God's Working in my Life Again!

Oh man, I LOVE it when He does this!
On Monday, I was floating around Facebook and I read something about how little time people spend reading their bible. We always have time to check Facebook, blogs, and email several times a day, but not a moment for Psalm or Proverb. I was convicted of that one for sure. I wake up every morning at 5:30AM, grab my "morning" book (a Great Books one), a cup of coffee, and my cell phone...so I can see what time it is...right. I usually check my oh so important emails and blogs. Then spend time on Facebook. Most of my blogs and inspirational stuff is linked to it, so I find all kinds of great things to read for a half an hour or more. Then I move on to my book. There should be one more step though, my bible.

Tuesday, I opened my bible to where I was reading last, Psalms. Read a bit, closed it. Same thing on Wednesday.

Thursday morning. This is the day I go down and help my Grandpa. I have to leave at 8AM. Do I have time for that extra reading? Yes, I do. If I do nothing else, my bible reading should be first on my list of to-do's. So, I read Psalm 143 and highlight this, "Let me hear Your loving kindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk;" And I make this note next to it, "I feel like right now more than ever, I need God's help and guidance. I can't get through this family strife and helping Grandpa without His help!" And then I go my merry way.

Thursday evening, I get in the car to come home. "John & Ken" are on the radio station...blah. Not in the mood for that kind of negativity. I hit the search button and the radio stops. It sounds like a comedian and I keep listening. He's talking about relationships and how to be wise. I'm nodding and agreeing. I really needed to hear this. Turns out, it's Rick Warren. His words went straight to my heart and make a mental note to look up the program when I get home. He has a study out called "You're making me crazy!". I need it.

This morning, I open my bible and make a note about hearing Rick Warren, then look at the previous page and see my note from yesterday. Wow. I had forgotten all about it. I love it when God works in my life. I know where to look for help every time. Why does He love me so much to take that kind of time? He amazes me.

Finished reading "Antigone" by Sophocles

And the curse continues. Seriously, what did this family do?

My favorite quotes from this one?

“No man can be fully known, in soul and spirit and mind, until he hath been seen versed in rule and lawgivings.”

Creon says this about himself. He had taken rule over the land when Oedipus died and took into his care Oedipus' children. He's pretty proud of himself. But it is true. Power can change a person, even a good one. We cannot really know how someone will react to receiving power over another. We can test it with a little power at a time and see what they do with it, but “ultimate power will corrupt ultimately”.

“when one who hath been caught in wickedness then seeks to make the crime a glory.”

Creon says this about Antigone because he believes she is going mad trying to get out of what she has done. But she isn't. I think she is right. She is ultimately responsible to her god and family before her king. She isn't not trying to hide or justify what she has done. She is standing up to tyranny. Kill me if you must, but I know I've done was is right.

Also, Haemon (Creon's son, betrothed of Antigone) comes in to his father and does not go right into that he believes his father is wrong. He goes in on a positive note and then goes into trying to make his father see another side of the argument. Always a good idea. You catch more flies with sugar, right? So he butters him up a bit, but when he sees his father has gone right over the edge of tyranny, that he just cannot be wrong, he tells him like it is and storms out.

“For if any man thinks that he alone is wise – that in speech, or in mind, he hath no peer – such a soul, when laid open, is ever found empty.”

and

“That is no city, which belongs to one man. Thou wouldst make a good monarch of a desert.”

Only when Teiresias the seer enters and tells him what will become of him, does he begin to see his errors, but it's too late. He had ample warning and opportunity to learn from others.

“All men are liable to err; but when an error hath been made, that man is no longer witless or unblest who heals the ill into which he hath fallen, and remains not stubborn.”

Exactly. Everyone makes mistakes but to not own up to them because of pride, well that's unforgivable. And when someone errs against us, it is our responsibility to forgive them when they make amends. Don't let pride get in your way on either side.

Finished Reading “Oedipus The King” by Sophocles

I love reading plays. I can hear the voices and see the scenes in my head. Sometimes prose is nice because there is a lot more description of scenes and costumes, but a play is all you. I envision the set they are on, how the light hits them, who is in the shadows. When I read I hear Oedipus as he commands and Iocasta as she pleads for him to cease his searching. But when I try to read it out loud...it bombs. The words don't sound half as pretty coming out of my mouth as they do in my head. I was never much of an actress.

