St. Francis, Pray for Us
The autumnal coolness—just on the edge of the dying summer—is in the air, and it feels good. Very cool, very refreshing against my face. The leaves are just starting to turn color, and the smell of dust lingers in the air.
October has always fascinated me. For all of my life, I can remember the great anticipation I held for October, the most mysterious of months, a month that hovers—at least in my imagination—between life and death. If Spring is birth and Summer is full life, October represents the necessary path to death. It is a Purgatory that leads to either heaven or hell.
Understood properly, October purges us of our follies and reminds us that death hovers just in front of us. It reminds us that we always stand in time, but at the very edge of eternity. Sometimes, we peer over the edge into the abyss, and sometimes we glimpse the glories of the heavenly realm. But, we always stand on the precipice of eternity, moments and steps away from true reality. Any moment and any step can lead to eternal glory or eternal damnation.
And yet, October is still more . . . and less. . . than any of this. The weather cools, the leaves change in color and form, the temperature drops, and I don’t have to mow the grass as often. I see the hunters in their odd mixture of florescent orange and tan, green, and grey camouflage walking on the highways with their guns in hand, ready to be discharged should some four-legged creature appear within eyesight. They carry about them a look of grizzled intensity. They smell blood. They hunger for it.
I see the lumbering yellow public school buses picking up the children, restless with anticipated boredom. At the end of their journey, they will be dehumanized, demythologized, filled with meaningless facts, prepared for life in artificially-lighted cubicles and boxes.
I always feel the changes physically in the air, but it is certainly more than this. Attitudes change, becoming more brisk and serious. Life, or its immanent end, takes on new meaning. The creatures of the earth begin to store their food and hoard items to keep them warm and comfortable during the winter.
Perhaps they are guided by the gentle whispers of a Franciscan.
In this, they seem wise.
The autumnal coolness—just on the edge of the dying summer—is in the air, and it feels good. Very cool, very refreshing against my face. The leaves are just starting to turn color, and the smell of dust lingers in the air.
St. Francis, pray for us.
Western Heritage Lecture 15: The Roman Republic
Founded firm.
Amazingly, already at lecture 15–the foundation and evolution of the Roman Republic.
Epicureanism and Stoicism:Western Heritage Lecture 14
Zeno, the Founder of Stoicism
Four great philosophies emerged from the Hellenistic world: hedonism, cynicism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism. The last two, especially, have shaped the entire course of western civilization.
Aristotle and Alexander: Western Heritage Lecture 13
Aristotle
If you’re looking for Lecture 12, my sincere apologies–I had a messup with the recorder. So, sadly, it only recorded about 3 seconds of the lecture. I’d post it, but it’s kind of a boring 3 seconds. Here’s lecture 13: Aristotle’s ethics and Alexander’s lack of ethics.
Plato’s God
Dr. Broadhead, aka Plato
A short, 30 minute lecture/discussion as I gave the first quiz of the semester. The course lecture involved Plato’s understanding of the divine. Enjoy.
1/2 a Century of Progressive Rock/Pop
1966. The first “progressive” rock/pop album, PET SOUNDS.
Progressive (rock/pop) music is fifty years old this year. Rock as art, not noise and not emotion.
The Counsel of Despair? Albert J. Nock on Self-Government — The Imaginative Conservative
In Zen Buddhism, the lineage of student to master is extremely important—it is the channel through which the Dharma is transmitted. There is a story of a Zen Master traveling at night over a bridge known to be haunted by a goryo shin—an angry ghost. When the ghost appeared, the Zen master unfurled his lineage…
via The Counsel of Despair? Albert J. Nock on Self-Government — The Imaginative Conservative
Socratic Ethics and Platonic Democracy
Plato
Lecture 10 of Western Heritage: Socrates on Ethics and Plato on Democracy.
Lecture 9: Socrates, Part II
Continuing with Socrates, focusing on the purpose and deeper meaning (here’s hoping!) of THE CRITO.
Western Heritage, Lecture 9.
Quick and Dirty Guide to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
Key concepts of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (very hard to separate the three, one from another)
Socrates (469-399b.c.); Plato (ca. 427-ca. 347b.c.); and Aristotle (385-322 b.c.)
- Teacher-student-student relationship
- Came at the very end of their civilization—but tied to the earliest philosophers (Thales, Heraclitus, etc.—that is, in a long continuity of thinkers)
- Three of the finest minds to exist in ANY civilization; gives us much to ponder in terms of culture, history, etc.
- Shaped much of western political, philosophical, scientific, and the theological thought up to the Enlightenment. . . and still through today. (e.g. Pope Benedict XVI is deeply aware and influenced by these thinkers)
- Order is the key to everything
Socrates: Order of the Soul and Order of the Polis
Plato: Order of the Soul, Order of the Republic, and Order of the Universe
Aristotle: Order of the Soul, Order of Nature, and Order of the Universe
Writing Tips for College First Years
My guide to those first college papers.
Arguably the greatest writing technology since the invention of the book.
Five essential resources
- William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, any edition.
- Dictionary (almost any; I find the American Heritage the best)
- Thesaurus (again, almost any; I use Roget’s II)
- Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers (for research papers)
- Scrivener; Word; or Pages
Stormfields 