Miscellaneous Rambling
The new podcast episode is up. My nephew owns a promotion business, so he got his voiceover guy to record a new introduction for me. You might recognize the voice. He's done voice acting work for quite a few national chains. I plan on switching up the intro every week to keep it fresh.
For tech neophytes: You can just click that link above and listen to the podcast directly from The Weekly Eudemon website. The site also has the last three episodes. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what to do with my first eight episodes, but they can still be found at Anchor under "TWE."
The newest episode also features the official launch of The Weekly Eudemon Show Notes page. For those who simply can't stand my voice but are half-curious about what I'm saying, you can get a decent summary at that page:
This episode looks again at my concept of “primary obligations,” pointing out that it's a reference point, not a stick to beat others with. I also look briefly at Tolstoy's “family narcissism” and that hard question: is it harder to deal with toddlers or teenagers, on a day-to-day basis.
I then introduce Zen. Due to a lot of interest among listeners, this will become a recurring topic of the podcast. I look at the fundamental approach of Zen, which is to smash through the “subject-object” way of viewing things, to approach life with the eyes of a little child. I also touch briefly on the thought of Australian philosopher, Samuel Alexander, who influenced C.S. Lewis (reference Surprised by Joy).
For a great introduction to Zen, I highly recommend the lead essay in Thomas Merton's Mystics and Zen Masters. (Skip the first five pages or so.)
I then introduce a second topic that I hope will be recurring: The Middle Ages. I look briefly at the “fall” of Rome, then break down every century from 800 to 1500 . . . in a 10,000-foot look in eight minutes.
Finally, I talk about this week's saints, with focus on St. Theresa Avila and St. Ignatius of Antioch, including Theresa's influence on Edith Stein and Ignatius' legendary role in Matthew Chapter 18.
The modern Left has always been a politics of hate. From Lenin's murderous hate to the Days of Rage to eco-terrorism to feminist rage. This piece just exemplifies it all. It half-annoyed/half-humored me to hear the gay marriage proponents describe their opponents as hateful people, when anyone who is remotely acquainted with leftist politics over the past 100 years knows it's full of rage against society as currently constituted . . . and full of aims to bring it and all its perceived injustices tumbling down as a prelude to replacing it with a new world designed by leftist intelligentsia. They're full of anger against anyone, like this scribe, who attempts to stand athwart what they perceive to be an historical imperative.
