I just don't know what my problem is. I want to accomplish this goal but continually procrastinate. In its entirety, the readings totals less than 3 hours and is an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Probably, it is the same thing that grips each of the new scholars I mentor. They see the whole plan laid out before them and freeze. They can't conceive that it can be done and balk at beginning. I need to emblazon C.S. Lewis' quote in my cranium. "The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it, while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come." C.S. Lewis
The next reading is....
- Genesis 13-16
- The Odyssey of Homer, Books I-IV (GBWW Vol. 3, pp. 307-350)
- The “Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln (GGB Vol. 6, pp. 759)
- “Of Death” by Francis Bacon (GGB Vol. 10, pp. 348-349)
- “Beyond the Googol” by Edward Kasner and James Newman (GGB Vol. 9, pp. 137-162; Chapter 2 of Mathematics and the Imagination; this link does not contain the entire chapter, but I couldn’t find the full text anywhere online)
- “The Eruption of Vesuvius” by Pliny the Younger (GGB Vol. 6, pp. 264-270)
- On Old Age by Cicero (GGB Vol. 10, pp. 317-343)
Summing up the last readings....
1. Genesis 10-12: "In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, almost one-third of the total history of mankind is briefly summarized. Although many details were not included, Moses wrote shared one of the most remarkable contrasts in the history of the world. From the time of the Fall the people of the world began moving in two opposite directions. One group followed the teachings of Adam and Eve and continually attempting to live with righteousness and perfection. The other group yielded to the deceitful enticings of Satan and his servants and moved deeper and deeper into depravity and wickedness. Both these divergent paths were followed to their ultimate ends." Then we move into the fascinating journey of Abraham. I've been troubled in the past that Abraham lied about his relationship with Sarai, when they were questioned in Egypt. In my research, I learned: "Abraham could validly state that Sarah was his sister. In the Bible the Hebrew words brother and sister are often used for other blood relatives. (See Genesis 14:14 , in which Lot, Abraham’s nephew, is called “his brother.”) Because Abraham and Haran, Sarah’s father, were brothers, Sarah was Abraham’s niece and thus could be called sister."
2. The Taming of The Shrew: Personally, I like reading The Family Shakespeare, since it leaves out the smutty or questionable parts. I don't give a feather for feminist hatred of this play, because I also don't see it as an "endorsement of a husband’s authority over his wife." I see Kate and Petruchio grow and develop a wonderful relationship of mutual respect and love. In this sort of relationship, husband and wife submit to each other, serve each other, love each other, and attempt to see the best in each other. Petruchio's goal wasn't to gain lordly submission over Kate but to help her out of her awful angry funk. After all it was titled The Taming (not The Submission) of the Shrew. Kate was justifiably angry at her father and sister. Father favored sister and sister held it up to Kate's face. Although Kate's behavior was ridiculous, it was understandable. Petruchio tamed Kate, but she tamed him, too. Then they moved on to developing a mutually fulfilling relationship. Certainly, she came, when he called; as I'm positive he would come, when she called. In Kate's final speech, she talks about owing everything to our husbands. At this point, I believe Petruchio's speech would have been identical.
3. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: I thought this French Declaration would be gory and gruesome like their history. Not so...it even mentions a Supreme Being. Why then did the French Revolution end in the blood bath of the Reign of Terror? Apparently, Edmond Burke predicted this in Reflections of the Revolution in France. Read this book with me to find out.
4. “Sketch of Abraham Lincoln” by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Interesting and delightful that Hawthorne can make a description into a piece of literature.
5. “The Discovery of Radium” by Eve Curie: As I read this biography, my mind kept turning to Kate and Petruchio and again to Mrs. Murry of a Wrinkle in Time. The all encompassing relationship of mutual respect and love that Kate and Petruchio developed was echoed by the Curies. The picture of stew cooking on the Bunsen burner, while mother experimented and her child played in the corner in Wrinkle in Time, was filtched from Madame Curie's actual life. I love how she made her work a family affair. A mother and wife first, she didn't let go of her intellectual side even in the face of professional persecution. For heaven's sake they nearly froze her to death in her storage room lab.
6. The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola by Tacitus: The 'Roman disease' was in full swing here. Romans thought it their right to take over the world using every means at their disposal. They were feared and hated by the people they conquered.
7. On Friendship by Cicero: Since religion is forbidden in public schools, why can do they not teach Cicero. “Friendship can exist only between good men.” What then is a good man? "We mean then by the "good" those whose actions and lives leave no question as to their honor, purity, equity, and liberality; who are free from greed, lust, and violence; and who have the courage of their convictions." He goes on from there to expound this idea. To me Cicero on friendship is nearly identical to Paul on charity.
