Pavane

One of my favorite last moments with this book was the warm hearted story at the end where the young man seeks refuge in a old world town. Him, being a new worlder, has no one to help him, but a girl sees him and decides to show favor upon him. That's heart warming. 

You only get to see a few glimpses into the world Roberts has created here. The Church runs everything, they're using technology that is pretty much steampunk aesthetic but won't share it with the rest of the world. 

A heretical Priest forms his own faction and becomes a leader. A Queen forbids technology from entering her country in order for her people to have more time to believe in Truth and Reason, a Renaissance of sorts, that could have actually happened in an alternate history timeline simulacra. 

There's train haulers that know every nook and cranny of their machines. There's a lot of mini stories in Pavene, but in addition to interesting story lines and narrative development, there's also a lot of very well written sentences, sentences written in an elegant, stylistic way. Roberts is a stylist after all. And he never failed to deliver. In some ways I could compare this with some of William Gibson's stories from Burning Chrome or Neuromancer, but that wouldn't do it justice, it's simply a thing  entirely on its own, it's Pavane: 

a stately dance in slow duple time, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and performed in elaborate clothing.

a piece of music for a pavane.

"the repertory consists mainly of pavanes and galliards"

On the 9th day of Christmas

The holidays are here. And the time is right to start shopping for Christmas gifts for your friends, family, loved ones, and acquaintances. It goes without saying that this Christmas is going to be a lot different. Hell, even Thanksgiving this year seemed to lose some of its intrinsic holiday value. However, I am firm believer in Christmas and the holidays. It's a happy time, so be happy! Some people have it rough this time of year so remember to be extra kind to everybody you come across. You must never underestimate the power you have in your word with others.  

Work has been slow. Hours have been cut across the board but my hours have been consistent. It's like a ghost town over there at night now. Nights used to be as busy at the day time shifts but now that quarantine and curfew is in effect, there's hardly anybody that comes by at night now. The work has become a lot easier simply because there's nothing to do, because there's no customers to help. This is why management cut hours.

I've been in deep quarantine mode. I play guitar, I play piano, I practice languages, I work, I play pc games, I write, and I read books. It's almost like [gasp!] being an artist/content creator is a full time vocation! [It really is.]  

I've been listening to a lot of the Italian Mozart operas; Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro. I was inspired by this book called Music in the Classical Period, of which I wrote a blog about, which you can read here.

I've been livestreaming my jazz jam sessions with my friend Jason Tomas, a terrific alto saxophone player. Check out our last performance here.

Although it's super difficult to meet new people during covid I've been talking to a lot of new people online, and I've met a very nice girl that I play Heroes of the Storm with. She's a web developer Cali girl, and she also knows Spanish and German. 

I've been teaching myself Spanish and bits of Italian, French, and German through the Google Translate app [to learn the spellings of the words] and YouTube [for the pronunciations and accents]. So far I've been learning for a month and it's unbelievable how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. It's almost like I've become a mini-polyglot already, but of course, to go from beginner to intermediate in Spanish is a lot harder than it seems so I'll stay humble and respect all cultures across the globe. 

Lastly, there's an overreliance on technology especially now in quarantine. I wrote my ideas on the subject. Check out this post entitled Luddites and Technocrats here.

The quarantine makes life simplistic because there's not much to do. Well, that doesn't mean you should sit down and watch Netflix/Hulu all night, or play video games every day of your life, or watch the news 24/7, or watch YouTube all day long, or movies all the time. Too much reliance of these things is bad, and the virtuous man/woman is a moderate man/woman. Remember to rely on the beauty of nature at least a little bit everyday. My closing statement is something similar, realize that the beauty of women is infinite. 

La vie est belle. Pace e benedizioni. Schöne Ferien. Feliz Navidad.  

John Milton's Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is a biblical epic poem by John Milton, written in 1668, the most well known epic poem in English. It has about 10,000 lines of verse. Milton was a highly religious man, a Protestant until late in life, who became apart of the new government in England, after they chopped off King Henry's head. He worked in government in between writing; poems and discourses on things like divorce and monarchy, he argued that the Divine Right of Kings was wrong, even idolatrous. Paradise Lost tells the story of the fall of man, when Satan tempts Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and ultimately lose Eternity with God in the Garden in Eden.

