Melancholy Atheist

I just read Staring at the Void  by Joanna Bourke (Aug. 30, 2017 Wall Street Journal), a book review of The Human Predicament by David Benatar.  The review said this is Benatar's message:  "Ultimately, our lives are meaningless. Evolution is blind and serves no intrinsic purpose; in a cosmic sense, we each live for an insignificant amount of time. Furthermore, the lives we do lead are often suffused with suffering."  Well, that is not cheerful.  I see a recurring melancholy in atheist writing.

Here are some sections from The Garden of Proserpine by Algernon Charles Swinburne.  I sense a melancholy mood here.

...
Though one were strong as seven,
         He too with death shall dwell,
Nor wake with wings in heaven,
         Nor weep for pains in hell;
Though one were fair as roses,
His beauty clouds and closes;
And well though love reposes,
         In the end it is not well.
...
From too much love of living,
         From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
         Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
         Winds somewhere safe to sea.

Here is a section from Gravelly Run by A. R. Ammons and I found the poem veering away from lovely to melancholy here.  The author notices what he is missing.
...
    I see no
god in the holly, hear no song from
the snowbroken weeds ...

The WSJ book review by Joanna Bourke later reports that Mr. Benatar tells us, "that the universe is 'indifferent to our coming' into this world, it will be 'indifferent to our going.' In fact, the universe does not care, he adds, because 'it has no attitudes at all.'”

Perhaps a sense of melancholy from a denial of God is some spur from the soul to seek God.

Robert

Nice Interview with Thomas Sowell

In the Saturday March 18, 2017 issue of the Wall Street Journal, page A13, you can find a nice interview with Thomas Sowell.  It is, "The Education of an American Sage" by Tunku Varadarajan.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-education-of-an-american-sage-1489791759
It is not earth shattering, but it is nice.

Robert

Thomas Sowell is a National Treasure

After reading the appalling book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates I looked for an intelligently written book on race written by a black person.  It did not make sense to look for a book on race written by a white person.  I was as impressed by the book Intellectuals and Race by Thomas Sowell as I was appalled by the Ta-Nehisi Coates book.  Mr. Coates attended Howard University and dropped out of college.  Thomas Sowell found Howard University lacking in academic rigor and transferred to Harvard University.  Mr. Sowell graduated, Mr. Coates did not.  Thomas Sowell went on to get a Masters from Columbia and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.  You might think the difference in education between the two authors is responsible for the disparate quality of thought between the two writers, but getting a Ph.D. does not automatically lead to clear thinking.  No.  There are plenty of Ph.D.s with twisted thinking and intemperate writing.  Thomas Sowell is just plain great.

I am now reading A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell, which is a real treat.  This week the Wall Street Journal ran an essay by Jason L. Riley, Thomas Sowell, a Fearless Contrarian, Puts Down the Pen, which laments Dr. Sowell quitting his syndicated column as a step towards retirement.  Mr. Riley wrote this in his essay:  "My friend then wrote down the name of a book, “Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?” I retrieved it from the school library that afternoon and read it that same evening. I returned to the library the following day, checked out the remainder of its Sowell collection, and spent the next couple of weeks immersed in his writings."

Thomas Sowell was publishing books while I was still in high school.  Now that I am in middle age I discover him when he is 86 years old and slowing down.  I am glad I finally discovered him.  I intend to read more of his books.  I will be exploring his personal website, http://www.tsowell.com/,  and his web page at the Hoover Institute,  http://www.hoover.org/profiles/thomas-sowell, which has links to his articles at Creators Syndicate, http://www.creators.com/read/thomas-sowell.

Thomas Sowell is a national treasure.  You might want to check out his books.

Robert

PS, an example of a nutty African American writer can be found in this New York Times article, Michael Eric Dyson Believes in Individual Reparations by ANA MARIE COX JAN. 4, 2017.  What he has to say about reparations is absurd.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/magazine/michael-eric-dyson-believes-in-individual-reparations.html

Translations of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

There are many translations of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.  It is important, I think, to know what you are getting when you get a copy of the Meditations for your study.  I think if you are reading Marcus Aurelius for the first time you should consider getting the best translation, which is by Maxwell Staniforth (1964) on Amazon here.  Here is the opening line from the Staniforth translation.  "Courtesy and serenity of temper I first learnt to know from  my grandfather Versus."  This version is not in the public domain so you need to buy a copy of the book.  The book is out of print, so when you buy it on the used book market there is a chance your seller will mess up and send you another book from Penguin Classics, but you don't want that translation because it is flat and lifeless.  You should get the 1964 version from Maxwell Staniforth.  Here is a photo of the book cover.

