Ageless in Spirit: Discussions and interests for our times

 December 24, 2020 Our election process has been captured in our media outlets and conversations with each other with outrage, fear, disconsternation, indignation, sadness etc. on the one hand; On the other, relief, hope, light at the end of the tunnel, and faith in democracy. Communication across the political divide remains very problematic so that those trying to debate and discuss issues with differing beliefs and viewpoints miss each other to put it politely or else sigh and conclude that the opposer of their viewpoint is duped, a sly liar, or plain evil. I've tried to keep focused on my curiosity that facts to some in these discussions do not matter.  For example, sometimes while hiking with our small group a member bemoans the opinion that Donald Trump has been unjustly maligned and hounded by the liberal, socialist left wing zealots. The latest insult has been this election in which the votes were stolen from him. I talk with this person and when I bring up research in...

 December 10, 2020 So I just completed reading "Why Truth Matters" by Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom. My blog today is not a jeremiad. Though I have had angst over how so many millions of our country have supported a president who declares facts for his opinions and lies, uses all his powers to stifle any criticism of his administration within his loose domain, calls upon military and civilian soldiers and law enforcement officials to attack our legitimately aroused citizens who demonstrate against him, call upon opposition groups to counter demonstrate and use force to stop demonstrations against his policies and police brutality, gives false advice to  our citizens about the pandemic downplaying its severity, suggesting unproven remedies that could be harmful, poo pooing social distancing and mask wearing to prevent transmission, and admitting to lying about facts shared to him in February 2020 about the severity and contagious qualities of the virus. He attempts to ov...

 December 20, 2020 Shakespeare Sonnet 1 From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel: Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament, And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content, And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:     Pity the world, or else this glutton be,     To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. "As the opening sonnet of the sequence, this one obviously has especial importance. It appears to look both before and after, into the future and the past. It sets the tone for the following group of so called 'procreation' sonnets 1-17. In addition, many of the compelling ideas of the later sonnets ar...

 November 29, 2020 A Thanksgiving dinner Rebecca and one of our guests continued a discussion regarding Trump, the Soviet Union and history of Russia, and I found this somewhat difficult to put in my two cents but listened to Rebecca and attempted to be aware of my own discomfort and the reasoning and understanding of the two in this issue. I had a similar discussion with one of our hikers who declared that what Trump was complaining about was factual and unfair for him. Though I did comment negatively again I kept my distance and listened after that while Rebecca and he talked. I have read some more of this point of view  ( https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/opinion/thanksgiving-dowd-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage ). Again I'm reminded of a similar conversation in which another fellow hiker vociferously declared her view that Trump was an excellent leader and his policies were very positive for the country while the Democrats and socialists were...

 November 20, 2020 I have had a revealing and interesting journey reading and digesting as best I can Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz. Since my November 12, 2020 blog I'll continue my understanding of wrongology. Should women have the right to vote? What a bizarre question yet pertinent to understanding how our beliefs can be right in one era and then wrong later. For a good film about the Switerland women's movement to obtain the vote finally for national voting in 1971 watch The Divine Order  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/movies/the-divine-order-review.html However the cantons Appenzell Ausserhoden and Innerrhoden did not extend this right until 1989. The men voted through a vote called in person at a building in town with everyone to see who voted in which way. One hold out country so far for the right to vote for women is Saudi Arabia. So our society has an influence on our beliefs determining what is right and wrong. So blind adherence to custom and influence of popula...

  November 15, 2020 Finding my way. While I continue my reading of Being Wrong I came across a poem The Circus Animal's Desertion by  W.B. Yeats a poem I never was exposed to (the link below includes an analysis).   https://poemanalysis.com/william-butler-yeats/the-circus-animals-desertion/ The Circus Animals’ Desertion BY  WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS I I sought a theme and sought for it in vain, I sought it daily for six weeks or so. Maybe at last being but a broken man I must be satisfied with my heart, although Winter and summer till old age began My circus animals were all on show, Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot, Lion and woman and the Lord knows what. II What can I but enumerate old themes, First that sea-rider Oisin led by the nose Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams, Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose, Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems, That might adorn old songs or courtly shows; But what cared I that set him on to ri...