Everyone knows the plot of Oedipus, right? The story is so much better read or seen live on stage, let me tell you. Here is my favorite line in the whole play, “Alas, how dreadful to have wisdom where it profits not the wise!” I wonder how many people think that each day.

Why was Oedipus cursed in this way? What did he do? The curse was actually on his father and his father attempted to change fate by having his baby son killed. But like any good movie, he doesn't actually do the deed, he has someone else do it and of course that guy has no motive to kill a baby and tries to save it. The prophesy is fulfilled and so many peoples lives are ruined. Why? What did his father do to deserve this curse?

Is is because of this line? “The old prophecies concerning Laius are fading; already men are setting them at nought, and nowhere is Apollo glorified with honours; the worship of the gods is perishing.”

Is the point of the play to show that ultimately the gods will get their dues? Did Laius fail in serving Apollo and that is why he cursed him? And did Oedipus' belief that he could outrun the prophecy make the gods continue their curse against his family? What will happen to his children now? Will this curse continue to run through their family for generations?

I always leave these plays with more questions than when I started.

Gold Fever Trail!

It was Saturday and I felt like we just HAD to do something fun. So I asked Dan if he wanted to drive up to Big Bear and drive the Gold Fever Trail to Holcomb Valley and he said yes. Yay! I made a big breakfast, packed a picnic, and we were off!

We had to stop for gas and Jake wanted to order a part for his dirt bike, grip covers because bushes hurt, he says. Then we headed up the mountain. It was about 80 when we left and breezy but up on the mountain it was 75, clear and beautiful. I have been wanting to drive this trail for about a year now, but saved it for a day when Dan could go too. It didn't need to be a super cool day because most of it is driving with short walks to places a few hundred yards off the road.

We arrived at the Big Bear Discovery Center at a little after noon. We had to get a trail map and a new Adventure Pass since our expired last month. The place was very busy. The boys and I come up during the week and there is never anyone here but us. This time it was packed with people! This is the Big Bear I remember from my childhood. We always came on the weekends in the summer, or on the weekends when it had just snowed...and so does everyone else in the surrounding cities.

The “Gold Fever Trail” starts about a mile up the road from the Discovery Center. It's mostly dirt but not a bad drive. The last couple miles get a might bumpier though. 

The first stop on the trail we missed, but we found the second one. It was where the miners dug some dirt and took it to a pond to sluice it. Pretty anti-climatic. It's a hole in the ground. Might have been dug, might have just been there, didn't look like much. We drove on.

A hole in the ground.

 The next stop was supposed to be Two Gun Bill's Saloon....which turned out to be a couple of old logs. It was only where some people believed the saloon to be but it wasn't. The logs left behind are from some cabin in the 30's. Hmm...

We found some scraps of metal and a base for a motor at Grasshopper Quartz Mill. Not much left though. We have been on a lot of these kind of guided hikes and drives. The ones in other states are much better. The farther away from people centers the better stuff you find. Big Bear has been pretty much picked over and there isn't much to look at. The weather is nice, the trees are nice, the scenery is beautiful, but not much in the way of “artifacts”.

This sign is spelled wrong.

Tom rushing out onto the meadow!

"It turns...like this..."

Statue of a Greek god.

Searching for artifacts.

Found one!

We stopped here for lunch. The boys were excited to see some fellow dirt bike riders zoom by. We picked up a map of area they might be able to ride. And we saw a tour go by in one of those crazy German trucks.

 

We found the Hanging Tree! Tom was demonstrating "hanging" on Jake. Jake killed him shortly after the photo was taken. Not really, but a battle did take place.

 

Sorry this is sideways! 

Be nice to it! It's sensitive!

We didn't bother to stop at some grave. The paper said there wasn't anything original to the grave there.

Stop #6

We did stop at “Belleville” and look around there. 

They have a cabin “typical” of the area but not originally there. 

He came in through the bathroom window.

 And an arrastres which the boys promptly demonstrated for us. 

Then we drove on to the best part! A mine! We walked up to the “Metzger Mine” and took a look around inside. There were a couple guys there that let us borrow their flashlight. I went inside with the boys in tow and took some pictures. We had just watched “Apollo 18” the night before, so going into a cave of rocks with a camera flash for light....well, we felt like we were re-creating the movie and were afraid we were going to be attacked my rock monsters or come across a dead cosmonaut any moment. We left the scene!