The story has everything; love, war, peace, evil, politics, science fiction style peaks into the future, marriage talk, sex talk, metaphysics, and philosophy. There are a lot of themes that this book touches on. I'd like to go over a few that I found interesting.

Milton shows us that his God in Paradise Lost is an artistic god, omnific, knowing all, creating all, everything. God is professorial here, the ultimate Monarch. In the passages where we see how God created the Earth, we see the true artist in his godly abilities. Milton's God is also shown as the ultimate sovereign, who sends his Warrior Son Chieftain to single-handedly destroy Satan and his evil angel allies, sending them to Hell. This is unusual because Milton doesn't believe in the Divine Right of Kings, but despite this he chooses to write a biblical epic about the most divine right of thee King. Milton strives to show us "the ways of God to men". Here we must take note and separate Milton's work in Parliament from his work as a poet. The artist's pen differs greatly from the political essays. 

Another theme is the justification of Satan being a sympathetic character. Here, Satan is portrayed as a bad guy, yes, but there's strong argumentation for Satan being a more understandable character than Milton's God, empathy. Sure, Satan is evil, and wants to overthrow God with a third of the angels, but in seeing this we see that, yes he is proud, but we can also see his "radicalism and fraudulence, freedom and its counterfeit fused in a single personality not easily pigeonholed." (hudsonreview) Milton doesn't see Satan as a hero, because Milton understands whats its like to go against an absolute soverign and lose. We can sympathize with Satan's determination, never to yield, perhaps because its inherently human, which we see when Eve eats from the Forbidden fruit. 

Another strong theme is the relationship between Adam and Eve. There's a hierarchical aspect to their relationship because when Raphael comes to warn them of an approaching enemy in the future, Raphael mostly talks with Adam. They talk about marriage, the enemy, even sex. When Satan enters their lives, things change forever. It seems to me that the way Raphael warns Adam and speaks mostly to him, it was like an early temptation for Eve to rebel. 

Once we see Satan travel through the Earth's globe, and take the form of the serpent, we know its all over for the human race. However, what comes off as a surprise is the psychological justification for Eve choosing to rebel from God, and eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and that justification creates greater empathy for Eve than it did for Satan. Its interesting, what a way to write. Of course, Adam choose to Fall with Eve because he "loves his wife too much." He can't stand the thought of being away from her, and the thought of losing another rib doesn't sound too good.

The book is quite astonishing. There's a great scene where after the Fall, Adam talks with the archangel Michael and is shown the future of the human race. This part had a strong emotional effect on me, in some aspects I could see how that future represents the world of today in a way, I almost can't explain it in words, the sheer emotional intelligence brings to mind Wagner's music (my signature daily favorite is Tannhauser), or the sounds of the archaic delta bluesmen, with their yells, shouts, blue notes expressing emotion and pain. This section had a science fiction vibe to it, because they were looking at the heavens at this portal, and seeing everything that would happen on Earth. It was beautiful. 

Another highlight was the description of the civil war between God's angels, Satan, and his army of evil angels. Again, I really like the archangel Michael's stature, because he's the ultimate angel-warrior, with a flaming sword, second only to the Son of God Himself. We get this description of the most epic civil war in the universe. Ultimately though it is Christ Himself, The Son of God, who comes out and single-handedly defeats Satan and his army, sending them to Hell. 

Yet another interesting section was a talk between Satan and his evil angels in Hell. Here we get a real glimpse of the ultimate evil-doers in their lair. This section gave me a strong Dante's Inferno vibe, reminiscent because I just finished reading that a few weeks back. 

Paradise Lost is one of the all time great writings. Its something I plan on going back to and rereading, and I think the poetic beauty in every line will be just as exciting the next time I read it. In today's world, Milton is still relevant. These ideas haven't died as technology has taken over, rather these ideas are forever, and shouldn't be overlooked in the modern age of literature. This isn't just for Lit grad students, its for everyone. 

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

Leviathan is an example of early social contract theory. Written by Thomas Hobbes during the English Civil War (1642-1651), Leviathan (which refers to the Biblical Leviathan), Hobbes argues for complete rule by a sovereign, arguing that civil war and the state of nature (war against all) could only be avoided by a powerful government, a monarchy. The book was published in 1651 and offended all parties, Royalists and Catholics, and supporters of monarchy mainly because his views differed from the Divine Right of Kings, for in Hobbes' monarchy system, the sovereign would rule by the consent of the people. 

