victoria > Recent Status Updates

Another humorous quip - As you can appreciate, these waters are made opaque by the pollution of nuance, and yet Edward was determined to snorkel through them looking for treasure. Initially; it went well. He conquered Wales.

Catholicism in the age of progress (French revolution - 1789)…”the year 1870…not only marks the end of the earthly rule of the pope [the Pope, Pius IX, is the self-proclaimed “prisoner of the Vatican as the Italian Papal States demand unity] but also signifies the declaration of the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome and the doctrine of papal infallibility. That is more than symbolic [Vatican I].”

“To be an atheist in thirteenth century Europe was very different [from the present day]. At this time, Christianity was the self-evident truth. It wasn’t a conclusion many people come to, it was the starting point of everything. It was also the rationale and justification of the kingship. To be anointed a king at this time while secretly thinking it’s all horseshit is sociopathic.”

Utterly rambunctious. In regards to why bribing Vikings to leave didn’t work…”every time they did it, the cocktail of desperation and self-loathing must have been a bitter draught, particularly for a populace accustomed to mead, which is quite sugary.” Laugh out loud history!

Pg 361 - the fundamental truths of the denominational theory as articulated by the Dissenting Brethren of Westminster

Pg 373 - Bishop Joseph Butler (the age of reason) : “Reason..provides no complete system of knowledge, and in ordinary life it can offer us only probabilities.”

“The first key to wisdom…is assiduous and frequent questioning…for by doubting we come to inquiry, and by inquiry we arrive at the truth.” - peter Abelard & scholasticism

A picture book for adults - so much wisdom to glean from Huw as I discover simple gardening.

The Bondsmith - “…once the soul grows accustomed to the wound, it’s much harder to fix.” (59)

Summed up so far by Benjamin Franklins proverb:
“life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”

“More and more he comes to realize that people fall into three camps: those who hardly, if ever, see beauty when it strikes them between the eyes; those who recognize it only when it is made apparent to them; and those rare souls who find beauty everywhere they turn, even in the most unexpected places.”

(Page 61 on the doc)

https://lollardsociety.org/pdfs/Lette...

The most pleasant history book I have ever read

Hellish.

Ive been reading this to fall asleep, and I’m proud of that because chapter one ends with this statement: “It is the greatest form of flattery for me to know that you cannot resist the urge to strengthen and thus remember what I am telling you by falling asleep. So please, feel free to ebb and flow into and out of consciousness while you read…I will take no offense. On the contrary, I would be delighted.”

“I could see this change in how I related to the text. At first I was consumed with the factual foundations of the stories…then I moved towards trying to understand the power of the stories…now I am trying to grasp the underlying, raw human emotion involved in…forging a new identity in the midst of a difficult, transforming journey.” Feiler and I have decided to meet in the middle and WTB is fun again

We made it to the desert! I think Feiler and AJ Jacobs (A Year of Living Biblically) would be good friends. I am constantly caught off guard by the secular Jewish perspective - I mean, I don’t think Feiler even believes in God. V interesting to follow his pursuit of connection to land & story, but not GOD. I thought this would be a biography of land, but it’s an autobiography of a skeptical man. Muscling through

Just left Israel and now we’re on the banks of the Nile. The author is ethnically Jewish and spiritually searching - very interesting how he describes something deep inside of him, a “a childhood prejudice,” against Egypt. Once he’s there, however, “the biggest surprise about the Middle East, I declared to my friends, is how friendly the Arabs are.”

Interesting peek into the Persian-Greek struggle but……I don’t care what makes Alexander so great

slow going, but I impulsively bought this book at full price during a pang of homesickness, so the show must go on. Reads a lot like John Pollock's "The Apostle."

This guy came with the solid oak bookshelf I bought when I moved to Colorado Springs. I have been thinking and learning about the convergence (specifically Judeo-Roman tensions in the time of Jesus) and divergence (specifically around the invention of the printing press) of Eastern/Western thinking. I'm hoping it will be an insightful guide to the development of western thinking via our chosen masterpieces.

A stranger has become a friend.

I’m mind blown that Paul was a real human...this masterful work by Pollock truly brings this bondservant of Jesus of Nazareth to life.

I will forever be frustrated with the lack of organization of information and subjectivity of truth in the media, so it is a relief to hear the president I grew up with - but never knew - talk about growing up in Hawaii. To hear Michelle’s frustration when he all but decided to run for America’s highest office. For him to finally become REAL. Thanks for sponsoring my long drives with Barak Obama, Audible.

I will forever be frustrated with the lack of organization of information and the objectivity of truth in media, so it is a breath of fresh air to hear the president I grew up with - but never knew - talk about his mother. To hear him impersonate Michelle’s frustration with him when he all but decided to run for president. To hear...freak, I’ve been listening for five hours and there are still twenty five more...