Into the mine!

Left or Right? Didn't know it was there until I saw it on the camera!

What's down there, guys?!

We're outta here!

Tom is a lopsided elk!

After a little walk around in the trees we headed on down the trail to the next stop. That's where we found the most interesting things, the remains of a huge stamp mill and processing plant! I wish we had started at this end because I wanted to walk down the trail and look around more, but we'd been on the road for three hours by now and were ready to head for home.

Rocky drive. Doesn't look so bad from here.

Baldwin Lake below us.

Some kind of structure...that I wanted to walk down to, next time.

Pretty cactus and quartz!

 

On the way down the mountain, you could see the front of the storm that was drowning our house! Sand was being blown ahead of it in a huge cloud that we descended into. When we got to our house, the evidence of much rainfall was everywhere. I'm a little sad we missed that, but it's expected to happen again today! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

Sand Storm!

The boys immediately hopped on their dirt bikes and went for a ride in the mud. When they got home we had an awesome steak dinner and then played Monopoly which, for the record, I won!

Finished “Eumenides” by Aeschylus

Third book in this trilogy. Orestes seeks refuge in Athena's temple. He has killed his mother, his own blood and the people are against him. Apollo defends him because he told him to do it. There is a trial, Orestes is set free. The people are mad because they think these young gods are trying to turn their world upside down.

Here's where I get confused though. In the end, the chorus leaves happy as a clam with Athena's decision. I don't get it. What happened? Maybe I'll understand more next time I read it.

One cool quote from this play though. “To be called mother is no wise to be parent, but rather nurse to seed new-sown. The male begets: she's host to her small guest; preserves the plant, except it please God to blight it.”

You always hear about how “Just because you got a girl pregnant, doesn't make you a real father.” but you don't hear that about women. Just because you gave birth, doesn't make you a real mother. And that's true too.

Finished reading “Agamemnon” and "Choephoroe" by Aeschylus

Wow! This play was awesome and I can't wait to read the next one. 

Let me see if I can summarize this for you. Agamemnon comes home from Troy with a prophetess (hint hint, nudge nudge). His wife is pissed off because he sacrificed her daughter to win Troy. She's off with some cousin guy who's pissed off because Agamemnon's Dad killed and cooked up his siblings for dinner. They kill him off....(insert dramatic music here)...but he has a banished son who is sure to avenge his death.

I love the poetic language in these plays. Much like Shakespeare, sometimes I don't understand everything being said, but I can't stop reading it because it sounds so beautiful!

A side note, Tom recently commented on a movie we were watching, “Paths of Glory” with Kirk Douglas, directed by Kubrick. He said that the dialog was different, harder to follow, but he liked that. He felt like you really had to pay attention to the movie to understand what was happening. There was more philosophy and thinking in these older movies that he really liked to watch. Hmmm...I feel the same way about these old classic plays!

And I'm on to the next play!

And the drama continues! I couldn't put this one down and read it all this morning. In my book it is called “Choephoroe” which means “The Libation Bearers” I'm guessing. In other editions it's called that instead. The revenge of Agamemnon's children, Orestes and Electra kill their mother and her new beau. But Orestes runs off, I'm assuming to do himself in because he can't deal with killing his own mother. 

Here is a line I really liked,

“Children are voices that shake off the lethe of drowsy Death; yea, floats, whereby the thread and thin-wove line of Being is up-buoyed above the swallowing gulfs that yawn beneath.”

Did you get chills? Because I did! Isn't that true? Our children and theirs are what makes us immortal in a way. But in this story...wow. Electra says this as she plots revenge against her mother.

Here's another one,

“Time grants no our so perishable clay bliss that endures or glory that shall last; Heaviness wears the instant hour away, or it will come before the next be passed.”

Yep. Time is against us in this world. Use it wisely!

Finished "The Great Conversation" by Robert M. Hutchins

This is my second time through this book. The first time was when I got the Great Books of the Western World set two years ago. This time I read it because I was going to take a free webinar to discuss it through Abigail Adams Academy. It turns out the webinar is on the same day that I've set up to go to my Grandpa's and I highly doubt I'll be home by 6pm, so I'm not attending, but I still finished the reading.

