Today I wanted to discuss a theory I've had concerning self-governance. This episode is a bit more of an introduction to this theory and I'd like to flesh it out more in the future, but I wish to leave you with the question "How am I governing my life?"

Today we discuss the roles that beauty and excellence have in our society. Particularly however, we also discuss the nature of progress in terms of technology and how modernity seems to venerate progress as a virtue unto itself. So if we are to keep moving forward, what might that look like?

This week we explore the concepts of excellence and virtue, and how these two are related to living an honorable and noble life.

Today we discuss a potential response to consumerism in the artisan good movement. The desire is to not give way to quick trends and convenience but to embrace the intentional production and consumption of thoughtful and enduring goods.

Handmade Homes

Handmade Pottery

Handmade Tiles

Handmade Soap

DIY Homemade Microphone

https://verveculture.com/blogs/a-taste-of-verve/8-reasons-to-buy-artisanal-and-handmade-products

https://artisanals.com.au/blogs/news/questions-artisan-made-products

https://soapcommander.com/blogs/beyondthesuds/48485827-10-reasons-to-buy-artisan-products

In this episode, I try to convince you to at least consider studying philosophy.

“ Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God. The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else when many are more learned, more cultured than you?” Thomas A Kempis - On the imitation of Christ

“It is clear, Lucilius, that no man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom; you know also that a happy life is reached when our wisdom is brought to completion, but that life is at least endurable even when our wisdom is only begun”

 Seneca, Letters From a Stoic, XVI. On Philosophy, The of Guide of Life  

 “The reason we make mistakes is because we all consider the parts of life, but never as a whole. The archer must know what he is seeking to hit; then he must aim and control the weapon by his skill. Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” Seneca, LXXXI. On the supreme Good, Letters from a Stoic

“What does the debauchee lose? Manhood. What does he lose who made him such? The qualities of a modest man, the chaste character, the good neighbor. What does the angry person lose? A coward? Each to his portion. No one is wicked without some loss or damage.” Epictetus, Discourses, Book II, Chapter 10.

 “Let the part of thy soul which leads and governs be undisturbed by the movements in the flesh, whether of pleasure or of pain; and let it not unite with them, but let it circumscribe itself and limit those affects to their parts. But when these affects rise up to the mind by virtue of that other sympathy that naturally exists in a body which is all one, then thou must not strive to resist the sensation, for it is natural: but let not the ruling part add to the sensation the opinion that it is either good or bad” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book V, 26.

“No better burden can a man carry on the road than a store of common sense; better than riches it will seem in an unfamiliar place, such is the resort of the wicked” The Poetic Edda, Sayings of the high one, 10.”

 People think that they can clear up profound matters if they consider them deeply, but they exercise perverse thoughts and come to no good because they do their reflecting with only self- interest at the center.” Hagakure: The way of the Samurai, Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Pg 3

This is the first installation of my exposition on the problem. I don't want to just talk about problems on this podcast but my hope is to be able to move forward into solutions from here.

I've included sources for all the statistics I've mentioned.

Moloch

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Moloch

https://allthatsinteresting.com/moloch

Marriage Rate by decade by decade

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/time-series/demo/families-and-households/ms-2.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/marriage_rate_2018/marriage_rate_2018.htm

Replacement Rate among Millennials

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/millennials-say-no-to-kids-population-replacement-level-turns-negative

Induced Abortion and Cervical Cancer

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9961680/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9796914/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22623987/

Baal

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Baal

https://www.worldhistory.org/baal/

Top Soil Erosion

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-say-nations-corn-belt-has-lost-third-its-topsoil-180977485/

No-Till and CO2 Sequestration

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880912002344?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0341816221002095

Depression and meaningless sex

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/201506/what-are-the-psychological-effects-casual-sex

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5731847/

Grain dumping

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renewable-agriculture-and-food-systems/article/true-costs-of-us-agricultural-dumping/ABDB3E76865636EF025C72D94FEECD32

https://www.iatp.org/documents/who-wins-and-who-loses-us-dumping-corn

https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/2017-06/2017_06_26_DumpingPaper.pdf

Mammon

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/discipleship/the-religion-of-mammon

Average hours worked for Peasant in 13th Century

https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html

Average hours worked today

https://www.theforage.com/blog/basics/how-many-work-hours-year

Gross Economic growth over the decades

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/gdp-gross-domestic-product

https://www.crestmontresearch.com/docs/Economy-GDP-R-By-Decade.pdf

Workers feeling without purpose

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-search-for-meaning-after-age-50/201911/causes-of-the-lack-of-meaning-at-work

Need for new Products and landfill production

https://daily.jstor.org/fast-fashion-fills-our-landfills/

https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html

Wanted to keep this one a touch shorter but I felt it necessary to touch on the next couple weeks for this podcast and the desire to make certain the media we are consuming is worthwhile.

It's Christmas week so please spend this time with loved ones.

Last week we looked out how we structure our cities as a society, today the hope is to explore how we have and currently structure our time as a culture and society. I feel like my thoughts were a bit messy in this one, so I do hope that I am clear in my intentions and communication.

Documents I mention in this episode are: The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, the book of Common Prayer, The liturgy of the Hours, The Wesminster Confession, and Catechism (shorter and longer)

Further more, I'd recommend looking into the Old Testament Feast days and the Liturgical Calendar.

Thank you for tuning in.

Today we dive into the topic of how we apply and use our rights and privileges. We talk about how our strengths always point toward something we ought to do.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Today we're talking about how the physical layout of our communities communicates truths and how we derive authority. I hope you can take away some encouraging perspectives on how to discern the true, good, and beautiful in the world.