Here is an open letter in response to the podcast linked below. It bears relevance to far more than just a single podcast, which you do jot have to listen to in order to gain value from this short piece, so read on. * Very interesting stuff. I liked the
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Boethius, Stoicism and The Consolation of Philosophy
While I would recommend Boethius, and the Consolation of Philosophy, to all, I would not recommend Stoicism to anyone, for two reasons: 1. It encourages a banishment of feeling and emotion, and an unfeeling indifference to both pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow – a kind of psychic numbness, which,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Medieval Society – Then and Now
“You’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see.”- John Lennon Great short video, linked below, but the view of medieval peasant life is too one-sided – as is typical. Oh the smugness of modern society. Medieval peasants had little freedom, and were bonded to the landowner class. But
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Covid-1984: The Worst Of Both Worlds
With covid-1984, which is a virus that is statistically as dangerous as the common flu, we have taken extreme, draconian, authoritarian measures. In short, we have dangerously and vastly over-reacted, and in doing so, we have combined the worst of both worlds: medieval and modern. If we’re going to go
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Reflections on Chartres Cathedral, the death of civilization and the deification of the banal
Thinking of Chartres Cathedral, I ask myself, what, if anything, have we built in the past eight centuries, that compares to this? The iPad, computers, cell phones, the internet? Are you kidding me? You must be joking. We have more ways to amuse ourselves, yes, but when has our
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