wall (which previously meant Christ) is here the wall of the Church: the doctors, bishops, and preachers who rest upon the patriarchs and apostles, like a wall rests on foundations. The precious stones are their virtues. These 12 stones represent virtues. This is the mystical meaning.

The sapphire, one of the four precious stones (as opposed to semi-precious, which are ruby, sapphire, emerald, diamond), is colored blue, sometimes called lapis lazuli. It represents hope, hope for a clear blue heaven.

The third stone is chalcedony, which is a variety of ruby, deep red in color, luminous in the dark. This represents charity. Charity is luminous in the dark in the sense that it seeks humility; it seeks to be in the dark, and it shines in humility.

The emerald is, of course, green: the green of a continual springtime, representing virginity. So, faith, hope, charity, virginity.