"...and settled nowhere"

Ok, so Elliot did not like hermits. That leaves out some really interesting folks in early Christendom.

Beautiful poem. We should declare Eliot the patron saint of crunchy conservatism.
"But all dash to and fro in motor cars/Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere." Dig it.

godisaheritic, I don't actually want to get into a big old dispute with you, but I just really feel compelled to say that odds are TS Elliot probably never did see "any communities which lived with the mutual understanding that "in praise of God" is just Myth". The man was a crazed student of history and literature and would have been well aware of the fact that such a thing never has existed. Today you could argue that there are some such communities in various spots in large US cities on the coasts and in much of Europe, but at the time Eliot was writing, a person who admitted to being an atheist wasn't considered to be safe to leave your wife or your wallet near. Even if today you think that the "God myth" is something we should "move beyond", a simple look at history quickly reveals what an anomoly such a thought is. In ways very, very good and very, very bad, religion has been at the core of every civilization and culture ever known to man. It's well and fine to wish for change, but reality definately supports Elliot on this one, at least in the day and age in which he wrote.

And Elliot's "day and age" aren't so far removed from our own, rebeccat, at least in terms of world history. Godisaheritic, I used to think exactly like you do. I used to BE you. Then I had an actual, bonafide, old-fashioned conversion experience. (Yes, they still happen!) Not trusting my own heart (whatever THAT meant), I turned to C.S. Lewis and "Mere Christianity" for some back-up. I haven't stopped reading – or believing – since. And my life is utterly and completely changed in ways only other believers can attest to. I am a sophisticated, educated person with a masters degree in English and all sorts of worldly interests. But I now believe God is real. And once you believe in Him, the idea that He should be praised is not just a given, but a deep and abiding source of joy. It is certainly no myth.

And yet for all the expressed nostalgia for small communties of days gone by, or still to be found in rural Germany and even the rural US, how many of you are willing to leave urban life, accept a lower standard of living, and settle down in a small town - a really small town, say 500 or less - and try to integrate with the folks who have lived there for generations?

Me? Yeah, I'm doing it. Moved from downtown Houston to an East TX town of 637 (probably fewer now). The advantages outweigh the disadvantages now that broadband internet has come to town, but let me tell you, it isn't all rural paradise. The average age is probably around 68, much of the younger crowd is living on Social Security disability payments, and any youngster with ambition leaves for the big city after graduating from High School.

I once had to spend a few years in a town of well under 200. As a New Yorker, I found this pretty stressful. Small towns MAY be "Our Town"--but they may also be "Spoon River". Or worse.

For those who like the idea of the "human-scale" town, there is a story by Frederic Brown called "The Waveries". In the story Earth is invaded by incorporeal creatures which "eat" electricity. We go back to horses, bicycles, and steam engines in small towns that have no movies or record stores, but a more participatory and therefore more humanly satisfying community theatre and town band. It is a good story, but I'm glad it's fiction.

By the way, in my previous comment the name should be Anthusa, not Anthsa.