The power of inspiration and its ability to influence the lives of men and the course of nations has always been my greatest passion to discover. Look at the Iliad of Homer, which shaped the common identity of the entire Greek race, infusing a common identity in a world of constant strife. Or the Gospels of the New Testament, whose words spurred on both Lord and peasant alike to leave the squalor and desolation of medieval Europe to raise the banner of Christ over the Sepulchre of Jerusalem on the First Crusade. Or the tales of Arthur, King of the Britons, whose legend would foster the ideas of chivalry and fill young boys with a desire to one day be a great knight.
Everything in existence is in the past. The first sentence of this post is in the past to those who have read it. Is it any less important than the last because of this? The same applies to mankind. Should we fool ourselves into thinking our ancestors were not directly related to us, to absolve us from their experience and what we would call wrongdoing? The Greeks realised two thousand years ago that the Earth is round, an idea ridiculed by the Heliocentric astronomers of the Middle Ages. The Earth was then flat, anything else was laughable. Now who do we think was ridiculous? Less than eighty years ago, a very famous scientist said that the computer would never be smaller than the size of a room, yet here I am writing this on a computer I can fit in a bag and carry with me. To assume that the present ideas are the best is the enemy of progress. It is in this spirit that I turn to the words of our ancestors. I do not claim to profess that old is perfect. It is not. But it can be used, and our insight employed, to create perfection. After all, all it takes is one well phrased sentence which can fire inspiration in us.
I read every day. A day in which nothing is learned is a day wasted. Yet not all of us possess the time to indulge this. Since the Classics are my profession as well as my passion, I thought I would share what I have found with you, here, on this blog. On the Wednesday of each week I am able, I will look at a new passage or book which I think you may be interested to read about. Who knows, you too might be inspired to pick up what before seemed like an old tome, and engage with the minds of those who lived hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
Everything in existence is in the past. The first sentence of this post is in the past to those who have read it. Is it any less important than the last because of this? The same applies to mankind. Should we fool ourselves into thinking our ancestors were not directly related to us, to absolve us from their experience and what we would call wrongdoing? The Greeks realised two thousand years ago that the Earth is round, an idea ridiculed by the Heliocentric astronomers of the Middle Ages. The Earth was then flat, anything else was laughable. Now who do we think was ridiculous? Less than eighty years ago, a very famous scientist said that the computer would never be smaller than the size of a room, yet here I am writing this on a computer I can fit in a bag and carry with me. To assume that the present ideas are the best is the enemy of progress. It is in this spirit that I turn to the words of our ancestors. I do not claim to profess that old is perfect. It is not. But it can be used, and our insight employed, to create perfection. After all, all it takes is one well phrased sentence which can fire inspiration in us.
I read every day. A day in which nothing is learned is a day wasted. Yet not all of us possess the time to indulge this. Since the Classics are my profession as well as my passion, I thought I would share what I have found with you, here, on this blog. On the Wednesday of each week I am able, I will look at a new passage or book which I think you may be interested to read about. Who knows, you too might be inspired to pick up what before seemed like an old tome, and engage with the minds of those who lived hundreds if not thousands of years ago.