“The arts,” we were told, “are the soul of the city.” And this was the falsest note in an otherwise brilliant evening that revived the actual soul of the city: the human beings created in God’s image. The Winter’s Tale, the Shakespeare play that followed, showed the audience, the soul of the city, what we need: Hermione. God knows we need Hermione, Shakespeare’s Hermione, just now. Nobody can be commanded to be Hermione. Why? The severe mercy of her medicine for... Read more
Beware a love or a life based on mere dreams. God may speak in dreams, but so do devils. A good man knows a godly dream commands to virtue with prudence. Devils or our own passions stir us to quick, irrational behavior that has no time or patience for reason, virtue, or prudence. True love may come with dreams, but true love is never based on a dream, too uncertain to base the most important decisions of life. Too often... Read more
Times were bad, but rebellion was not the answer. Truly gruesome people often rise to the top in a rebellion: Henry IV if you are blessed, Napoleon on average, Stalin if cursed to live at the beginning of the end. At the start of the twenty-first century, Americans have outlived the World War II accommodation with the world. We are deciding what will be next and this can be glorious, usually a muddle, or very terrible if we choose badly.... Read more
Richard II, at least as portrayed by Shakespeare, frittered away his Kingdom on trivial pursuits and not even the brainless kind. Richard lost his Kingdom by pursuing pleasure over attending to business in the “garden” of England. One sees this temptation of the “winner” in the athletes who score the big contract and stop working out with the same intensity that got them the dollars. A winner can take his position for granted and stop, destroy everything by frittering away the... Read more
If the citizens of Verona took their association with Shakespeare and made it cheap and ugly, the English city of Saint Alban has created eternal beauty from their brush with greatness. Verona put up a statue to Juliet and covered a wall with graffiti and gum. Christian Saint Alban made one of the great quiet and reverential places in the world. It is a story and a place begging for a film, if Hollywood made such films. Who put the... Read more
Plato is misunderstood more than read. Thank the Demiurge, a few seek understanding and not just confirmation of bias. I was once asked about the soul, Plato, and Jesus based on questions from my book When Athens Met Jerusalem … here is my response. You say: But, the question for discussion was: what did Plato believe about the soul? I reply: This is a profound question and was the subject of my dissertation now available as a book through UPA .... Read more
Sappho, according to the little we have of her writings, knows the power of mighty Aphrodite. In the fragments that remain, she is piercing, passionate, and a pure lover of beauty. If the good, the truth, and beauty are necessary to a whole soul, then Sappho is an acolyte of truthful beauty. We know nothing of her life really, only the pieces of her poetry, but that is enough to pause, read, and appreciate. As with the the violence in... Read more
Mercy cannot be demanded. Mercy is a gift, not a debt. Mercy is what God gives those that err, but turn even a bit towards Him. When we receive mercy, the joy is unexpected, wonderful, good news. Some good news we create: our plans come to fruition. That is happy, but many events are not under our control and when life works out beyond our plans or even despite our failures, this is also joyous. Our first birth was very difficult... Read more
Reasonable Confusion? Who is that? Once I was on a jury where a juror confused having a reason to doubt with a reasonable doubt. He suggested that during the few seconds the suspect was out of view of the policemen, he might have been confused with a space alien using his identity. Was it possible? Yes, surely possible. Was this a reasonable supposition? Surely not. Fortunately, I was able (as foreman) to persuade him and so the guilty person was not set... Read more
His Grace Bishop Thomas shares some thoughts on the Feast of Holy Cross: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. … For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of... Read more
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