The book is isbn 0140441409.  There a second entry for the 1964 book on Amazon.  It is odd that there are two entries for the same book on Amazon, but Amazon is not perfect.  You want the out-of-print Penguin edition because the new translation (2002) that is in-print is awful.

Here are other versions of this first verse from the Meditations.

"Of my grandfather Versus I have learned to be gentle and meek, and to refrain from all anger and passion."  Translator:  Meric Casaubon in 1634.  This is available online at Project Gutenberg as the Meditations.

"From my grandfather Versus I learned to relish the beauty of manners, and to restrain all anger." Translator:  Francis Hutcheson (1742).  Online link.

"From my grandfather Versus I learned good morals and the government of my temper."
Translated by George Long (1862).  A Dover Thrift edition available online here.  I do like the Dover Thrift edition.  This is also available online from Project Gutenberg as THE THOUGHTS OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.  Yes, there are two versions of the Meditations at Project Gutenberg.

"From my Grandfather Versus, a kindly disposition and sweetness of temper."  Translated by C. R. Haines 1915.  You can briefly view an online copy here.  The Haines translation can be purchased as a book here.

Now you can select the version of the Meditations you like best. Enjoy your reading!

Robert

Good Acapella Gospel Singing

I want to mention a couple of great acapella gospel albums.  One is Anywhere Is Home by Jean Redpath and Lisa Neustadt.  Here is the list of songs on the album.
1. Turn Your Radio On
2. Just As the Evening Sun
3. Precious Lord
4. Standing on the Promises
5. Now My Dear Companions
6. Life's Railway to Heaven
7. Jesus Hold My Hand
8. If You Believe
9. Let the Lower Lights Be Burning
10. Anywhere Is Home
11. Oh, He's Taken My Feet
12. When Morning Comes
13. Grey Funnel Line
14. Run Come See Jerusalem
15. Sailor's Prayer
16. Near the Cross
17. Face to Face

I was not familiar with #9 Let the Lower Lights Be Burning and #14 Run Come See Jerusalem until I purchased this album and I like them very much.  This album has song samples on Amazon.  The liner notes are very nice.  They include comments on the songs and all the lyrics.  Comments on songs #2 and 3 say that some songs are from an old hymnal, Awakening Glory, owned once by Davis Hammel, a circuit rider preacher in Oklahoma's past.  These are certainly old time gospel songs.  They are largely acapella, but there is occasionally some light instrumentation.

When you read the lyrics to Run Come See Jerusalem you see the song describes the shipwreck of the Pretoria, a ship that went down in the Great Lakes.  Here is a URL to a discussion on this song:  http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=67533.  It seems to me that Run Come See Jerusalem is more a folk song than a gospel song.  The singers are more folk singers than gospel singers through their careers.

Here is an article about Jean Redpath and here is an article about Lisa Neustadt.  The article about Neustadt mentions she was a child when her family fled Nazi Germany in the 1930's to escape the persecution of the Jews.  We in America have forgotten  that millions of Jews were murdered by the Nazis.  In Treblinka alone 800,000 men, women, and children were systematically killed by Germans, the best educated people in Europe.  I believe it is by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that people can resist the temptation to do evil.  Gospel music is more than entertainment, it is an inspiration to lead Godly lives.

Another album of theirs is Angels Hovering Round.  Here are the songs on this album.
1. Where the Soul of Man Never Dies
2. Land Where We'll Never Grow Old
3. There Are Angels Hovering 'Round
4. Dry Bones
5. Lighthouse
6. Precious Memories
7. This World Is Not My Home
8. Angel Band
9. Harbour Bells
10. Down on My Knees
11. Jesus, Won't You Come By Here?
12. Give Me Your Hand
13. Have Thine Own Way

Both singers are dead.  Enjoy their songs while their albums are still available.

