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Maps of Meaning
Title: Maps of Meaning Author: Jordan B. Peterson Published: New York: Routledge, 1999 This book has deepened my perception of myths, archetypes, dreams, and ultimately how I understand myself and those around me. It presented a new perspective on how I look at fear and the unknown. Peterson presents his book as a process of discovery. Through personal revelations, thoughts, dreams, and even a letter to his Dad, he takes us on a journey of discovery. “Our most fundamental maps of meaning – maps which have a narrative structure – portray the motivational value of our current state, conceived of in contrast to a hypothetical ideal, accompanied by plans of action, which are our pragmatic notions about how to get what we want.”[1] We have where we are, where we want to go, and how we plan to get there. Whether we realize it or not we have maps that we use every day. The comfortable map of what we know versus that which is not on our map, the unknown. This unknown is the chaos that surrounds us. Fear is not conditioned; security is unlearned, in the presence of particular things or contexts, as a consequence of violation of…
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Clump of Cells?
My brother James called me this morning to vent some frustration he felt on a conversation he had on social media with a lady who is pro-choice. He complained of her calling the fetus just a “clump of cells.” The woman claimed she had an abortion in the past and was proud of this fact. My brother argued back that aren’t we all a “clump of cells?” One would think that arguing that the fetus is just a clump of cells is really a very poor argument. I do admire my brother for standing up and voicing his opinion and attempting to engage with others. Unfortunately, the argument degenerated into name calling and my brother was frustrated as he would really like a real debate or dialogue as to why this woman thought it was okay to have an abortion. Perhaps she did answer his question in a way. The answer is a devaluing of human life. In an age where we claim that we are sensitive to the sacredness of every individual and their unique value, we seem to practice just the opposite. A civilized society honors the individual, especially its weakest members. Let’s face it, none of us…
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Who took the treasure? Exploring the mystery of missing literature in our libraries
Libraries. A place of learning and a repository of knowledge. The other day I visited one of our local branches with my son and grandchildren. While he was returning books and looking for new ones I strolled around the place. I had not been in this particular branch in over a decade. I was surprised at how open it was. Lots of free space. The shelves were half covered with books. The children’s section was huge. Several people were on computers playing games or web browsing. There was the large section of movies and audiobooks. I made my way to the actual book collection. The fiction section was the dominant part with just a small part for non-fiction. As I browsed the fiction books, I noticed many contemporary authors and multiple copies of their books. I walked through the aisles looking for classics or time-honored works. I am a firm believer in classics. They give us a good litmus test to judge contemporary works. After going up and down all the rows of books I walked up to the desk to ask for some help. The young lady behind the counter was very pleasant and seemed eager to help me. …
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How to Read Novels Like a Professor: Book Review
Title: How to Read Novels Like a Professor Author: Thomas C. Foster Published: New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008 About the Author[1] Thomas C. Foster grew up in rural Ohio. His early inspirations to literary works came from Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain. He taught literature from 1975 until his retirement in 2014 with his last 27 years at the University of Michigan-Flint. He has written the following books published under HarperCollins: How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2003, revised 2014), How to Read Novels Like a Professor (2008), Twenty-five Books that Shaped America (2011), How to Read Literature Like a Professor—for Kids (2012), Reading the Silver Screen (2016), and How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse (2018). Less well-known works include Form and Society in Modern Literature (Northern Illinois University Press, 1988), Seamus Heaney (Twayne, 1989), and Understanding John Fowles (University of South Carolina Press, 1994). He is still active writing books and you can find his blog site at thomascfoster.com. My Perspective This book was an accidental find. Meaning I was not looking for it and it was not recommended by anybody I knew. As far as I was concerned…
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Applying the Dignity of Human Life
It is in the practical and concrete application of ethics and morals that we run in to trouble. For example, we may believe that we need to recognize the value of every human being, but how exactly to manifest this in our day to day activities is another matter altogether. How do we give value to the life of a pedophile, rapist, murderer, or specific people like Stalin, Mao, or Hitler? We must first recognize that we are having a problem reconciling the two opinions. What usually happens is that we can agree in the case of a general rule, i.e. that we are made in the image of God and that we need to respect human life. But when it comes to the specific, we have difficulties applying this rule. One needs first to clarify their belief in the original moral statement. Then we compare and rationally understand how this applies to the group or individual we feel compelled to exclude. This may need some soul searching and even a humble admittance that we too have the potential to become that which we most abhor. Let us look at the dignity of a human life. As we have advanced…
