A Piece of Chalk

Welcome to "A Piece of Chalk". Although the anticlimactic title, as well as the plain environment, presents a simple image, this blog has a specific purpose. The words and thoughts written here and the words and thoughts read (and hopefully they will be read, if the things written deserve reading) are significant to the views of the universe, humanity, and good vs. evil. While the title expresses a sense of smallness, "it is merely a bit of chalk", or even that it’s “just a children’s device for drawing", what really lies behind the title and the white backdrop is profound:

"The chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour." - G.K. Chesterton

The phrase "A Piece of Chalk" comes from an essay of the same name written by Chesterton, the famously political and famously eccentric British author of the early 1900s. In the essay the author describes himself as in search of brown paper and, in finding some, takes his chalk and walking stick to a nice green spot somewhere on the "colossal contours" of England. His purpose? "To sit down and draw." Chesterton's love of brown paper is a direct result of its responsive texture to coloured chalk, and above all, its receptivity of the "most exquisite and essential chalk", that is, white chalk:

Now, those who are acquainted with all the philosophy (nay, religion) which is typified in the art of drawing on brown paper, know that white is positive and essential. I cannot avoid remarking here upon a moral significance. One of the wise and awful truths which this brown-paper art reveals, is that, that white is a colour. It is not a mere absence of colour; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. When (so to speak) your pencil grows red hot, it draws roses; when it grows white-hot, it draws starts. And one of the two or three defiant verities of the best religious morality, of real Christianity for example, is exactly the same thing; the chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour. Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not seen. Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.

From the simplicity of white springs forth the wide and beautiful spectrum of colour. From the assertion that white is a colour we learn of the significance of the positive and the affirmative. The strongest lesson of this is found in matters of moral character. Becoming and being a virtuous man or woman depends not on the removal of vice but the pursuing of excellence in moral character and in fulfilling ones station in the public and private spheres. It means an active pursuit of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, and a deep love and desire to attain it.

This is what “A Piece of Chalk” is all about. This blog, while guised in the image of simplicity is intended to provide a thoughtful investigation of the higher life: of living morally, of thinking intellectually, and of living in light of the kingdom of God. It is not intended to be a platform for rash opining nor is it meant to display what I think I know … for I know just how little I know, and the more I know, the more I know I know not. Many who are older and wiser will come across this page and will know a great many things that I do not.

But it is meant to be helpful, to be edifying, and to bring to the forefront of the mind things that are profoundly important to life and meaning in the cosmos. It is for the sake of the reader and the author that this blog exists that it may be used as a tool by the Divine Author for growth in the spiritual and the rational. If it does not help you, the reader, I am sorry. Perhaps with time I may grow strong enough in my skills, my intellect, and my character that it will one day be of use to someone out there in this vast web of thoughts and ideas, even if the only person who learns from it is the author herself.