The gist of the book is "why Americans should read the great books" and the reasoning is pretty convincing. It was especially fun to read this time because I'm farther along in the Great Books series than I was the last time I read it and now I can see some of the points he makes happening in my own thinking.

Written in 1952, it has some pretty negative views on the direction of public education and reading it in 2013, I can see the results of that direction pretty clearly. I wonder what he would think or write if he were alive today?

Here are some of my favorite quotes.

From Chapter 3- Education and Economics
"We must remember that economic independence is not an end in itself; it is only a means, though an absolutely necessary one, to leading a human life." I'd say, but I believe that the majority of people today do not think our school system is doing well at either.

From Chapter 5 - Experimental Science
"The facts are indispensable; they are not sufficient. To solve a problem it is necessary to think. It is necessary to think even to decide what facts to collect." And I believe our public education is not intended to teach people to think but to train them to do a job the way they are told to do it.

From Chapter 6- Education for All
"Liberal education was aristocratic  in the sense that it was the education of those who enjoyed leisure and political power. If it was the right education for those who had leisure and political power then, then it is the right education for everybody today." And we probably have even more leisure today than we did 60 years ago when this was written and we still have political power but have no understanding how to use it or why we should. We are convinced through years of training that we don't have leisure time and even if we do we are supposed to spend that time watching TV and going to the mall.

Last one, promise!
From Chapter Chapter 10 - A Letter to the Reader
"The question for you is only whether you can ever understand these books well enough to participate in the Great Conversation, not whether you can understand them well enough to end it." That's something I've been working on for the past few years and I intend on continuing that pursuit for the rest of my life. A liberal education in the great classics of our western tradition is something all of us have to find for ourselves. It's the basis of being a human being and a road or bridge to understanding other cultures and times.  I'm not a genius. These books were written for the common person. I'm not studying all day and understanding every sentence. I spend an hour a day reading from my list. Some times I get an "ah-ha" moment and sometimes I'm completely confused. A year later, I'm reading something else that makes that bit I read before come clear or I read it again in the future and it clicks. It's a baby step thing. I'll never get there and be done learning, but I will participate in the conversation about what makes us all human beings.

Finished Reading "World War Z" by Max Brooks

I started reading this book because I saw the movie, loved it, and a friend suggested I read the book. Then I saw it was written by Max Brooks, the son of Mel Brooks and that sealed the deal. I bought it.

The movie was scary and I was pretty sure the book would be scary too. I used to love horror books as a teenager, the gorier the better. I still love them, but have found that I am very susceptible to nightmares! It's not just scary books I dream about. Whatever I'm reading before bed is pretty much what I'll be thinking about all night. So this one kept me up a bit.

The book is good. I wouldn't call it classic material but it was thought provoking and entertaining at the same time. I liked the way it was organized. It's not a straight out story, but a collection of interviews in an order that tells the story years after it has happened. It left somethings open ended, which I'm not a fan of. I like things spelled out and finished. It's just my style. But I did love the story anyway.

I highly recommend it, even if you didn't like the movie. It different. I wouldn't say I got more from the book than I did the movie but I did get a different perspective. Two thumbs up!

Homer's Iliad

I just finished the Iliad for the second time. I've read Fagle's translation and liked it a lot better than this one. The one I read this time is in the Great Books of the Western World. It was still awesome, but not as easily read as Fagle.

My favorite parts? I love the way battles are described. Blah blah, son of blah blah, ruler of blah, who won this battle and that battle and raised these kinds of horses, took a spear through his neck and out his spine spilling his brains on the dust and fell with his armor rattling around him. Awesome.

And in Book XIV, Juno is trying to seduce Jove and he goes into all the women he's had children with, how great they were and the sons they bore him “but with none of these was I ever so much enamored as I now am with you.” Sheesh! He really knows his way around women, huh?

But there was one positive thing the book teaches us. When Achilles has games in honor of his dead friend, there is an argument about who won and who gets what prize but the solve the problem with honor and respect for the elders in the group and there are no hard feelings. That part of Book XXIII could really teach us all some useful social skills.

All told, I love both the Iliad and Odyssey. I'm sure I read them again in the future.