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Emile or On Education: Book Review
Title: Emile or On Education Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau Introduction, Translation, and Notes: Allan Bloom Published: New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1979 (Originally published in 1762) About the Author[1] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Genevan philosopher and music theorist, was born June 28, 1712 and died July 2, 1778. His father was a watchmaker and his mother was the niece of a Calvinist minister who died a few days after giving birth. In 1728 he converted to Catholicism and the next year joined a seminary. He dropped out of the seminary and taught music to girls of wealthy families. In 1745 he commenced a relationship with Thérèse Levasseur who was the chambermaid of the hotel where he was staying. They had five children together and all of them were sent immediately to the local foundling home. He married Thérèse in a civil ceremony in 1768. He worked with the Encyclopedists, Diderot and d’Alembert, writing all the articles pertaining to music for the Encyclopédie. In 1754 he reverted to Calvinism and again became a citizen of Geneva. His more famous literary works are Julie, or the New Heloise (1761), Emile, or On Education (1762), The Social Contract (1762), and The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau…
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Childish vs Childlike
At first it may appear that these two terms are very similar as they deal with children. But that is not really true, as we use them many times to describe adult behavior. To be childish has a very negative connotation whereas childlike has a positive connotation. When I think of childish, I think of regression, selfishness, immature, absorbed in one’s own interests in a harmful way. On the contrary, when I think of childlike, I think of curiosity, innocence, smiling faces, youth, energy, trust, amiability, playfulness with a sense of experiencing true leisure, exploration, honesty, and love. The former is more destructive and in opposition to growth and maturity. The latter is a good quality that we should attempt to nurture throughout our life. Let’s face it, there is more to this world and life than we will ever know. When we decide to stop looking at the world around us, exploring and discovering both our inner selves and those around us, we start regressing. It is all how we look at the world. When we give up on the world and think it owes us, or we have taken the measure and found it wanting, when we have…
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Right and Reason: Book Review
Title: Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice, Second Edition Author: Fr. Austin Fagothey, S.J. Published: Charlotte, North Carolina: TAN Books, 2000 About the Author[1] Austin J. Fagothey (1901-1975) was born in San Francisco, California. He entered the Society of Jesus after graduating from St. Ignatius High School in 1917. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1931. Over his long teaching career, he taught English, Greek, theology and philosophy. He chaired the Philosophy Department for thirty years at Santa Clara University and served on its Board of Trustees from 1943-1973. The university awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1974. My Perspective Right and Reason was a required book for my Morality and Justice class that I am finishing up the last week of. Only selected chapters were required reading, but I read the book in its entirety and I am glad I did. It is recommended in the Preface that the reader has some basic understanding of the Aristotelian-Thomistic system. It uses the problem method. “This consists in introducing one of the major problems of ethics, explaining how it arose and…
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Self-Reflection on a Previous Post
I am trying to understand why my post yesterday titled “Rerum Novarum” did not match the potential that I anticipated. I had high hopes for yesterdays blog. It was to be my first blog after of course my opening prayer. So, what happened? Why, when reading it back, do I feel so disappointed? When I read the encyclical for class, I used a printed copy. I made underlines and notations throughout the document. I ended up with several pages of notes and felt prepared to discuss it in class on Saturday morning. We spent part of the class discussing this document. Now, I was really fired up about this encyclical and I expected others to be too. They were, but for different reasons. I almost wondered if we had read the same work. How could someone see something different? Well, as we know, that happens all the time. We all have different life experiences and we come from different perspectives, or viewpoints, when we approach something. When I decided to write the blog, I sat down with my notes and started to write. It is so easy to suffer from indecision. Everything sounded so good in my head until I…
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Rerum Novarum
The encyclical defends the right to personal property, family, marriage, inheritance, and private societies within a state.
