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Beauregard Bottomley

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Beauregard is Currently Reading

Beauregard Bottomley is currently reading

The Roman

by Mika Waltari

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Apr 20, 2026 03:46PM

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Classical Mythology

by Elizabeth Vandiver

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2017

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Beauregard Bottomley said: " Myths are never myths to those who believe. The stories we tell ourselves in order to encode our hopes, aspirations and fears are one way we shape our understanding. Hegel used concepts, St. Thomas Aquinas saw our understanding through actions (the ‘ Myths are never myths to those who believe. The stories we tell ourselves in order to encode our hopes, aspirations and fears are one way we shape our understanding. Hegel used concepts, St. Thomas Aquinas saw our understanding through actions (the ‘to be’), and the pre-Socratic myths (and the post ‘Being and Time’ Heidegger) focused on our experiences.

Classical mythology is more relevant today than any blog post by Brietbart News, or radio show by Laura Ingram or any news broadcast on Fox News. Each of those are only understandable to those who don’t believe they are within a mythology, and yet right wing viewers believe their premises without knowing context, foundation or perspective. To understand the insanity of each of those myth creators it first helps to get a foundational and historical perspective on how humans thought about themselves in previous ages, and a great place to start is with the Greeks (and the Romans who use their peculiar filter applied to the Greek myths).

To me, the six most dangerous words in the English Language are “Climate Change is a Chinese Hoax”. That statement can only make sense to one who has embraced a mythology that encodes their hopes, aspirations and fears and have sublated themselves and their intellect to the person who has made that absurd statement. Their feelings trump their reason and their emotionality reigns supreme. Within those six words (tweeted multiple times by Donald Trump) is the hidden clue to how they justify their ignorance and love to hate. It’s ‘patriotism’. They believe that their way of being is naturally superior to others because it is their way. Argumentation can’t refute ‘patriots’. Climate change is a fact. The Chinese did not create it as a hoax. It’s not a coincidence that Trump blamed the Chinese, it takes a real bigot to go there and it appeals to all of our baser instincts about ‘the other’ and works among those who want to hate others who are not like them because of their ‘patriotism’. Patriotism has a circular logic within it. It can never be refuted by one who sees it as absurd, and should never be used to justify ones hate, fears and anger. Anytime you get into a tautological traps such as ‘patriotism’ as its own ultimate good in itself, then one knows one should question ones premises. (Freedom for the sake of Freedom is another trope of the right wing and is just as flawed).

The myths covered in this lecture all share a reliance on experience as the ultimate judge. Also, intentionality is irrelevant. The Gods (or justice) will turn you into a deer to be eaten by former hunter friends even if you did not have the intention (aim) of seeing Diana in the nude. I believe the right wing in today’s America only process the experience itself thru their gut feelings and keep no stock with logic, analysis, or the narrative thru the intellect that glues the story together. How else can they embrace “Climate Change is a Chinese Hoax”. That slogan can only work on people who process through feelings alone.

This lecture series probably didn’t mention Jesus Christ (if it did it was only in passing). But, after having all the Greek Gods and myths put into context, it was easy for me to see how JC became a God. There’s no doubt that the people of that time period (including St. Paul who wrote in Greek) would have been thinking in these mythological ways and with minor tweaks they could have made JC a God of sorts (or least a son of a God, I get confused on the nature, character and personage of the Trinity). ...more "

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"As relevant to today and the madness that is Donald Trump than anything you'll see on Facebook or see in political blogs. I would love to dissect this lecture and tell you why, but as No. 2 said to No. 6 in the "Prisoner" 'that would be telling'. 'be seeing you'." — Oct 06, 2017 02:11PM

Oct 16, 2017 11:43AM · see review

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The Medieval Legacy (The Great Courses)

by Carol Symes

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Jan 25, 2026 07:17PM

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Beauregard’s Quotes

“Among the things that can drive a thinker to despair is the knowledge that the illogical is necessary for man and that much good comes from it.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits

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“William James (1842-1910) was the first philosopher in America to gain universal celebrity. The hardheaded practical wisdom of Benjamin Franklin could hardly be termed a philosophy; from an entirely different perspective, the obfuscatory maunderings of Emerson did not count as such, either. Something with a bit more intellectual rigor of the English or German sort was needed if Americans were not to feel that they were anything but the ruthless money-grubbing barbarians they in fact were and are. James filled the bill. His younger contemporary George Santayana (1863-1952) was considerably more brilliant and scintillating, but for regular, 100 percent Americans he had considerable drawbacks. In the first place, he was a foreigner, born in Spain, even though his Boston upbringing and Harvard professorship would otherwise have given him the stamp of approval. Moreover, he was not merely suspiciously interested in art and poetry (The Sense of Beauty [1896], Three Philosophical Poets [1910]), but he actually wrote poetry himself! No, he would never do.
James, on the other hand, was just the sort of philosopher suited to the American bourgeoisie. His chief mission, expressed from one book to the next, was to protect their piety from the hostile forces of science and skepticism-an eminently laudable and American goal.”
― S.T. Joshi, God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong

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“To trust immediate intuitions rather than collective examination that is rational, careful, and intelligent is not wisdom: it is the presumption of an old man who refuses to believe that the great world outside his village is any different from the one that he has always known. As”
― Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

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