Robert

Optometist David Fitzhugh Out of Business

Dr. David Fitzhugh in Plano had been my optometrist for many years.  I called his office a few weeks ago and there was no answer and no answering machine.  I drove to his office and looked and all his eye glass  material was removed from his office and his business was not open.

There is now a temporary sign up for a geriatrics clinic.  Dr. Fitzhugh's website for Plano Vision is still on the web.  I did not receive a post card nor a call that he was going out of business. I've been going to him for 20 years.  I do not know what happened to him. If you are wondering what happened to him, at least you don't have to drive to his office like I did.

Robert

Jim Rousselle and Chess

I was just thinking about how nice chess has been in my life. When I was in high school I was a kid without any real direction and I was not a dedicated student.  Chess caught my imagination.  It was at first a mystery on how to play the game.  In high school an older student in the chess club lent me a copy of  New Ideas in Chess by Larry Evans.  When I finished this book my chess playing improved significantly.  Then I read The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev and I found myself using some of the strategic ideas in my games. What was great about chess was way rules of the game created so many possibilities, yet there were still ideas to pull out of the  complexity, ideas that made sense.  Chess moved from being a mystery to being a revelation.

Physics and mathematics have revealed laws of nature that describe how the universe around us works.  And chess masters have revealed the laws of chess.  Chess is a lot like mathematics where a small number of rules creates a rich and complex system.  I enjoyed chess for many years and it was studying chess that led me to develop study skills that helped me do well in mathematics, science, and engineering at college.

I was in a Catholic all-boys school, Brother Martin, and a Chinese student in the chess club recommended I run for election as the club president even though I would not be a senior.  Traditionally the president was a senior.  After I won the election I wanted to be a good president so I arranged for us to have chess matches with other schools.  When we played Holy Cross High School their 1st board was a freshman named Jim Rousselle. Our 1st board was a senior and Jim wiped him out.

I could drive so I offered to drive Jim to the Eches Carre Chess Club, which at that time was meeting in the Milton Latter Library on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.  Jim mopped the floor with everyone.  While Jim was still in high school he became the Louisiana State Chess Champion.  He defeated all the adults.  I remember one time when I was picking him up he set up a chess position from memory and showed me a spectacular combination played by Frank Marshall, the famous American chess champion.  Jim could remember entire games from memory.  Can you picture how talented Jim Rousselle was and is still?  I just checked and he won the state championship for the 6th time in 2013.

One more story about Jim.  We met at a high school chess tournament at Jesuit High School and I groaned because I knew how out-matched I was.  He told me I could pick my color and the opening.  I chose white and I asked him to play the Queen's Gambit Declined.  I thought this might be my best chance for a draw. Then he sacrificed his queen.  Of course he crushed me.  The combination was so nice he had it published in the Louisiana Chess Association (LCA) Chess Bulletin.

It was an older player in high school who helped me improve by loaning a book to me.  I like to think I helped Jim Rousselle on his road to success in chess.  Finding the Eches Carre Chess Club was difficult.  There was no internet at that time so I do not know how he would have found it if I had not taken him there.  They did not advertise, but they had great players and they had club tournaments that helped me and Jim grow as players.

Helping others is a Confucian concept.  From the CONFUCIAN ANALECTS by James Legge, Book VI, CHAP. XXVIII, Verse 2, we have this:  "Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others."  You can download this version of the Analects from Project Gutenberg, or you can purchase my book on Confucianism , Achieve Lasting Happiness: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Life by Robert E. Canright, Jr., that includes the Analects. This is my introduction to the Analects for general reader.

Chess has been a big part of my life.  It has been very satisfying.  I was once in a chess tournament in Richardson, Texas, and I saw my opponent was Rodney Thomas.  I said to myself, "I know a Rodney Thomas from New Orleans."  Well, my opponent was Rodney Thomas from New Orleans.  He was a freshman while I was a senior in high school.  He was now much better in chess than I was and he defeated me soundly, but it was a pleasure to meet him as an adult and to get to know him better.

FYI:  here is a link to some of Jim Rousselle's games on the internet: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=132728

Chess has been good to me in so many ways:  learning to study, personal growth, like developing a sense of intuition, and then the joy of companionship with other players.  I recommend chess to you.

Robert