Coffee Post - February 11, 2024

Many things I want to do today, but let’s start by drinking coffee, reading books, and watching the world to see what is happening.

I drank hazelnut coffee made by my Keurig machine.

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The American Revolution

I read from a wonderful big book called “The Glorious Cause.”
This is the volume about the American Revolution in the multi-volume set called The Oxford History of America.

The book describes English politics in the middle 1700s as extremely conservative, in the sense that it seemed to be the primary purpose of government to make sure that NOTHING CHANGES AT ALL!

This was probably a reaction to the tumultuous 1600s when there were civil wars and kings dethroned and one king beheaded… and so on.

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Art History for Dummies

I read from Art History for Dummies about the ancient period called “Hellenistic” which came after Alexander the Great died in 323 BC.

Before “Hellenism” was the “Classical” period, which was characterized by calm, elegant, confident works of art.
The Hellenistic period, especially known for architecture, portrayed more of the grittiness of life - pain, and suffering, and death.

One of the famous Hellenistic works is called “Laocoon and His Sons.”
This was based on the story of Laocoon, who warned the Trojans not to accept the giant horse brough by the Greeks.
The horse was, of course, a trick to conquer Troy, and Athena, who wanted the Greeks to win, was angry at Laocoon for warning the Trojans, so she sent two giant sea serpents to kill him and his sons.
The statue shows the snakes attacking the men and writhing around them and the men struggling and suffering in the coils of the serpents.
There is no classical calm in this statue!

The book calls classical art “self-deluded,” which seems a little harsh!
I think, just as Plato distinguished between a perfect and eternal world of Being and a flawed and changing world of Becoming, it might make sense to view classical art as trying to capture the world of Being while Hellenistic art turned its attention to the world of Becoming.

Classical art was not self-deluded, it was just looking at a different aspect of reality than Hellenistic art was.

There really is a world of Being after all.
Whether it is outside of us as Plato thought, or inside of us as Aristotle thought, there really is a world of Being.

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When the Going Gets Weird....

I read from a biography of Hunter S. Thompson who invented “gonzo” journalism in the 1960s.
During one period Hunter traveled through South America writing about everything he saw and heard and selling many of those pieces for $150 a pop back in the United States.

I would like to travel all along the U.S.-Mexican border writing about everything I see and hear there. I suspect there might be lots of good food along that border and lots of opportunities to brush up on my Spanish.
Lots of suffering too.
Lots to think about.
Lots to write about.
I wonder if I could do that next winter….

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Satanism in Iowa

I see in the news that a Christian destroyed a legally displayed Satanic statue in the Iowa state capital. I guess this Christian doesn’t believe in freedom of religion. I guess he doesn’t believe in keeping his hands off other people’s property either.

This Christian thinks he’s the good guy, but he’s not. He believes he should be able to take away other people’s religious freedom and destroy their property. There’s nothing more evil than that….

NOTE: This post was published on my Facebook February 1, 2024

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