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Hello Sympos,

I am struck by the importance of living fully in the world which we find ourselves in.

“Do the duty which lies nearest thee, which thou knowest to be a Duty,” wrote the Scottish philosopher, Thomas Carlyle. “Thy second duty will already have become clearer.”

This seems to me the best way forward, and as much of the angst as we can lay aside, let's do that.

Meanwhile, I think it's "heyday", not "heigh day".

In solidarity.

Dear Editor,

Please notify Professor Sympos that the anagnorisis is never going to come for MAGA Nation: when they realize that they slept with their mom and killed their dad, they will be furious, blame the Deep State, and look for more mothers and fathers to kill. It's a historical tragedy, not a literary one.

The real question is, will the anagnorisis come for Democrats? "It’s about the kind of ignorance that doesn’t know it is ignorance until everything it loved and cherished is lost." Who is it who has been so certain of their righteousness, and of their immunity from tragedy, only to find themselves in deep mourning?

The examples of a better way you cite—FDR, MLK, Ghandi—would have steered well clear of a party that has nothing at all to say to the working class; that ran for a public option in 2020 and then never mentioned it again; that came around after all to law and order at the border; that came around after all to Dick Cheney; and that has, without hesitation, supported, supplied, and funded an ongoing genocide. Lear eventually realizes that he has "ta'en / Too little care of this"—Biden never did. And Cordelia never speaks truth to power, as the Fool does—she says "nothing" out of an iron-clad obedience to her role as a loving daughter. The View: "Would you have done something differently from President Biden during the past four years?" Harris: "There is not a thing that comes to mind."

I didn't vote for Trump: he is indeed a handmaiden of the apocalypse. But, living in New Jersey, where I knew my presidential vote would make no difference at all, I didn't vote for Harris either.

There is a third consolation, after certainty and despair: social action.

Your fan,

Stan

Dear Professor Sympos,

Have you ever worked in wood? The intimacy of woodwork appears to be a theme in your poetry and prose--lathing, carving, chiseling--all the while listening to and learning from the grain.

-- Turner

On Genocide… very deep; very dark; and a bit more than somewhat, confusing. I share the Professor’s disgust with the Israeli incursion into Gaza…and Lebanon…and Iran. The “eye for an eye” doctrine would have been satisfied with the dispatch of the 1200th Hamas fighter. And unfortunately, short of utter genocide, the only results of their efforts will be generations of new Palestinians to fight with. I will admit to some confusion in the matter of how the Professor is suggesting that his readers vote. As I read his treatise, he indicates on the one hand that he cannot support Harris, while recognizing that the alternative to her is even worse, and that doing nothing is not an option.

Professor: I have a nit to pick in your otherwise excellent essay. I particularly liked the conclusion celebrating the power of humane acts to achieve immortality.

I cannot agree that the act of giving has, since the dawn of human consciousness, been understood as something confined to the network of one’s blood relations. While that statement is probably accurate through the late Bronze age, the creation of early Ur type civilizations with trading networks suggests that. Civil authority ( King or Emperor or Pharoah) had transformed the gens to anyone prepared to pay the taxes required of an imperial citizen   

I also humbly suggest that you betray your  catholic roots in your use of Jesus as an authoritative civil as well as religious  figure. Using Jesus to illustrate the growth of the gens ignores the historical context of his teachings. The Roman Empire had for hundreds of years prior to Jesus created and maintained a robust and monetized trading economy  throughout the empire which already expanded the relevant community to most of the Mediterranean world. In exchange, merchants gave homage and paid taxes to the emperor. 

It is also interesting to note that for two hundred years from the succession of Augustus through the death of Marcus Aurelius, there was no significant “Other” to compel allegiance to the empire but the gens survived. The rise of the Germanic and Gothic (Polish?) barbarians created a huge “Other” steadily encroaching on the Empire through the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 CE but the gens again survived.

Your enthusiasm for Jesus does not extend to his followers, particularly your claim that “God’s gift of eternal life is a con perpetrated by the people who chose Him so they can make non-believers do what they say.” Given the tendency of power to corrupt, it is no surprise that many religious leaders prey on their followers. But is is equally true that sincere evangelist Christians and servant leader Catholics are not all Reverend Ike type rip off artists. In discussing religion, it is too easy to ignore the extraordinary sacrifices honestly made by religious leaders for the gens.

I loved the poem about your mother, read soon after reading to my granddaughter, as well as the Generosity piece, which had me worried that we were going down that Catholic rabbit hole, but emerged beautifully.

With profound apologies to both the good professor and his editor, I must declare that I could find neither relevance nor meaning in this month’s essay having never read most of the cited references, and being too far removed from the Sherlock Holmes collection I cherished as a boy.

Good to see you're writing these days.

I wrote the following to Professor Sympos who requested I post same to this "Comments" section of their website...please therefore consider:

Just finished Professor Sympos’ treatise on Generation. Not really sure whether the exercise leaves me feeling smarter for the effort, or relatively more stupid for realizing that I could never — ever — aspire to be so wise. 

I will say that throughout I was reminded of this quote attributed, I believe , to Khalil Gibran:

“The moving hand writes, and having writ, moves on.”

I love the new poem about your Dad, PS! The first stanza reminds me of reading e e cummings as a teenager (he sang his didn’t he danced his did)