The first part deals with politics and human nature. Good and evil are terms for peoples' appetites.In nature, Hobbes says:

In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor the use of commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

He goes on to explain all these laws of nature, and how the sovereign would represent the people even when they disagree with the sovereign.

This part of the book gets the political philosophy kicking, and you get a sense of Hobbes' language, and its been said that his writing style if of a particular humor, dry humor. I didn't get that from the reading, perhaps I missed that aspect. Looking back now, I can see what these book reviewers and bloggers are saying about it.  

The second part deals with the Commonwealth, he explains how the sovereign has some twelve principal rights. Subjects can't change a form of government. The sovereign can't be put to death. To prescribe the rules of civil laws and property. To make war and peace. To reward with riches and honor or to punish with corporal or pecuniary punishment or ignominy. And more.

He rejects a separation of powers but talks in detail about Monarchy (being the best form of government), Oligarchy, and Democracy. He says Monarchy is the best form of government because it leads to peace and prosperity for the people. Oligarchies and Democracies are corrupt, and civil wars can occur. Important to note that Hobbes wrote this during the English Civil War while in exile in Paris.

In addition, Hobbes states that the sovereign has control over matters of religious doctrines, and should do so always.

Part three is Of A Christian Commonwealth. He discusses the Ten Commandments and makes so many quotes from scripture, this part of the book gets quite dense, albeit important as to the Ecclesiastical studies of the time.

He talks a lot about the Catholic Church, how the people can't obey both the Pope, and the sovereign, for a leviathan can't have two heads. Hobbes wants the preservation of a life, a world where people would be happy and live nice lives. He thinks that living in and not rebelling against a strong state is the best way to make this happen. 

He states that the Pope and Clergy don't have the ultimate say over the people, that it is the sovereign Christian Kings are the supreme Pastors of their people. He talks about which scriptures we should trust, and why. The test is done by Hobbes examining scripture and saying its very trust worthy, and because the Bible is the most trust worthy when it comes to these things.

Part 4 is called The Kingdom Of Darknesse. Hobbes doesn't refer to Hell with this, but rather ignorance and the darkness in misinterpretation of scripture. There are four causes: Misinterpretation of Scripture, Demonology of heathen poets, Vain Philosophy (of the Greeks, especially Aristotle), and by mingling with both these, false or uncertain traditions, and feigned or uncertain history.

Hobbes finishes by inquiring who benefits from the errors he diagnoses:

Cicero maketh honourable mention of one of the Cassii, a severe judge amongst the Romans, for a custom he had in criminal causes, when the testimony of the witnesses was not sufficient, to ask the accusers, cui bono; that is to say, what profit, honour, or other contentment the accused obtained or expected by the fact. For amongst presumptions, there is none that so evidently declareth the author as doth the benefit of the action.

Hobbes concludes that the beneficiaries are the churches and churchmen.

Hobbes didn't seem to like the Church or Clergymen that much. In fact, when Leviathan was published it was publicly burned. People wanted to kill him because his ideas differed from the Godly Divine Right of Kings, instead saying the sovereign reigns only in the consent of the people, and has certain obligations under the social contract. We need the sovereign monarchy because without it we are left to the Laws of Nature, in which life is nasty, brutish and short.

This was quite a read for me, over some six-hundred pages long. I started it a long time ago, but it took me a while to finish reading it. The spelling loses consistency, (dry humor perhaps), and the professorial tone over the novel is also apparent. The old archaic English can take a while to get used to. I had to look up a lot of words online on the google dictionary (my favorite Hobbes words were corporeal and incorporeal) to make sense of certain sections, which made the reading process longer. The book is incredibly dense, and can take a lot of focus to make sense of. I can't say I got the complete understanding of this text, rather I had an astounding overview from Betrand Russell, and a hands-on approach with the original text. However, I got a lot out of it, from intellectual understanding, to pervasiveness argumentation, to English civil war ideology. Its one of those important texts, and it was an accomplishment to have read it. 

There's also a certain rhythm and logical conclusiveness there too. This appears to my post-modern millennial mind to be a treatise on a particular kind of conservatism, something that relates to modern government especially now more than ever.

I already knew what Leviathan was about when I read Betrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, but reading the full text, I can see things straight from the source. Many of Hobbes' ideas have transcended time and are in use in today's governments. 

Read this if you like philosophy