Results of Ruminations

Okay, so maybe the title is a little misleading: We didn't mock  Machiavelli. But it sounds cool, so I wrote it. We did study some of The Prince  in class today, and it's interesting reading it whilst under a state whose actions I tend to disagree with, instead of the opposite. For as long as I've been teaching, I've been able to study The Prince  through the point of view of being in favor with most of the policies coming out of Washington. Under the Obama administration, there were a lot of areas in which Machiavelli and President Obama differed, and those areas where there were parallels were worth considering. Under President Trump, it's fascinating to see how much more is there. For instance, we talked today about how a prince (or state) can get and maintain power. In Machiavelli's words, he says [..I]t is necessary for [a leader of a state] to be sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices which would lose him his s...

There's something that I really want to talk about, but I don't know if there's ever a place or venue in which I should. I know that I shouldn't talk about it here or on Twitter, as I have students who read both. Even if I don't share such an essay online, it'd be  online, archived and ready for viewing. It isn't that I think that this Topic is so horrible or scandalous that students shouldn't read it, but rather I don't know if I want to talk about this Topic with them. I could verbalize it; make my wife suffer through my poorly constructed ideas and rambling sentences. That's the most likely outlet, but I don't know what I expect by airing this Topic, so I don't know if it will help or hinder my feelings. Additionally, it's difficult to know when to have important conversations, what with the differences in patience, energy levels, and emotional states of the different participants. Sometimes, I'd really like to talk about som...

I started my reread of Book IV of Paradise Lost  recently. It took the better part of an hour to get through the first 115 or so lines. They are fraught with implications, questions, and applicable ruminations, which meant that I had to go very, very slowly. And, as so often happens when you're reading good literature, there were three real showstoppers: ...is there no place Left for Repentance, none for Pardon left? (4.79-80) and ...he deserv'd no such return From me, whom he created what I was (4.42-43) and Hadst thou [Satan] the same free Will and Power to stand? Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse, But Heav'ns free Love dealt equally to all? Be then his Love accurst, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe. (4.66-70) Taken out of context as they are, the meaning of the passages is rather opaque. I should probably note that these quotes come from Satan's soliloquy before he enters the eponymous (well, one  of the eponymous)...

A favorite unofficial* hymn of the Mormon peoples is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," written by Robert Robinson . The Tabernacle Choir has a stirring rendition of it, complete with the Mack Wilberg Dramatic Key Change (TM). I learned to play it on the guitar when I was serving a mission for the Church. It's a powerful song, and from its lines I took the title. I've been wondering about the possible plurality of God. With new TV shows like Reza Aslan's Believer  and a genuine crisis of religiosity in America , there's certainly a lot to contemplate when it comes to God, eschatology, and behaviors. Since that's too broad a topic for one essay, I'm going to tighten this idea into the possibility that even members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are worshiping a different God from each other. I should also say that the lack of clarity of this essay stems from my own conflicted confusions about what I'm feeling, so I apologize...

I have received my ballot in the mail. I haven't, much to my shame, put in the time to vote quite yet. I should get that done tomorrow, and have it in the mail by Monday. That should be enough time to get it back before 8 November. The advantage of that is it will give me an opportunity to think about some of the down ballot issues that haven't been getting enough press. While discussing the presidential race with a friend, however, he pointed out that he had decided to vote for Evan McMullin, the low-polling third party. Since I already sounded off on third parties (and I still think they're a bad idea, especially since there's no party loyalty on which they can rely when it comes to the actual governing of the country), I don't want to reiterate anything else on the topic. Instead, I want to consider my friend's comment about voting for the person he thought would be best, rather than the one who would most likely win. That's kept me thinking since ou...

There's a gap, somewhere, as necessary as a space between words, yet perplexing all the same. Video games are unique in many ways, but the most important here is the unreality of the experience, connected via a tiny umbilical cord (now wireless) streaming from the participant to the spectacle. This is not 'naïve realism' versus 'representative realism' or any other philosophical thought experiment. Instead, this is the real experiment of what can constitute definitions of reality, but placed inside of a virtual realm. The game is flat, despite having 3D graphics (or the redundant title of 'stereoscopic vision' being added to give the illusion of dimensional depth to games). The game is silent, despite having 7.1 Dolby Digital sound pumping through the speakers. The game is independent, despite being a console attached to a wall attached to a TV attached to a gamer. Perhaps in a quasi-Buddhist way, we could ask, “If no one is around to play the game, is it...

A good break Thanksgiving has come and gone. The pervasive stench (a delectable one, mind you) of turkey still seems to linger here and there, particularly at the parents' houses. We had an enjoyable time of it, what with the family from many sides here, in large part because of Grandpa's recent passing. The funeral was on the 22 nd , and a great many people stuck around for Thursday. It was really swell to see aunts, uncles, and cousins, though I admit that I am still slightly weirded-out by some of my relatives. But, hey, that's what family is for! The results of my recent ruminations run along several lines—as is often the case—insomuch that I am paralyzed by what I'm trying to express. The odds that this particular blog (still hate that word...so uncouth) will be brief are high. Apostasy and the darkness beyond That's a dreary subheading, isn't it? Well, it's typed. That makes it permanent, I suppose. And even if it doesn't, how am I supposed to ...