Alexander, the pupil of Aristotle for a while, met with the High Priest at Jerusalem on his way to conquer Asia, as reported by Josephus. From Book xi. 4-5, Jaddua the high priest was in terror when he heard that Alexander was coming. Alexander had sent a letter to Jerusalem during his siege of Tyre, asking for provisions, auxiliaries, and suggesting that Jerusalem send tribute now instead to him rather than Darius. The high priest had answered Alexander that…”he had given hi

Ghosts are souls that are somehow stuck in their involvement in worldly things, and so are not in the best condition. From both the Dixboro Ghost and the ghost in Hamlet , we conclude that these are stuck regarding revenge, or the injustice of their murders and revenge toward their murderers. In the Dixboro story, one mark of authenticity- aside from the question of what ghosts are- is that Martha undergoes a Purgatory, as well as revealing one and preventing another a murder

Long ago, I heard that Gilson noted that the word "is" is used in the same sense in the works of Plato and in the tetragrammaton, despite there having been no connection yet between the Greeks and the Israelites of 1350 B.C. I resolved then- 45 years ago, to get this book, and finally have acquired it. His comment on Romans 1, basing Christian philosophy on what is implied there, is very helpful. Gilson seems to assume that philosophy is the universal of "a philosophy," a com

I am overjoyed with the dramatic approach to reading the dialogues as showing the story of Socrates, and already with the suggestion that Phaedrus comes after Symposium. That the Laws comes FIRST, chronologically, rather than last, and has reference ONLY to pre-Socratic and NOT Socratic philosophy blows open a certain aspect of the Laws. Zuckert directs me to Strauss, Symposium, pp. 186-191 on daimonia, and I'm blown away again! The "gods" are spitits- in Phaedrus mediators t

#1 Leonard Cohen Suzanne This is, in our opinion, the most perfect lyric poem ever written. Written by Leonard Cohen, whose very name means “priest,” it is also famously sung, with slight alterations, by Judy Collins, the lady of the blue eyes. One night in Chicago, a woman named Judy played guitar until her fingers bled, while her friend was breaking a heart, and had she not continued, I would not have been introduced to this song, nor would I have seen one of the most beaut

From Genius lyrics: We skipped the light fandango Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor I was feeling kinda seasick But the crowd called out for more The room was humming harder As the ceiling flew away When we called out for another drink The waiter brought a tray [Chorus] And so it was that later As the miller told his tale That her face, at first just ghostly Turned a whiter shade of pale [Bridge 1] [Verse 2] She said, there is no reason And the truth is plain to see But I wa

Notes- [in progress] p. 2: "How much medical knowledge could we really have about psychiatric disorders, if we have no scientific understanding of how healthy thoughts and feelings are generated?" p. 3: ...a pattern of signs and symptoms.....In the absence of any known cause maladies are referred to as "disorders"- as are all of psychiatry's diagnoses. Without a definitive cause to identify and correct, disorders often lack any definitive treatment." These are symptoms, as is

1971 Jethro Tull Aqualung (Almo Music Corp) Ian Anderson said, in Ann Arbor in 2010, that he is not “so miserable a bugger” as Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd, by which he means that he is not so dark and moody. In the flute of the woodland elfin type creature, the character of Ian Anderson brings a bit of light and color into the dark woods that makes his world a bit brighter than that explored by Floyd. He is the whistler, who brings us songs of a mysterious, high and beautifu

From Plato’s Apology, Phaedrus and Ion The best, or most beautiful and meaningful music comes to us, as we have been saying, not directly by knowledge, but by a kind of inspiration. Musical inspiration is different from religious inspiration, but is a kind of inspiration nonetheless.[5] While it comes from “within,” the source of the greatest songs is from “above” or “outside” the composers themselves, in some sense. Inspiration presupposes “art,” in the sense of technical a

[In progress...] I am looking forward to an opportunity to think out evolutionary thought, justice and the soul. The author has a reading of the Platonic cosmos of dialogues- excepting the Laws- which is going to be very helpful. I have been trying to link the development of human communities to the modern anthropology discoveries, understanding these as developing together. The family is older than man. There were many kinds of humans, but our species was demarcated by do

Seasons in the Sun is a poem by Jacques Brel, translated and popularized by Rod McKeuen, then reshaped for a popular song by Terry Jacks. It is one of only four great songs of transcendent sorrow or incredible despair of a sort that could not enter popular lyric poetry until the Sixties. In the popular version, the last section of the Brel poem La Moribond is changed to delete reference to his adulterous wife Francois, and include the Jacks section “Goodbye Michelle, my li

One is tempted to say that all genuine psychology proceeds by analogy- so we had better consider this logic of analogy- all they say is that it is a kind of induction. Questions for the logic of analogy: There are vertical and horizontal analogies: same form in 2 like instances, and a visible form like an invisible truth. The corn field in august does not by nature participate in that of which it is an image vertically, but horizontally... So passing by a cemetery one day, I

Collection in progress: send additions. Leo Strauss often addresses modern social science, but rarely or never addresses modern psychology and psychiatry directly in print. He mentions Freud, but never Carl Jung. I will begin a collection of statements, as these occur occasionally in his classes, such as on the Gorgias. Gorgias Class 1, at 1:12:00 It turns out that this section is not in the transcript, and is apparently from an Aristotle class tape over- the section read is

The origin of the Alphabet may turn out to have something to do with Abraham and the descendants of Abraham in Egypt, connecting two studies: the reading of Genesis and the linguistic archaeology evident from a patient reading of the history of the alphabet. The origin of the alphabet is known to have something to do with Egypt, Crete, Phoenicia or Byblos, and ancient Greece. From Wikipedia: The history of alphabetic writing goes back to the consonantal system used for Semiti

Seven Nation Army Many points here are taken from contributors to the website Songmeanings.com . The guitar riff became famous when played at sports events, though no one much gets the meaning. It is a rare example of a marching beat, like martial rathe than religious music, though it is in fact uniquely both at once. I sang parts of this song this morning when I woke up. Some songs one has to live in order to understand. All fibs are told to protect the innocents. It is s

Blue Orchid is about the corruption of innocence, probably in love, though the song has been read as being about molestation, and may carry this meaning as an undercurrent. Commentators, as on Songmeanings, note that a Russian child sex ring was named “Blue Orchid.” But that is not the meaning here. The reason that it seems the song must be about love and infidelity is the line “Your lips taste sour / But you think its just me teasing you.” The lyrics are these: You got a re