Postman's book (pdf in my post) at least provided me with a paradigm to understand television. And, the Internet is TV on steroids. It's left up to me to get some solid intellectual formation as opposed to Amusement. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said that the oldest books ought to be read first. I must confess I am too undisciplined to do much of that. I AM trying to read more of people who have read them, understand them and write about them. I find The Imaginative Conservative site very useful.
Time to time I have to wander out there and have some coffee over a fire, or sit in a sweat lodge for a while with folks that are my betters... Remember who I am.
Wisdom. Let us attend. Humility is a misunderstood virtue, yet it is the vital foundation. It is a delicate thing and seeking to acquire it puts me in a double bind. It's that "dying to self" thing that is so unnatural to me.
I do appreciate the reply. It's too easy to get sucked into a tit for tat situation with angry and reactionary people. I want to try to steer clear of that. Thoughtful posting was one thing that first attracted me to this board.
Say howdy to Mrs. Don-o - I sure hope she's doing fine.
Grateful for the gift of another day. Just dropped her at the V.A. where she volunteers to sit with dying veterans.
Ahh, the classics - I must admit a dear obsession of mine... As luck would have it, your statement comes at an opportune time: Four years after my divorce, I am finally getting around to unpacking my books. In part, it took so long because I have largely gone electronic (being able to adjust the font keeps the glasses off my nose - Something I am highly in favor of). But there is something lost in the exchange - the smell of the leaves, perhaps... Something to do with stiff, hot tea, overstuffed leather chairs, and pipe smoke...
Anyway, while I am mainly unpacking my religion library, I found one book out of place - It is a green leather bound gold-leaved compendium of the complete works of Mark Twain - perhaps my favorite book of all that I own. Had I not been so old and fat, and gimped up, I might have danced a jig! Anyway, I experienced something close to glee at finding this old friend.
Now I know it's not Ovid, or Herodotus, or even Bede... Not Keats or Thoreu, or Emmerson... But that book is quite likely to be in my hand this evening, and for a few evenings ongoing, and I am happily looking forward to it. And who knows, it may kickstart me back into more serious stuff. And it is certainly better than the sophomoric nonsense I would otherwise lean toward, and offers a needed break from the computer coding that takes up so much of my mind this time of year...
Humility is a misunderstood virtue, yet it is the vital foundation. It is a delicate thing and seeking to acquire it puts me in a double bind. It's that "dying to self" thing that is so unnatural to me.
LOL! you are right, and I am no good at it either - But every now and then, YHWH sends me someone I can respect, capable of giving me a world-class mental beat-down... Humility ensues, and world-view re-alignment follows... That's how it goes for me. : ) And the process repeats - an external monitor kicks in every time I start getting too rowdy. I have met some of my best friends that way...
It's too easy to get sucked into a tit for tat situation with angry and reactionary people. I want to try to steer clear of that.
Another thing I'm not too good at - I have a fierce need to defend serious things, and often it gets away from me. However, I am not here anywhere near like I used to be... Not much sense in it.
Thoughtful posting was one thing that first attracted me to this board.
Posting is nothing! This is the sort of thing for back porches and sweet tea! Your wife should thank God every day that our porches are so very far apart : )
Have a good night, don-o .