Since the beginning of recorded history, empires and civilizations have risen and fallen; sometimes they would seem to have completely disappeared. It would probably be truer to say that the races who have developed the varying civilizations have disappeared, but that their gifts to the world have survived, not always in the form in which they gave them, but in the form in which the world has needed them.
Dorothy Mills, on the fall of Rome in the introduction to her Book of the Middle Ages.
An observation after having run every day for 297 days in a row:
The first mile is almost always the worst/hardest mile of any run.
That’s why he and two co-authors—Dweck and Greg Walton of Stanford—recently performed a study that suggests it might be time to change the way we think about our interests. Passions aren’t “found,” they argue. They’re developed.
From a much appreciated article by Olga Khazan—especially for those of us in the world of K-12 Classical Education.
Change your name, and fool the angel of death. Read more from my recent article for the Feast of the Holy Name here.
Spent some time reflecting on Psalm 91, vocation, the Daily Office, work and life balance, and more on a good friend’s podcast this week. Give it a listen here!
Working title for a writing project I am chipping away at these days:
Presence in a Virtual Age: a sacramental theology you didn’t know you needed
I have to imagine that those who work towards developing or are in any way excited about the Metaverse have only ever watched the first five minutes of a Black Mirror episode.
I'm not so sure that the problem with Twitter is that people are feeling the need to hold back from posting on Twitter...
Also, there is a name for what "holds people back" from posting: Temperance.
The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is essential background reading for the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). The parallels and inversions between the two are uncanny.
From mocking him, to being intrigued as I learned more about his personal life (including his visit to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, where I spent some time before my ordination), to a borderline fascination with the man, I am now listening to Matthew McConaughey narrate his autobiography. A real treat so far.
Three quick thoughts as I approach two months without a smart phone.
From confused phone carriers to pick-up orders to Amazon needing to verify that I am actually me when I login on my computer, the modern world is built around the notion that every customer owns a smart-phone with email and browser access, alongside the instant ability to download an app. This was likely true before the pandemic, but is increasingly noticeable now.
The basic temptation in the Garden of Eden boils down to this:
Take, eat. This food is your path towards independence from your Creator. Towards reliance on yourself alone. In this bite lies the ability to define your own world. To reorder the universe around your own desires.
Whereas refusing to read these authors and learn about their worlds — or to do so merely in order to melt them down in the moral acids of our own unexamined certainties — is to close ourselves off both from our own past and from the possibility of living a fully self-aware life in the present.
That there are people in our time who see little value in the study of the classics is hardly surprising. There have always been those who care little for learning, or who value it only for its usefulness in advancing practical projects. But that such a crude form of philistinism has begun to gain a foothold in the very institutions tasked with preserving and passing on our classical inheritance is troubling. It's a sign that present-day political concerns and obsessions have begun to intrude on and badly distort the work of the university.
Damon Linker, Cancel the Classics?
Catholicism is a very tangible business—it's about seeing and hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling as much as it's about texts and arguments and ideas.
George Weigel, Letters to a Young Catholic
Christians have apparently been praying for AD 2020 for quite some time…
From The Great Litany, which will open our Advent services tomorrow.
introducing istherepublicstillintact.com
(This was an oddly theraputic way to spend thirty minutes.)
Someone needs to purchase istherepublicstillintact.com and update with a simple “Yes" or “No" so that we can all get on with our lives this week.
Is there an indiweb/open alternative to Strava, etc.? I also use Smashrun, but would love a site that visualizes all of my data, not just runs.
Spent most of the past month working through potential return-to-school guidelines. This just about sums up the experience thus far.
From Aesop’s Fables for Children.
From a sermon preached in 2007 by Archbishop Rowan Williams.
Re-reading Watership Down with a group if incoming high school freshmen this summer has been a real treat. Never thought I would say that about a book about bunnies…
Today’s (road trip + birthday) breakfast. Austin has its fair share of great brisket, and Valentina’s is up there.
All work email is officially blocked on all devices for the next eight days. One of the few true breaks from work in the year. Looking forward to it … especially after the withdrawal dissipates.
Ready for another season of (mostly) news-free online life.
Freedom is now setup to perpetually block all news sites other than one local site and the Economist. A few of my favorite columnist are available via RSS.