The Daily Eudemon

First Segment: We continue our historical review. In this second-to-last episode, we look at the 1400s. Second Segment: Florence and the invention of the Bill of Exchange. Third Segment: Money, currency, gold, stimulus.  Fourth Segment: Is every person in the medical field a hero?  Fifth Segment: The Left is claiming states rights. It's a topsy-turvy time. 

This morning's essay. COVID, Napoleon, Snoring, and the Existential Gap. 

First Segment: The 1300s. The rise of the Ottomans, The Avignon Papacy, the Great Papal Schism, the 100 Years War, the Black Death, the Renaissance. Second Segment: How medieval wars were like NFL games. Third Segment: Lightning Segments. 

Michigan's capricious COVID shut down order.  Literary short stories are like scripture: both are dense with significance. The years 1190 to 1274: Crusades, Robin Hood, Mongols, Thomas Aquinas

First Segment: We cover the years 1000 to 1200. Ish. Revival of the Byzantine Empire, Saints Francis and Dominic, the Sunni Seljuk Turks, launching the Crusades.  Second Segment: Lightning Segments. Third Segment: My Dad during the Korean War. He was kept stateside and didn't like it. He didn't like it because bored officers imposed all sorts of petty rules. Welcome to life in the United Stat...

Today we cover 622 to 692. The Dark Ages. The Carolingian Empire. Vikings. Magyars. A dark and fascinating era of history.  Lightning Segments. Pete Singer on Econtalk? WTH? My theory about why public discourse has become so fragmented: We're wealthy. 

Almost this entire episode talks about the years 313 AD to 622 AD. It covers Emperor Constantine's Edict of Milan that proclaimed religious toleration, thereby ending Christian persecution, the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the west, and the reign of Justinian in the 500s. This episode concludes with a lengthy Lightning Segments. 

Coronavirus Ramblings. Do you like the social distancing? Then maybe you're an introvert. What you can (can't) do to protect yourself.  The years 27 BC to 313 AD. Octavius becomes emperor. Stoicism. The Roman Peace begins. . . Christianity begins. 

Part Three in our attempt to develop an historical sense: 399 BC to 27 BC. The Death of Socrates to the First Roman Emperor. Other topics touched upon: Alexander the Great and beautiful Persian women, Pyrrhic victories, Carthage. Plus Lightning Segments: Scrivener and Hallow Apps, The Storm Before the Storm, contemporary situations that disrupt the post-modern binary-obsessed worldview. 

My family moved to a new house today. The future looks bright ( cue Timbuk 3 ), but right now, things are a bit crazy. I muse here about moving, coffee, the "F" words, and other matters. Short episode. Regular episodes resume next week. 

Why does Gnosticism even matter? Because it provides a crucial key to understanding modern and postmodern political discourse. Gnosticism, in today's world, laces the Left, just as Christianity laces the Right.  Lightning Segments: Murder of Playboy model, GMO v. Non-GMO. 586-400 BC: The Babylonian Captivity, the start of the Roman Republic, Cyrus the Great, the Athenian Golden Age. 

What is the primary ingredient of Gnosticism? Plato: Inability to deal with the Metaxy.  Lightning Segments.  The year 1300 BC to 586 BC: Moses to the Babylonian Captivity. What was happening in Greece during this time? 

1300 BC to 1492: Moses to Columbus. These ten years are designed to give you a rough grasp of western civilization from the beginning of recorded history to the dawn of the modern world. 1300 BC, 589 BC, 399 BC, 27 BC, 313 AD, 622, 1000, 1274, 1453, 1492. Lightning Segments: Coronavirus and statistics, charity scam, John Simon. John Simon and Yoko Ono.

What happens when society undergoes huge psychological shifts? When Europe discovered in 1492 that the world contained another entire continent, the seeds of the Reformation were planted. When Alexander the Great conquered Asia, the seeds of Christianity and its evil twin, Gnosticism, were planted. LIghtning Segments. Secondhand things. The virtue of prudence: choosing among competing goods. How t...

Segment One: Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions describes two conflicting visions: constrained and unconstrained. William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet fall in the unconstrained. The Catholic Church and Postmodernism fall in the constrained?  Segment Two: Lightning Segments: Jane Austen's lost books, other. Segment Three: St. Francis de Sales and "weave a little nosegay." Spray a lot...

Another saint of the desert: St. Macarius. Why all the saint days in January? It's cold. The desert is hot.  But January is a lot like the desert. Desolate. Forbidding . . . Silent.  Russia has a long history of hermits. "Mystics of the Northern Forests." Russia has a long, weird religious history in general. I flush it out here in summary form.  Lightning Segments Music for Lightin...

Segment One: Feast Day of St. Anthony is coming up. Everything you need to know about the desert monastic movement of the 4th century. Segment Two: Some quotes from St. Anthony and their application to today's world.  Segment Three: Lightning Segments. Segment Four: Logic and reason tell us God and the World don't exist. What do you do with that information? 

Show Notes for This Episode's First Segment: I was reading David Mikics biography of Jacque Derrida. He points out that the first large urban civilizations—like Babylon and Egypt—“used writing as an elite mechanism for social control. The secrets of the realm remained in the hands of the few who had knowledge of script.” Did universal literacy eliminate this? Maybe in part. But it’s still there. H...

Discussion about how a libertarian can support a porn ban. . . and the real reason why a libertarian may not support a porn ban. Lightning Segments; The existential threat hangover, the Symbolic World's interview with Sevilla King, Game of Thrones.

Philosophy 101: Logic and reason always fall short. There is an act of faith at the beginning of every logical endeavor . . . and it’s an act of faith that can’t be reasoned to. It’s why Zen is wrapped in absurdity and possibly why Thomas Aquinas grew silent at the of his life. Lightning Segments: Southwest Michigan, Time Restricted Eating, Gavin McInnes

I lived near Hillsdale for 50 years but never stepped foot on its campus. Now that I have, I'm kicking myself for not doing so much sooner.  I back off my philosophy advice from the previous episode. If you're going to pursue philosophy, you need to believe there's truth. If you don't believe that, don't bother. Unfortunately, I suspect most colleges and universities have philosophy departmen...

Advice for a college freshman who is interested in philosophy. Lightning Segments: Chambermaids, smiling, health care. Wasting time and existence.

Nothing but Lightning Segments. Unusual episode today. Discussion topics veer all over the place: vodka-tonics; Portland, Maine; cobblestone streets; Starblush Ale; comedy nights; Nassim Taleb; Newport, Rhode Island. All of it (after the introduction) in the Lightning Segment format.

Kim Kardashian was recently baptized into the Armenian Oriental Church. So, she's a Copt. Actually, no. But she's in full communion with the Copts. I flush it out--Copts, Chalcedon, Kardashians, Kanye. Extended Lightning Segments. Boston, Evander Holyfield's mama, Cure de Ars, more. 

Why do I celebrate Halloween? Because it celebrates evil, and we need more evil in this post-modern society. I explain.  Monsters from the Id and zombies.  Lightning Segments. Shapeshifting: A metaphysical intuition that change is not good?