Simple Gifts

In history this month we read Booker T. Washington's famous "Atlanta Exposition Speech" and selections from his autobiography UP FROM SLAVERY to show the context. In reciprocity, then, the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar contextualizes Washington's words, and is in turn contextualized by them.

In "The Debt" Dunbar contemplates the choices and compromises we make in life, and the consequences we bear for those choices. It is short, powerful and profound.

In "We Wear The Mask" the poet speaks both particularly of the black experience in post-slavery America and universally of human dissimulation in social structure. I cannot help but draw attention to the connection in these two poems of the term "debt."

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George Orwell's 1984 is classic dystopian literature, but it is also psychologically astute and prescient concerning the totalitarian tendencies of the 20th century's ideologies. With the rise of 21st century Wokism currently in vogue, its message is a clarion call for the present, too. Let us beware of embracing rather than opposing the lies that are being forced upon us, lest we find ourselves, too, living in a world in which we must guard our very thoughts, lest they betray us. Hold fast to the truth, no matter the consequences!

Enjoy ... and be vigilant!

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REPUBLIC, book 6 begins what may be considered the most famous and important passages in all of Western philosophy. Plato begins to systematically present his theory of the Forms in a series of notable analogies, beginning with the Sun and concluding chapter 6 with the Line.

The chapter begins by picking up the discussion that ended chapter 5 on the true philosophers, those who "know best," those who are able to see "the thing itself." It should be clear, Socrates says, that philosophers, defined as "those who are able to grasp what is always the same in all respects," should rule in our city. But, Adeimantus objects, real philosophers, not Socrates' ideal philosophers, are either wicked or useless. Socrates agrees, but explains that only the proper combination of nature and nurture can produce the true philosopher, and it is only in a society like the Kallipolis that the true philosophical nature can be properly nurtured into its greatest potential for good. Such true philosophers will be able to "see" the Good Itself, the Form of the Good, which is like the Sun, illuminating what is and nourishing all that is good. This analogy of the sun leads directly to the analogy of the line, which graphically displays the epistemological insights we began to unfold at the conclusion of chapter 5, and we are told to think of human knowledge as lying upon a continuum between ignorance and true understanding, of which only the philosopher is capable.

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Our centerpiece this month is Booker T Washington's Atlanta Exposition Speech, both historical and controversial. In this excerpt from his book, Up From Slavery, Washington gives the introductory context of this speech. Enjoy!

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In history this month we read Booker T. Washington's famous "Atlanta Exposition Speech" and selections from his autobiography UP FROM SLAVERY to show the context. In reciprocity, then, the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar contextualizes Washington's words, and is in turn contextualized by them.

Dunbar's poem, "Paradox," echoes well themes from THE CHRISTIAN ATHEIST podcast, "where faith and reason fuse in the Incarnation." Dunbar here speaks of the contradictory realities in which we all exist, paradoxes that invoke the beauty and tragedy of life, both of which are real in the most robust of senses. Although Dunbar was not particularly religious (as I understand), I cannot avoid the resonances with the Incarnation itself in such lines as these:

I am thy priest and thy poet,

Enjoy the lyric beauty and the thoughtful spiritual challenge in these verses!

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https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

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https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #rhythmic #phonaesthetics #soundsymbolism #metre #prosaic #literarycomposition #poet #ambiguity #symbolism #irony #poeticdiction #muse #prosody #meter #metricalpatterns #rhymescheme #dunbar #pauldunbar #paullaurencedunbar #blackexperience #slavery #postslavery #dissimulation #paradox #beautyoflife #tragedyoflife

George Orwell's 1984 is classic dystopian literature, but it is also psychologically astute and prescient concerning the totalitarian tendencies of the 20th century's ideologies. With the rise of 21st century Wokism currently in vogue, its message is a clarion call for the present, too. Let us beware of embracing rather than opposing the lies that are being forced upon us, lest we find ourselves, too, living in a world in which we must guard our very thoughts, lest they betray us. Hold fast to the truth, no matter the consequences!

Enjoy ... and be vigilant!

If you'd like to support us, donate through Paypal at [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#georgeorwell #animalfarm #classic #classicdystopianliterature #dystopianliterature #dystopianfiction #dystopian #literature #fiction #psychologicalliterature #psychological #psychology #totalitarian #totalitarianfiction #totalitarianliterature #20thcentury #20thcenturyliterature #woke #wokism #orwell

REPUBLIC, book 6 begins what may be considered the most famous and important passages in all of Western philosophy. Plato begins to systematically present his theory of the Forms in a series of notable analogies, beginning with the Sun and concluding chapter 6 with the Line.

The chapter begins by picking up the discussion that ended chapter 5 on the true philosophers, those who "know best," those who are able to see "the thing itself." It should be clear, Socrates says, that philosophers, defined as "those who are able to grasp what is always the same in all respects," should rule in our city. But, Adeimantus objects, real philosophers, not Socrates' ideal philosophers, are either wicked or useless. Socrates agrees, but explains that only the proper combination of nature and nurture can produce the true philosopher, and it is only in a society like the Kallipolis that the true philosophical nature can be properly nurtured into its greatest potential for good. Such true philosophers will be able to "see" the Good Itself, the Form of the Good, which is like the Sun, illuminating what is and nourishing all that is good. This analogy of the sun leads directly to the analogy of the line, which graphically displays the epistemological insights we began to unfold at the conclusion of chapter 5, and we are told to think of human knowledge as lying upon a continuum between ignorance and true understanding, of which only the philosopher is capable.

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

#plato, #socrates, #platoandsocrates, #socratesandplato, #republik, #republic, #westerntradition, #philosophy, #rationality, #drjohndwise, #philosopher, #philosophical, #philosophicalauthor #westerntraditionphilosophy, #traditionalphilosophy, #foundations, #foundationalphilosopher, #foundationaltext, #platosrepublic, #philosophy, #dialogue, #dialogues, #greekphilosophy, #ancientgreekphilosophy, #athens, #platonicdialogue, #platonic, #ancientgreeks, #ancientgreece,#hellen, #hellenistic, #athenian, #atheniantradition, #greekcivilization, #greeksociety, #greekhistory